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- Best toys for six year old boys and girls
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By Sarah Handley
last updated
Contributions from
Heidi Scrimgeour
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This article has been updated to reflect the latest price information. We have also added some new product recommendations, checked that the items featured are in stock, and improved the layout so the article is easier to read.
The best toys for six-year-olds will help encourage interaction with family members and friends, put their cognitive functioning to the test, and help them further develop the skills they have already.
Whether you're looking for one of the top Christmas toys, or are just after a treat for your youngster, at the age of six, the best toys are those that help boys and girls develop bonds and nurture their friendships. So any toys that encourage interaction and sharing with other children are a good bet.
Your little one might be six going on 16, but they are still very young. So baby dolls and pretend play sets are toys that are still super popular with this age group. Children at the age of six also love problem-solving and really like to have structured games or tasks, like Lego, they can get stuck into, as parenting expert, Amanda Jenner, tells us. ‘Lego is a really good toy following visuals on how to overcome the task of building wants in the picture. Dolls become popular as role play skills will set it and they love to become a mummy or daddy in their imagination.’ Also screen-only toys can be a winner, like the popular audio boxes Yoto or Tonie.
A good board game will help encourage interaction with their friends and family members, along with encouraging a healthy dose of friendly competition. ‘Jigsaw puzzles are great as they tend to have a longer attention span at six and love a challenge and this is really good for their cognitive skills and helps them to play independently,’ Amanda adds.
With all this in mind, we’ve pulled together a list of the best toys for six-year-olds after recruiting little testers to really know if these products tick all the boxes. Despite many of these products coming in a stereotypical blue and pink colorway, all the toys we've included in this guide are, in fact, unisex. From arts and crafts to card games and sensory toys to role-play sets, these are the toys that are worth their weight in gold.
Best toys for six year old boys and girls
1. Playmobil Wiltopia
Buy it if: Your child loves building. This set contains a step-by-step instruction booklet for building the Research Tower which our tester was able to follow, having practised on lots of LEGO sets previously. Once built, the real playing can begin.
Don't buy it if: Your six-year-old isn't into educational toys that have to be built. The set contains what feels like a huge number of animal creatures, plant life, and bits of modern technology - the drone was a favourite with our tester.
2. Malibu Barbie Doll
Buy it if: Your child is a Barbiemaniac. The recent blockbuster movie has reignited Barbiemania for adults and introduced younger children to the iconic toy. You want your child's joy to go next level, stick the movie's soundtrack on as they play. It'll build on your child's social skills and get their imaginations running wild.
Don't buy it if: Your child needs more mental stimulation. While their imagination and creativity might get a workout with Barbie, their problem-solving won't really get a look in.
3. Ok Play
Buy it if: Your six-year-old enjoys playing noughts and crosses. This is a superb upgrade for anywhere-play, which you'll enjoy playing as much (if not more!) than your little one. It's a well-made and brilliantly executed toy for two-four players.
Don't buy it if: Your child likes lots of interactivity in a game. The simplicity of this game is its genius but it might not hold every child's attention. You place the coloured tiles on the playing surface until one of the players has five tiles in a row.
4. LEGO Disney Princess Moana's Wayfinding Boat Toy
Buy it if: You've got a budding explorer on your hands. Building this Moana-based LEGO set will get your child using their problem solving skills and when complete, they'll get a boost of self confidence and have loads of fun imagining how far they'll go.
Don't buy it if: Your child hasn't seen Moana - the excitement of exploring beyond the lagoon will be lost on children unfamiliar with the movie.
5. Disney Frozen 2 Jigsaw Puzzle - 104 Pieces
Buy it if: You want to improve your child's logic and problem-solving skills, while helping them learn how to play by themselves. Jigsaw puzzles provide a great challenge, and Frozen fans will love seeing the picture coming together.
Don't buy it if: Your child struggles to sit still for long. A jigsaw puzzle is a longer game so might not be the best option for children who like to move on to the next thing quickly.
6. LEGO Jurassic Park Dilophosaurus Ambush
Buy it if: Your child loves LEGO and dinosaurs. While your child might not have watched Jurassic Park yet, they can still get in on the action with this LEGO set which recreates the dilophosaurus ambush scene from the movie. With 211 pieces, it'll help improve their problem solving skills.
Don't buy it if: Your youngster is spooked by dinosaurs - the dilophosaurus in this set isn't as cute as Barney.
7. Crayola Washimals Dino Waterfall
Buy it if: Your youngster loves creative play and getting stuck into water. The set contains everything needed (except the water for rinsing) to have fun colouring, designing, and washing these little dinosaur characters over and over again.
Don't buy it if: Your child isn't keen on messy play. The velvety dinos are easy to hold but our tester most enjoyed using the little brush to wash the dinosaurs clean after they'd enjoyed adding colourful patterns to their bodies.So satisfying.
8. Lightyear Lift & Launch Star Command
Buy it if: Buttons, levers, lights, and sounds are your six-year-old's dream. Your little space ranger can pop Buzz Lightyear in his spaceship and use the buttons and lever on the Star Command tower to launch him into space - hours of fun.
Don't buy it if: Your six-year-old hasn't yet discovered the joys of the Toy Story movies. This is a superbly interactive toy that most kids will have plenty of fun with - but what our tester really enjoyed was recreating scenes from the Lightyear movie.
9. Marble Run Ball Magnetic Building Blocks
Buy it if: Your child loves creative play. Initially, this reminded our testers' mum of a plastic hamster tunnel, but she and her son were soon raving about it. It needs a little adult interaction to get started, but the time investment soon pays off.
Don't buy it if: Your child isn't inclined to enjoy creating their own routes for the wooden balls to glide down the plastic tubes. The joy of this toy is in the fun you can have by thinking up new layouts and trying out different ideas.
10. Bluey's Family Home Playset
Buy it if: Your child loves Bluey and enjoys playing with character figures. The house consists of the living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom, styled exactly how it is in the show with moveable furniture and a Bluey character too.
Don't buy it if: Bluey isn't a hit in your house. If you haven't seen Bluey, you are missing out. But with this playset, you don't need to any longer - it's well worth watching an episode or two so you can perfect some of 'Mum' and 'Dad's witty lines!
11. LEGO Minions The Rise of Gru
Buy it if: Your six-year-old is not yet a confident solo LEGO builder - this is a fantastic set to enhance their skills! As well as the usual paper instruction manual, it's compatible with the Lego app that helps youngsters understand what to do next.
Don't buy it if: Your youngster isn't Minion-mad - this will be wasted on them since it's all about letting the Minions loose in Gru's lab, whizzing down the slide. There are loads of other Lego sets to choose from that they'll appreciate more.
12. Hey Clay Air Dry Clay Kit (Animals)
Buy it if: You have a creative little person in your life - this set will keep them endlessly occupied with 15 colours of clay and two modelling tools. The clay can be used over and over again and then played with as a self-created toy after 24 hours.
Don't buy it if: If you're running short on ideas of what to make, or have a little perfectionist in your life, this might be a frustrating item - but there is an app that takes you through the creation of each animal in step-by-step video instructions.
13. Magic Maths
Buy it if: You want to help a six-year-old learn addition, subtraction, and multiplication while disguising it in game form. Tested by teachers, this is one of Orchard Toys' best-selling toys for six-year-olds. No wonder - kids will love it.
Don't buy it if: Your child is already a maths whizz - kids have to rub the cards to 'magically' reveal the answer so while it's a great game for a six-year-old, it's also a good shout for slightly younger kids too. It's maths with a spellbinding twist
14. Pixie Riders
Buy it if: Your child loves toys with an element of surprise. Cute, cuddly, and collectible - three things that really appeal to children of this age. Great for encouraging role play, too.
Don't buy it if: Collecting isn't your child's thing. It's surprising how much joy a simple surprise egg can bring. 'My kids love Hatchimals and I'm always surprised at how well they look after them and each piece,' says Susie, mum of two girls.
15. Ice Cream Factory
Buy it if: To make the slime, kids just need to add water so the mess can be kept to a minimum. Inside there are also four deco bags, four charms, six accessories, and stickers to make the most creative and colourful ice cream sundaes.
Don't buy it if: You groan at the thought of slime. A slightly reassuring fact is that the six bags of slime are designed to be used within the ice cream factory, so they should hopefully stay contained instead of ending up on the upholstery.
16. Polly Pocket Flamingo Party
Buy it if: You have a Polly Pocket enthusiast. It's not pocket-sized, but it really is a party offering limitless play. There's a treasure chest with treasure, a surfable wave, a flamingo ride. plus a climbable tree, a spinning dance floor, and more.
Don't buy it if: You have younger children in the house who might get hold of the tiny 4+ play pieces. That said, everything packs neatly back into the Flamingo Party case, ready to party all over again, when play time is over.
17. Vivid Human Body Experiment Kit
Buy it if: There's something really exciting about discovering what is going on under your own skin - even as an adult - and this kit is a great way for your six-year-old to get started with learning all about their own amazing body in a fun way.
Don't buy it if: Your child isn't interested in STEM learning or curious about the human body. With a 36-page booklet to instruct and inspire, there are multiple experiments to have a go at - including building a full skeleton.
18. Heroes of Goo Jit Zu Spiderman
Buy it if: Your child loves sensory play. Research shows fidget toys can relieve stress and this particular Spiderman figure is wonderfully squashy, stretchy, and twistable before returning to its original form.
Don't buy it if: Your youngster isn't into Spiderman or Marvel. But there are plenty of other Goo Jit Zu characters to choose from with the same sensory benefits and - our favourite feature - they are all 100% mess-free.
19. Magic Mixies Magical Misting Crystal Ball
Buy it if: Your child loves magic – be that Harry Potter or The Worst Witch. And, when your six-year-old wants to take their new toy to bed with them, this becomes a nightlight, giving their room a soft magical glow for half an hour.
Don't buy it if: Your youngster isn't into imaginative play. The Magic Wand lights up and interacts with both the Crystal Ball and the Magic Mixie to create a spellbinding play experience - but you'll need to add some imagination for full effect.
20. Kinetic Sand - Sandisfactory Set
Buy it if: You have a sensory-seeking six-year-old.The set contains everything you need to start - or level up - your Kinetic Sand play. The brightly coloured sand won't stain and is easily cleaned up at the end of a play session.
Don't buy it if: Your child doesn't like getting their hands messy. This mesmerising mouldable sand is the ideal creative upgrade for six-year-old Play-Doh fans who fancy something more grown-up and the instruction book is full of inspiration.
21. FAO Schwarz Hungry T-Rex playset
Buy it if: You know a serious lover of dinosaurs and all things dino-themed. They're sure to love this interactive Hungry T-Rex toy which needs constant care and feeding. Warning - be prepared to lose your little paleontologist to hours of fun.
Don't buy it if: The play set includes a pump-action launcher in the shape of the prehistoric lizard and eight foam balls. The idea is to shoot the balls into the Jurassic creature's tongue. But just watch —this scaly creature might spit them back out.
4 things to consider
Louenna Hood, Norland Nanny and founder ofThe Nanny Louenna app, shares with us some of the toys and activities that she finds particularly effective for entertaining six-year-olds:
- Make your own storybook- "Plan and design the beginning, middle, and end of a story, then draw illustrations to match each page."
- Organise a treasure hunt- "By the age of six children are often able to read simple instructions so you can write out some riddles to get them to the next clue and leave a small prize at the end."
- Get painting- "I often set up watercolour painting stations outdoors and ask children to paint what they can see. It could be a landscape or an object. Painting by numbers is always popular at this age too."
- Make your own play dough- "You can make this with simple ingredients, just flour, baking soda, water, and olive oil, and it is super fun. Mix the ingredients together, make shapes, and then when you think all the fun is finished, make the dough into a pizza base and enjoy homemade pizzas for lunch."
- Don't underestimate the power of an empty box - "Kids will find ways to be creative and often if you give them an empty cardboard box they will have hours of fun," adds Heidi Scrimgeour, mum of three and Deputy Editor of GoodtoKnow. "They can turn it into a playhouse, put their bedding inside, colour the outside etc. It's free, after all, and many of us remember the box our gifts came in being more exciting than any expensive toys!"
How we review
For this guide to the best toys for six-year-olds, we drew up a short list of suitable items based on our product knowledge and extensive research. Where possible, we called those products in and put them in the hands of six-year-old testers to try them out.
Read more: How we test
What are good activities for six year olds?
Coming up withactivities for kidscan be exhausting, especially as they get slightly older and have more energy, more questions, and a greater ability to do more in a day.
By the age of six, many kids have mastered independent play and are ready for a little more freedom - so not every one of their games and activities has to include you. However, that doesn't mean a child won't want you to be involved all the time!
Good activities for six-year-olds include games that encourage physical activity as well as toys that can hold their attention and keep them occupied without eliciting cries of ‘I’m bored' within moments. Try these activities for occupying a six-year-old:
Outdoor play - riding a bike or a scooter (£129.95 at Amazon), playing a simple ball game, or visiting the local park to play on the swings and slide.
Games - six-years-old is a brilliant age to introduce children to simple, age-appropriate board games like The Floor is Lava (£12 at Amazon) and card games from Uno Junior (£7.99 at Amazon) and Happy Families (£3.98) to Monopoly Junior (£14.99 at Amazon) and Junior Scrabble £9.99 from Amazon).
Crafting and creative play - encourage the development of those all-important fine motor skills (essential for important tasks like holding a pencil and eating with cutlery) with some drawing, colouring books, or simple crafts like junk modelling using glue, paints and the contents of your recycling bin!
How many toys should a six-year-old boy have?
The number of toys is up to you (and your little one, of course) and there is no exact number as to how many kids should have. But according to one study, when little learners had fewer toys in their environment it allowed them to play more creatively, focus and play with each toy longer.
The study tasked toddlers to engage with four toys, followed by 16 toys. The results showed that with fewer toys, participants had longer durations of toy play and played with toys in a greater variety of ways, therefore putting their creativity skills to the test, supporting their development and promoting healthy play.
What is the 20 toy rule?
As its name suggests, the 20 toy rule involves asking your child to select the 20 toys they want to play with over the next week or two weeks and carefully stash away all others.
Along with helping keep your living room or playroom clutter-free and tidy, the 20 toy rule gives your little one a chance to really play and engage with their toys and do so in a more focused way. This should hopefully benefit their creativity levels and kick start their imagination at the same time.
Why does my six year old not play with toys?
One of the reasons why your six year oldmight not play with toys could be because they have too many to choose from and don't know where to start.
Like us, kids can get overwhelmed and overstimulated and this can happen if they're surrounded by too much choice and left wondering where to start.
If you find that even some of the best toys for six year olds aren't piquing their interest, then why not try the 20 toy rule as mentioned above? Kids don't need piles of toys to be happy, they just need a handful of the right toys for their interest, imagination and creativity to flourish.
Featured experts
Curated by
Curated by
Heidi Scrimgeour
The toys in this round up were chosen by Heidi Scrimgeour. Having been a freelance parenting journalist for 16 years before joining GoodtoKnow in 2021, there's not much Heidi doesn't know about the best toys for six-year-olds. Heidi is also a mum of three children aged 18, 17 and 10 years old, so she's learned a thing or three about the kinds of toys that kids - and parents, for that matter - really love.
Louenna Hood
Louenna Hood is a qualified Norland Nanny and Maternity Nurse who has cared for over 100 children over the past two decades, travelling the world with families, including high-profile and royal families. She created the award-winning Louenna App in 2020 to help families - not just those who employ her - on their most important journey … parenting!
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Sarah Handley
Consumer Writer & Money Editor, GoodtoKnow
Sarah is GoodtoKnow’s Consumer Writer & Money Editor and is passionate about helping mums save money wherever they can - whether that's spending wisely on toys and kidswear or keeping on top of the latest news around childcare costs, child benefit, the motherhood penalty. A writer, journalist and editor with more than 15 years' experience, Sarah is all about the latest toy trends and is always on the look out for toys for her nephew or Goddaughters so that she remains one of their favourite grown ups. When not writing about money or best buys, Sarah can be found hanging out with her rockstar dog Pepsi, getting opinionated about a movie or learning British Sign Language.
With contributions from
- Heidi ScrimgeourDeputy Editor
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