Gifts for a boy aged 5 or 6 — gift ideas

No time for the whole list? These are our four favourites for a boy aged 5 or 6: Pluk van de Petteflet, the Dutch classic by Annie M.G. Schmidt to read aloud night after night; Monopoly Junior as a first real board game; Lloyd’s green forest dragon from NINJAGO; and the box of 200 Kapla planks he’ll build with for his whole childhood. Four gifts you can’t go wrong with.

A small gift for a 5 or 6-year-old, for the Sinterklaas shoe, for a birthday party or as a reward. Everything below costs less than ten euros.

With up to 25 euros there’s plenty of choice: a small LEGO set, a game, a reading book or something to take outside. Everything below has been picked for a boy aged 5 or 6.

Alongside reading himself, being read to stays lovely: a classic to read aloud night after night, a beautiful picture book to look at together, and a thick book of stories for the edge of the bed. LazyLama and Studio Bambacht have a lovely selection of children’s books.

A 6-year-old is in groep 3 or about to start it — the year Dutch children learn to read — and nothing is as much fun as a book he can really read by himself. AVI Start and AVI M3 are the first Dutch reading levels, with E3 following at the end of the year. A sticker book, a Loco book or a funny first reader turns practice into a game. These books are in Dutch, which is exactly what he’s learning at school. Also see our blog with reading tips for groep 3.

Nothing beats a boy happily playing outside. Small gifts to take outdoors, a football for the field, and at this age the scooter arrives: with LED wheels, a sturdy helmet and a bell that brightens up any bike.

Drawing and crafts with a theme he loves: colouring books with dinosaurs or vehicles, scratch cards, a mosaic, a watercolour set or paper planes to launch outside afterwards. Pipoos has plenty more. Also see our blogs on lovely drawing supplies for children and the best drawing books for children.

Puzzles train concentration and spatial awareness, and at this age a lot is already possible: jigsaws with his heroes on them, and logic puzzles he solves completely on his own. Lotana has puzzles in all kinds of themes.

Kapla is one of the most beautiful building materials there is: identical wooden planks, no glue and no clicking together, just stacking and balancing. Towers, bridges and race tracks for toy cars — and it lasts a lifetime. Alongside it: wooden building blocks and Plus-Plus, from a small bag to a big set that glows in the dark.

Groep 3 is a milestone, and nothing makes that first school day as exciting as having your own things: a backpack, a lunch box, a water bottle and a PE bag with a print he picked himself. More at LazyLama.

NINJAGO is currently the most popular LEGO series among boys of 5 and 6: ninjas, dragons and mechs you can really make fight once they’re built. The small sets are perfect for a birthday party; a dragon or a mech is the birthday present. Browse the full range in the LEGO Shop.

Fire engines, police cars and diggers are still the magic words at this age. From a small LEGO police car to a complete fire station, a Playmobil fire set or a big Bruder ladder truck for the sandpit.

Almost every boy of 5 or 6 goes through a dinosaur phase. A LEGO dinosaur he builds himself, a set of dinosaur figures to play with, a fossil to dig out himself, a fact card game or a book full of dinosaur facts. See our dinosaur gift blog for even more ideas.

At this age he can manage his first real games. A dice game or memory is learnt in five minutes, and the junior versions of the big board games are the first “real” games in child size. Lotana and 999 Games have the full range of children’s games.

At 5 or 6 there’s nothing better than being Spider-Man. A costume or mask to be a superhero himself, and LEGO, a colouring book or a cuddly toy with his hero on it: gifts that keep him in character for a whole afternoon.

A fun day out together is a treat in itself: you experience something special and make memories to talk about for ages. A few ideas:

🎪 Monkey Town or another indoor play centre

🛝 A big playground to run wild in

🦒 A day at the zoo or a children’s farm

🚒 A look round the fire station on an open day

🍿 A film night with popcorn (and staying up late!)

🏊 Swimming and playing at the pool