These Best-Selling Stomp Rocket Stunt Planes Are Only $30 Right Now (2024)

As the preschool years become the elementary-school years, 5-year-olds are sharpening a whole range of skills, from getting better at all things physical to understanding more about the world around them. "At this age, they should be able to maintain a longer play sequence with multiple steps and multiple partners," says Gayle Kligman, M.Ed, the executive chairman of Family of Kidz. "They can negotiate among themselves who will have specific roles. They are more verbal with each other and are able to do more symbolic play."

The best toys and gifts for 5-year-old boys in 2024 will stimulate movement in space, challenge their cognition, help develop balance and coordination, encourage pretend play and help them practice those early reading skills, says Magdalena Oledzka, a pediatric physical therapist. It's why they'll enjoy toys like sports equipment and outdoor toys, building blocks, activity books, art supplies, role-play items that encourage imaginative games and beginner board games.

The Good Housekeeping Institute follows the best new toys all year long, from getting previews of new releases and keeping track of trends to testing the toys as they hit the market. Once the best of the best are evaluated for safety and durability, the Good Housekeeping Institute sends them off to actual 5-year-olds to assess the fun factor and find the best gifts for kids of all ages.

Many of our picks for 5-year-old boys have earned top marks at the Good Housekeeping Institute's tests, and many are even past Good Housekeeping Toy Award winners. We've also added in a few editor's picks and best-sellers to keep the list as up-to-date as possible for the lucky kindergarteners out there. Add them to your lists, and you'll have some very happy 5-year-olds on your hands.

Kids can use these boards to use up all their energy by doing spins, pretending to surf, doing flips and more. They come in a range of colors and accommodate kids up to 4 feet tall, but the Spooner Board Pro is a little longer for taller kids. Ages 2+

This interactive raptor is sure to entertain kids with its roars, hisses and even purrs. It features the same technology as Fingerlings, so the dinosaur responds to touch, motion and sound, to keep kids busy role playing. Ages 5+

With its big, soft wheels, this remote-controlled car is meant to be driven inside the house. The previous Good Housekeeping Toy Award winner's wheels are large enough to roll over obstacles and carpets, but squishy enough so they don't damage walls or furniture. Ages 4+

Kids can customize these Playmobil figures in all sorts of ways, since this pirate-themed set comes with six figures and a whole range of heads, legs, arms and accessories you can use on them. Playmobil says there are more than 1,000 combinations in each box, which means their imaginary worlds can expand that much more. In addition to a pirate-themed set, there are also sets with Rescue Mission and Magical Dance themes.

If they couldn't get enough of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, now they can have even more Mario fun without increasing their screen time. This game features small figures of their favorite Nintendo game characters. Each turn, players have to roll a die to find out how many figures they have to add to the tipsy tower without sending them tumbling off — a workout for their fine motor coordination. When the game's over, the figures can be used for imaginative play. Ages 4+

This motorized Hot Wheels track gives cars a boost to get through the loop, and they'll keep on racing around and around — unless they collide in one of the three crash zones! Kids can launch their cars from two different starting gates and see which one is the last standing. Ages 5+

The voice of Emily Calandrelli, who kids know as the star of Emily's Wonder Lab, guides kids through real NASA images of space with this talking telescope. With it, kids can learn facts about space and all the amazing things that exist beyond our planet. And, if they want to look small instead of big, there's also the GeoSafari Jr. Talking Microscope. Ages 4+

They're not just playing with cards, they're learning the basics of coding! This set comes with challenge cards that feature a problem, and kids have to code the rescue vehicle to come in and save the day. The car comes with three shells that turn it into a police car, fire truck or construction vehicle, and Good Housekeeping testers said that it was really easy to learn how to get them to go. Ages 4+

Good Housekeeping testers have long loved jumping, stomping and stamping to launch a Stomp Rocket into the air. Now they can do the same with three different types of planes — a looper, a glider and a wildcat — which are known for doing different types of aerial tricks, including curving in the air, soaring as high as possible or doing stunts. Plus, when they experiment with force, flight paths and wind, they're learning STEM skills. Ages 5+

Kids can combine and re-combine the translucent shapes to make endless art projects, then trace and color them in. It'll get them experimenting with color mixing and how shapes can work together to make a larger picture. The set comes with three markers, 22 shape clings, three “Complete the Scene” transparency sheets, along with a light-up board that holds the markers. Ages 3+

Kids will be amazed at the mosaic scenes they create when they match the correct stickers to the right spaces, filling in a picture (and placing the sticker in the right space helps with their fine-motor coordination, too). The book comes with 10 scenes, all with an outer-space theme, but if they like it, they can move on to dinosaurs, zoo animals and other motifs. Ages 5+

If they try to help you with the Wordle every day, give them this, which is an innovative way to get them practicing sounding out letters and spelling words. The letters are on wheels, so kids can spin each and see how changing one letter can change a whole word. It also comes with cards to help them practice different sight words. Ages 3+

Kids get two 1:64 scale versions of Grave Digger trucks, and those should be fun enough on their own. But dunk them in water and the mud actually washes off, revealing a cool paint job underneath. There's more than 100 to collect in all! Ages 3+

STEM lovers will adore this set, which lets kids use geometry and math — inspired by the works of Leonardo da Vinci, no less — to create unique structures. They can play solo or in a group to flex their problem-solving muscles and work on their collaboration skills as they try to build the different shapes. Ages 4+

We'd call this a board game, but there's no board — there's a hungry, angry sofa who needs to be fed! Kids can leave items on the cushions, and then the couch reacts differently depending on what it's fed: It makes faces, and then either eats the items up or spits them out. Good Housekeeping kid testers loved seeing the couch's different expressions. Ages 5+

Minecraft devotees will really feel like they're in the Overworld with this kit. Open it up, and it's a surprise if there's sand and lava inside. They have to keep "mining" in the compound to find a mini Minecraft character, which they can craft using an aqua stick, so there are a lot of sensory experiences in one small box. There are 12 characters to discover, and there are 1o levels of surprises in each one. Ages 5+

This game gets kids to work on matching and memory skills, and at the same time teaches them about countries around the world. There are 24 pairs to match, each representing a different place around the globe. Ages 5+