The best birthday gifts of 2017: happy fifth birthday!

This is an exciting year: it’s time to start kindergarten! Your five-year-old is ready to start school full-time, and that means spending a lot of time with other kids. Which is fine by them: they’re eager to make friends, and play and pretend together. So today’s guide to birthday gifts focuses on toys for kids to enjoy with friends and siblings.

Arts & Crafts

Alex Loop ‘n Loom, $19.99
Get loopy with the Alex Loop ‘n Loom. Often thought of as a traditional craft, Alex offers a bright and modern twist on the established loom work. The young (or, young at heart) person in your life will appreciate the chance to create funky patterns with stellar colors. Make purses, head bands, belts, pot holders, and more.

My Fairy Garden – Lily Pond, $22.99
My Fairy Garden is the first of its kind: a toy that’s also a real, live garden! Children love kits that allow them to grow plants at home; it gives them a connection to nature and a sense of satisfaction at having nurtured a living thing. My Fairy Garden takes it to a new, exciting level by allowing children to interact with it as part of an enchanting play set!

Boogie Board Scribble ‘n Play Rainbow Tablet, $34.99
Let kids draw and write to their heart’s content with this colorful ewriter! The Scribble N’ Play Rainbow Tablet by Boogie Board is built to be sturdy and easy to hold. The edges of the tablet can detach to be used as styluses for writing and experimenting with textures and patterns. The Scribble N’ Play Rainbow Tablet features Colorburst display technology, giving a pop of bright color to each creation.

Marble Runs

Q-Ba-Maze 2.0 Spectrum Marble Run, $69.99
Q-BA-MAZE 2.0 from Mindware is a unique system of colorful cubes that interlock to form a marble run. The big difference? You can create marble maze sculptures in the form of animals, geometric shapes or any other design!

Quadrilla Whirlpool Marble Run, $99.99
You will probably need to help your kid build this one, but once it’s built, kids can drop marbles and watch them spin through spirals, zoom through tunnels and funnels, and then ride up a chain elevator to start all over again. They will not be getting bored anytime soon – and as they pick up how the whole thing works, they’ll start doing their own creative building!

Creative Playsets

Playmobil Take-Along Fire Station, $44.99
Red alert at the Take Along Fire Station! The firefighters are on the move and ready to race to the rescue. In a convenient take-along case, this set is perfect for on-the-go fun.

Crazy Forts Flexi Forts, $59.99
Flexi Forts pieces enable kids to build a frame in any number of shapes to suit the play environment they prefer – a castle, an igloo, a tent, a rocket ship, and so on. Just chuck a sheet over the top, and you’ve got a perfect playhouse. Building and playing in these forts is definitely more fun with a friend or sibling!

Playmobil Deluxe Dollhouse, $99.99
Set includes two figures, three-level home, mailbox, window boxes with flowers, and other accessories. Add homey touches and furnishings with the different add-on rooms!

Games

Blue Orange Spot It!, $12.99
In Spot It! each card is has 8 symbols, and the two matching symbols may be different sizes. There is always only one matching symbol between any two cards in each round. The game is designed to never be the same twice, so you must keep a keen sense of awareness and a sharp eye on the cards in order to be the Spot It! master.

Rush Hour, Junior, $19.99
With Rush Hour Junior, younger players can experience the fun and challenge of Rush Hour in this exciting junior version. After setting up their game board according to pictures on various challenge cards, players steer their ice cream truck through a jumble of blocking cars, trucks and buses.

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