Best stocking filler toys and ideas for kids 2024
These are the best stocking fillers for kids this Christmas, from teen bath bomb sets to hot wheels, Barbie and so much more.
Right, so Santa's sorted the big-item presents (or is working on it) but what fun little toys are going to get stuffed in those Christmas stockings?
Unpacking their stocking is often the first thing your child rushes to do on Christmas morning – usually quite a few hours earlier than you were hoping for.
So, among the little reindeer socks, the chocolate coins and the regulation satsuma at the bottom, it’s wise to stash your child's stocking with some well-chosen, pocket-sized toys that'll keep them happy and busy while you stagger out of bed and find your festive sparkle.
We've scouted the shelves for great stocking filler toys for toddlers to preteens – in a range of prices – looking for the ones that really stand out for play potential and value for money.
You might also want to check out our must-have toys for Christmas, or the best kids advent calendars and best teen advent calendars, as well as our roundup of the best baby Black Friday deals, The White Company Black Friday deals and Pandora Black Friday deals for all you parenting essentials or Christmas shopping.
There's also our Cyber Monday board game deals page for ways to save on all the best board games.
Best stocking filler toys at a glance
- Kids Pirates Tattoos, £1.79
- Yoto Cards, from £1.99
- Scented Jumbo Pots of Dough, £3
- Cotton Twist Make Your Own Strawberry Bracelet, £3.60
- Kinetic Sand Surprise Wild Critters Surprise Capsule, £3.75
- SnoBall Battle Pack, £4.82
- Mini L.O.L Surprise Move and Groove Mystery Figure, £5
- Kids Versus Adults Trivia Game, £5
- Orchard Toys Pigs in Blankets, £5.50
- Rex London - Wild Wonders Felt Tip Stamp Pens, £5.95
- Disney Stitch 13cm Plush Soft Toy, £5.99
- Hot Wheels 5-Car Pack Assortment, £6
- Barbie Bath Bomb set, £8
- Character Options Simbrix Alphabrix Pack, £8.97
- Tonies, from £8.99
- MGA's Miniverse Make It Mini Food, £9.99
- Soap & Glory Wash Upon A Star Body Wash Trio, £10
- Sea-Monkeys Ocean Zoo, £10
- Asmodee Dobble Harry Potter, £11.20
- Squishmallows Original Micromallows 4-Pack, £12
- Instant Air Hockey, £13
- Mini BarbieLand 5-Pack Fashionistas Dolls, £14.99
Best stocking filler toys for kids to buy this Christmas
Kids Pirates Tattoos, £1.79
Available at: Kid Collective
Age suitability: 3+
Ahoy! Why not give your child the chance to play pirate for the day with these temporary tattoos? You'll get 2 sheets of swashbuckling designs and they're super easy to apply and remove.
Yoto Cards, from £1.99
Available at: Yoto
Age suitability: 3+
Yoto Cards are the perfect little present to put in the bottom of your child's stocking. There are hundreds of stories, lessons, and songs to choose from and each one comes with a unique pixelated design that will display on the front of your Yoto Player. Check out the best new Yoto Cards for more.
Scented Jumbo Pots of Dough, £3
Available at: The Works
Age suitability: 3+
Let their creativity blossom with this 5-pack of dough, each coming in a bright rainbow colour. Colours include red, purple, blue, green, and orange and every pot has a delicious sweet scent.
Cotton Twist Make Your Own Strawberry Bracelet, £3.60
Available at: Kid Collective
Age suitability: 3+
Perfect for little crafters, this strawberry bracelet kit has an easy to thread elastic and a tonne of colourful beads, including three wooden strawberries.
Kinetic Sand Surprise Wild Critters Surprise Capsule, £3.75
Available at: The Entertainer
Age suitability: 5+
Grab your tools and dig through this Kinetic Sand capsule to find a secret creature inside. You'll also find a mould hidden in the lid to create shapes with the satisfying sand.
Mini L.O.L Surprise Move and Groove Mystery Figure, £5
Available at: The Works
Age suitability: 4+
Another surprise lies inside this one, but this time in the form of a funky L.O.L Surprise Doll. Each one is a 10-inch version of their larger counterparts, wearing their trademark outfit and with an accessory.
Kids Versus Adults Trivia Game, £5
Available at: John Lewis
Age suitability: 8+
Challenge the family to a round of kids vs adults and watch the competition begin! The two teams will go head to head to answer quick thinking lightning round questions, half of them for adults and half of them for kids. It's perfect for helping everyone to feel included.
Rex London - Wild Wonders Felt Tip Stamp Pens, £5.95
Available at: Kid Collective
Age suitability: 3+
This is so much more than a pack of felt tip pens. Inside each one is a signature stamp to match the colour of the pen. There are 18 colours and stamps to go through, making it perfect for some creative downtime.
Disney Stitch 13cm Plush Soft Toy, £5.99
Available at: John Lewis
Age suitability: From birth
Stitch is set to be one of the hottest toy characters this Christmas, to this titchy 13cm version is the ideal stocking stuffer.
Barbie Bath Bomb Set, £8
Available at: Boots
Age suitability: 2+
Time to add a bit of glamour to bath time with this Barbie Bath Bomb set. Whether your child is young and loves the idea of splashing about in a pink lagoon, or they're entering tween years and starting to show an interest in cosmetics, this is a lovely sparkly set to peak their interest.
Tonies, from £8.99
Available at: Tonies
Age suitability: 3+
Like Yoto Cards, Tonies are a lovely idea for filling up your child's stocking. Not only are they small well-made characters for your child to play with, but they also tell a story, sing songs and more when plugged into a Toniebox.
MGA's Miniverse Make It Mini Food, £9.99
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 8+
The Miniverse Make It Mini Food capsules are hugely popular thanks to how interactive and detailed they are. Inside each capsule is the ingredients to make a surprise meal, like cake or a stack of pancakes. You'll get the basic pieces, as well as sprinkles and packets of gel or slime for the icing, plus a way to proudly display it afterwards.
Soap & Glory Wash Upon A Star Body Wash Trio, £10
Available at: Boots
Soap & Glory is a great brand for teens with a growing interest in wash and make-up products. This set contains 3 body washes: Soap & Glory Original Pink, Call of Fruity, and tropical Magnicoco.
Asmodee Dobble Harry Potter, £11.20
Available at: John Lewis
Age suitability: 6+
Dobble is an easy, fun matching card game which can last for hours thanks to the many different rounds to play. This one in particular, is great for Harry Potter fans as all the images have a distinctly magical twist.
Squishmallows Original Micromallows 4-Pack, £12
Available at: Argos
Age suitability: 3+
If you thought Squishmallows were cute, just you wait until you see these 2-inch Micromallows. Each pack has 4 Mallows in, like this one which has Irina the Axolotl, Tabitha the Tabby Cat, Tex the Taco, and Gordon the Shark.
Instant Air Hockey, £13
Available at: Prezzy Box
- Age suitability: 5+
- Batteries: 2 x AAA (not included)
Once Christmas dinner is over and the plates are all cleared, what exactly is stopping you from converting the table into an instant air hockey set? The hockey puck cleverly floats in mid air, the paddles have felt bottoms and the goals stick to the table with suction cups, so you don't have to worry about any damage.
Mini BarbieLand 5-Pack Fashionistas Dolls, £14.99
Available at: Very
Age suitability: 5+
This 5-pack of 1.5-inch lipsticks comes with a secret mini Barbie inside each one. Simply twist them out their tubes and you'll have 5 new characters to play with.
Character Options Simbrix Alphabrix Pack, £8.97
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 5+
If you’re looking for a gift for the creative in your house, then the colourful Simbrix construction range is a great place to start. The simple interlocking pieces come in a wide array of colours and can be arranged into almost any 2D or 3D pattern your child can dream up.
SnoBall Battle Pack, £4.82
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 3+
Want more of the white stuff? Here's how to get some – without the cold fingers! Each pack contains 4 sachets of Gelli Snow powder that you mix with water to create mouldable 'snow'. The mixture is stain-free and 100% degradable powder and each 20g sachet contains enough to make around 15 snowballs.
Orchard Toys Pigs in Blankets, £5.50
Available from: Amazon
Age suitability: 3+
This mini-matching-pairs game features 32 cardboard pig shapes tucked up in differently patterned festive blankets. It's beautifully made in sturdy cardboard and the Christmas theme is great fun – although it's not so overpowering that you couldn't play the game all year round.
Hot Wheels 5-Car Pack Assortment, £6
Available at: Amazon
Age suitability: 3+
These 1:64-scale die-cast toy cars have sporty detailing, bright paintwork and are all slightly different, meaning you can build up a grand collection. And 5 cars for just over £1 each really is great value, as all our child testers' parents agreed.
Sea-Monkeys Ocean Zoo, £10
Available at: Argos and The Entertainer
Age suitability: 6+
This is a cleverly designed little aquarium in which you can watch Sea Monkey eggs hatch and grow. The Sea Monkeys take about 3 days to hatch and the set includes a water purifier, a food pouch, a feeding spoon and nice, clear instructions. Once they hatched, you can continue to feed them and watch them grow and take care of them.
Tips for filling kids' Christmas stockings
The MFM Team have several years of stocking-filling under our belts, and here are our top tips for success:
Focus on fun: Fillers needn’t be expensive or fancy, as for many children (especially those with additional gifts under the tree), opening the stocking is as much fun as playing with the contents.
Guess the contents! Include a mix of gifts of different sizes and shapes to create an intriguing series of lumps and bumps, and encourage your children to guess what might be inside before they unpack it.
Bulk is best: A packet of their favourite popcorn or crisps, or a fun bubble bath, can be a great way to fill up a stocking without spending a fortune solely on small toys.
Build in breakfast: If they plan to open their stockings before breakfast, pop in some fruit, raisins or a cereal bar to line their tummies before the chocfest begins (hey, we can try, right!)
Spread the cost: Adding a small item to your basket when buying more expensive presents can spread the Christmas cost, as well as avoiding extra paying P&P for each stocking filler you buy.
Dial up the Christmas: Stockings are great for small, Christmas-themed gifts like chocolate tree decorations (if you hang them before they big day, they'll probably just get eaten) and festive socks or slipper socks.
Don't overthink it: Inserting a theme or code into your stocking filler wrapping paper choices is more trouble than it's worth. They probably won't notice, and you'll have given yourself a lot of work for no reason.
About the author
Helen is Deputy Editor of MadeForMums, the author of Parenting for Dummies (Wiley, £17.99) and the Head Tester for our MadeForMums Toy Awards. She has written about parenting for Mumsnet, Pregnancy & Birth, Prima Baby, Boots Parenting Club and She Magazine and she's also been Consumer Editor of Mother & Baby. She has 3 boys and a heavy-duty washing machine.
We've more top toys, all tested and rated by parents and children...
Authors
Helen is author of the classic advice book Parenting for Dummies and a mum of 3. Before joining MadeForMums, she was Head of Community at Mumsnet and also the Consumer Editor of Mother & Baby.
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