Finding stocking fillers this year has been incredibly hard.

I love the tradition of having a stocking filler first thing on Christmas morning.

Last Christmas I had a magical hour with Tilda and her sensory box before anyone else got up. It will always be one of my most treasured memories and I am so glad we had that special time, the two of us, at Christmas.

Next to wake up was William and he devoured his stocking.

I do not wrap stocking gifts and I try to make them as traditional as possible, easy to use and understand without help and good fun.

There is something magical about an empty stocking on Christmas Eve and one full to bursting on Christmas morning.

The stuff that memories are made of!

Aside from finding good stocking fillers in the first place, the other thing I find difficult is creating similar enough stockings for boy/girl twins that are not exactly the same.

This year I am struggling with Christmas anyway as instead of filling three stockings I am only filling two.

And of course whenever I look for one thing suitable for the twins I find three or four that would have been perfect for Matilda Mae.

It’ll be lonely this Christmas …

But the stockings are being filled slowly.

If you are on the hunt for stocking stuffing or stocking fillers then you could do much worse than pay a visit to The Toadstool.

Here are some of my favourite finds, each and every one of them costing less than £10

These Rubbabu vehicles are lovely for little hands to get to grips with. The velvet finish of the car is lovely for children to touch and as it is made from foam it is a really tactile toy. They are great for chucking in a bag and give quick and easy on the go play. Esther and William have a tractor and a fire truck and they love them both.

Rubbabu also make these lovely balls in a range of colours and textures which are a fun addition to any stocking and the softness of the balls means that they provide the possibility of indoor active play throughout the winter months.

Esther and William love stories. They love reading books with adults and browsing books alone. They also love it when we make up stories for them. Daddy tells tales of dragons and bears, whatever their current interests we can turn into tales. And yes, many of them feature trains and track! These story cubes are great for children of all ages. We use them as a family activity. Esther and William role the dice and from what is thrown I make up a story. The cubes are in a little box that fit into a pocket or bag, great for taking to a restaurant or other place where you might want to share stories but not necessarily carry books. As children get older they can begin to make up the stories themselves and start writing their stories down. A great toy for life, not just for Christmas!

Esther has her first pair of lace up boots. To be honest she does not like them very much but she does like fiddling with the laces. She would love this little pretend shoe to carry around with her and practice her tying skills. Daddy and Grandad are both keen sailors and scouts so I can see it also being used for learning different kinds of knots. This is a lovely novel idea that I know Esther would really like and I can imagine her persevering and persevering until she gets the laces right.

I really like this Hape Bamboo Puzzle. You can use the shapes to make pictures or work out different ways of arranging the tiles in the box. It is a perfect way to explore colour and pattern and to begin to understand space, shape and positioning. This is, I think, my favourite thing on this list. A great introduction to problem solving for preschoolers too.

A Christmas stocking is not complete without something that makes a noise, preferably a musical one. The Toadstool has some great ideas including this magical flute, a shaker drum …

… and these rather intriguing musical eggs. There are five coloured Haba eggs to collect and each one makes a different sound. I think they are rather wonderful and I know that my two would love to find them in their stocking on Christmas morning.

Esther and William love puzzles especially when the theme of the puzzles is something they feel strongly about. At the moment Esther is enjoying fairies and dolls while William is still all about transport, construction and wheels. This small shaped digger puzzle would just be perfect for him.

If I buy the digger puzzle for William then I think Esther would love this tower of jungle animals.

If the stockings were a little larger and my purse a little fuller I would definitely have to buy William this train!

In our stockings we always have an edible treat, probably this year it will be pirate treasure otherwise known as chocolate coins.

I would like to include some play food too and these pears would be perfect for my pair!

Esther and William now have two play kitchens, a small one in their new bedroom and a large one in the playroom. William for some unknown reason adores pretending to flip eggs and so for him this fried egg would be a stocking filler that would make him smile. Esther might like the banana that she can peel and eat like a monkey. There is lots of festive fun to be had with quality items of play food.

I hope our list has given you some ideas of things you might like to stuff your stockings with this Christmas. I am feeling rather festive after shopping at The Toadstool. I am sure that you will too!

In the interests of transparency though I am a Toad Tester for The Toadstool this particular post is not a review it is just an honest list of some fabulous finds for stockings that I have chosen to share with you.