38 Christmas Gifts for 5-Year-Old Girls

Maggie is the interactive kind of highland cow, with feeding and follow-along play built in by furReal.

That gives a child who likes looking after animals a real job, starting with breakfast duty, and a small companion who joins the game rather than waiting on a shelf.

Toy horses that keep getting hurt in her games deserve a proper place to recover.

Breyer sized this hospital for its small Stablemates line, so pocket-size patients fit right in while she plays vet and decides who gets a checkup, who needs a bandage and who goes home.

Brown sand that presses into muffins and cupcakes gives her pretend bakery a real ingredient, and there is enough of it to stock a whole display case.

Each time a customer orders, a fresh batch gets shaped; when the shop closes, the mound smooths flat for the next day of baking.

Check that her family owns a Toniebox before choosing this Moana figure, since its English audio plays only when the figure sits on one.

In a house that has the box, she can paddle a pretend canoe across the living room, then set her heroine in place and start listening on her own. Between voyages, the little figure waits on top of the box for her next turn.

Noodle Knockout brings her pretend cooking to the game table, with a parent cast as the rival chef.

Gathering noodle pieces that match is the challenge, and it calls for careful fingers and a sharp eye. After months of stirring pretend soup for an audience that never answers, she has an opponent who plays back.

Give her treasures an address.

The barrettes, bead necklaces and plastic rings that drift around her dresser can move into a unicorn box that plays a tune, and sorting them becomes her own small job. When a friend visits, the whole collection sits in one place, ready to show.

Pretend shops tend to have plenty to sell and nothing to pay with.

Learning Resources fills that gap with toy money, so customers can hand it over and the shopkeeper can make change. Any shopping trip she has tagged along on supplies the script, and a shoebox can stand in as the register.

Three, two, one, liftoff: a rocket of her own gives the countdown somewhere to go.

She decides where each mission lands, whether that is a couch cushion standing in for the moon or a planet she drew and taped to the wall.

In snowy places the bubbles may wait for spring, but nothing else has to: solution comes in the box, and the wand adds lights and music to the tail-swishing mermaid games she plays.

On the first mild afternoon, the yard becomes her undersea stage.

Her pretend Paw Patrol rescues around the house get a leader's gadget with this Pup Pad from The Dino Movie.

She knows the pups by name, and now the call that sends them out comes from her hands.

Flowers she assembles herself are made for a five-year-old who plants pretend gardens and replants them with every new game.

Every bloom comes apart, so the patch she arranged this morning can become a bouquet the moment her story changes.

Barbie arrives with turquoise hair and unicorn accessories, dressed for whatever enchanted forest she dreams up after school.

Styling that hair and posing her mid-adventure come next, and every twist of the quest gets a voice she supplies herself, from the first unicorn sighting to the happy ending.

A girl who loves farm animals gets a running highland cow plush, not one that only sits.

She can send it trotting down the hallway to greet whoever walks in. When the run is over, she scoops it up for a hug.

Any giver with a five-year-old who begs for big, dramatic moments can hand her a mystery with a giant shark hiding inside.

Unwrapping presents is her favorite part of the holiday, and here a shell stands between her and the megalodon within.

No design has to be the last one on these Crayola sea pets, since each washes clean for a fresh round of coloring.

That suits a doodler who changes her mind halfway through: a smudged fin is simply a reason to scrub it off and try a new pattern.

Plain water is the only supply this pad needs, and each Outdoor Adventure page keeps its picture hidden until she wets it.

A beetle hunter who checks under every garden stone knows the game already: look closely, uncover what is there, move on to the next spot. Nothing needs washing off her hands afterward.

Who hides by the river and who naps in the trees is up to her in Mudpuppy's rainforest scene.

Because the stickers are reusable, the jungle can be peeled up and rearranged whenever her story takes a new turn, so the same page holds a different adventure each time she tells it.

Peel, press, repeat: gem by gem, a unicorn or princess picture fills with sparkle across her lap on a long car ride.

Every gem shows how far she has come, and the finished picture is something to hold up from the back seat.

Here she decides what every animal looks like, painting spots, stripes or rainbow colors onto each figure by hand.

Once the paint dries, the animals line up along her windowsill for pretend games, every creature wearing the markings she picked.

Crayola's Spider-Man kit hands hero pages to a kindergartner who picks a superhero over a princess every time.

She decides every shade her favorite hero wears, so each version of him comes out her own. Her finished picture ends up taped to the fridge door.

Disney Jr. characters fill the daydreams of a five-year-old who heads straight for the craft table whenever it is free.

The Spirograph kit brings those familiar shows onto paper, where she makes the designs herself. Each finished drawing ends up taped to her bedroom door.

When the girl you are choosing for still asks for Peppa Pig by name, Play-Doh brings that cartoon to her craft table.

Her play these days mixes squishing dough with serving make-believe customers, and sculpted scoops let both habits share a counter.

These puffy Horizon Group USA stickers put SpongeBob in the hands of a kindergartner who stages cartoon episodes of her own.

Replaying favorite cartoon moments is how she plays, and now the cast sits right in her hands. The backdrop turns into the setting for every new episode she invents.

Head to head across the table, she and a grown-up each try to catch more cereal pieces than the other, which turns the breakfast theme into a food fight with rules.

Beating a parent at anything is a thrill for plenty of five-year-olds, so keep a sticky note handy for the rematch tally.

Before a playdate, a five-year-old counting down to the visit can point the hands at the hour her friend arrives.

The mini size sits easily in small hands and keeps the wait in plain view, and when the doorbell rings, the clock settles whether the hour she set was right.

Picture-book shape words get something solid behind them in this set of soft foam blocks, each with corners, flat faces or curves she can feel.

A good first game: pick a block, then search the pantry for a can or a box with the same shape, and see how many matches turn up before the shelf runs out.

While dinner cooks, a kindergartner who counts every stair and spoon out loud can work through numbers on hand2mind trays.

That habit of tallying the house moves to her fingertips, where each digit has a shape she feels, not just says.

Should the kindergartner you have in mind leap off every curb, a Flybar pogo stick gives those hops somewhere to go.

Jumping beats walking anywhere she goes, and riding a bouncer of her own turns that restless habit into a backyard game. Between attempts at a new record, the Flybar leans against the garage wall.

Her favorite way across any room is a leap, so an inflatable dragon gives a springy kindergartner something to ride.

She never runs short of energy, and a creature to sit on lets each jump carry her somewhere. Between rides, her new mount waits by the back door for the next lap around the yard.

On the morning walk to kindergarten, a girl with a Micro scooter of her own sets the pace for the whole family.

A grown-up's stroll is too slow for her legs now, and each glide carries her under her own steam. The route she maps out, every curb and crack memorized, ends at the classroom door.

This Batman snack box rides to school in the backpack of a kindergartner who plays superhero at every recess.

Carrying her favorite hero to the table keeps the pretend rescues going between bites. Her empty container comes home at the end of the day, proof that every cracker vanished during the break.

For a household where bedtime means picture books, this projector lets a five-year-old watch a tale spread across the wall.

She points at every scene in her books, and with the lights low she does the same beside a grown-up.