Between the ages of three and five, children have transitioned from being a toddler to becoming a child. Most of the baby-like qualities the child had begin to fall away and are consistently replaced with qualities much more like those of an adult. They become even more social, self-aware, and eager to learn.

Award Winners

Two of the major awards in the field of toys are the Toy Industry Association’s Toy of the Year Award and the Parents’ Choice Award. These awards are given annually and can be searched by age group. They are an excellent resource for parents, relatives, and friends who need a little help finding an age appropriate toy that will be pleasing for the child.

Past award winners are available from both organizations and can provide additional ideas for children who already have the most current winners. For this age group Parent’s Choice award winners and nominees include Peg & Layer Jungle, Gaz-zuds, and the Kishay Dragon Rider. Toy of the Year award winners and nominees include the YBike, the Furnished School Building by Playmobil, and the Toy Story 3 Blast Off Buzz Lightyear.

Art

The need for artistic expression and exploration grows along with the child. The art tools of previous years such as washable finger paints, crayons, and Play-Doh should still be in the child’s art kit. However, they now have more dexterous hands and are able to play with a wider variety of art supplies. Introduce glue and glitter to make art projects sparkle. Googly eyes, craft foam, colored pipe cleaners, construction paper in a variety of colors, stickers, and premade craft kits will inspire creativity and occupy children for hours. Add water colors, paint brushes, and sponges to the paint supplies to give them more variety. Ink pads in various colors and stamps of the child’s favorite things such as cars and trains, horses, fairies, or princesses are age appropriate, portable and fun for children of this age and are something they will continue to use for years. Finally, coloring books with favorite characters are a big hit, especially if accompanied with a box of brand new crayons.

Classic

Classic toys are classics for a reason; they never fail to entertain children, so they’ve stayed popular for years. Hula hoops, balls, bikes, and blocks are popular choices for this age group. Lincoln logs have been around for nearly one hundred years and are just as instructive and fun as when they first debuted. While Barbie dolls half only been around for about half a century, they are the iconic toy for little girls. They are now available in an enormous variety of styles, professions, and themes.

Educational

By three years of age, children have developed an interest in letters, and by age five, most children enjoy building words. Three are a variety of toys that encourage this through play. A See & Spell toy combines puzzles and spelling along with a visual clue for the word so children build word associations. A higher tech option is Leap Frog’s Word Builder which allows children to build their own words or play games where they find the letters to build the words suggested by the game. There are even word games for smart phones such as the Word World application that brings the words to life just like the cartoon series.

With the popularity of children’s smart phone and tablet applications, it is no surprise that children now have their very own tablets and app stores. The Inno Tab by VTech and the LeapPad from Leap Frog both have a touch screen, just like the options available for adults. It allows the children to play games and read books and can grow with your child by installing new apps over the years.

Pretend Play

During this stage, pretend play becomes even more important to children. Fantasy becomes more real for them, which can lead to extraordinary play times. The Pretend & Play Ice Cream Shop combines two of a child’s favorite things, pretend play and ice cream. Encourage your child to set up his or her own shop and invite you and other friends and family members over for a scoop.

Puppet theaters, doll houses, and even a box of masks can transport children to a world of make believe. The key to giving a gift that encourages pretend play is that it will always be more fun if the child has someone to play with, at least occasionally. Include a promise to play with the child on a regular basis, and follow through. After all, what adult doesn’t need a reason to escape reality every week?

All of the gift guides in the world may not tell you exactly what your favorite child will want as a gift. An easy way to find out what they are interested in is to bring over a few toy catalogs or craft magazines and ask them to circle things they think they’d like to do. This will be a learning experience for you and fun for them.