Today, I am sharing a list of over fifty educational stocking stuffers. These stocking stuffers are fun for kids, but they also pack an educational punch.
Psst! This post is one of my all-time favorites, but I would be remiss if I didn’t share some news here.
I’ve recently created a brand-new stocking stuffer post with new items and recent family favorites. It has over 100 educational stocking stuffers. You can read that post here:
50+ Educational Stocking Stuffers | My Little Poppies Gift Guide 2019
In order to make things a bit easier, I’ve grouped them by subject. Is your child struggling with math? Sneak in some math fun this year… stealth learning at its best!
10+ Educational Stocking Stuffers: Mathematics, Reasoning, and Logic
Our family loves to play math. I’ve written several posts about how we use math games, play, and stories in our homeschool. These stocking stuffers provide wonderful math play… and they are fun for kids! I’d like to highlight what an impact Extreme Dot-to-Dots have had on our family. My kids are obsessed and, over the summer, I had a four-year-old happily counting past 1,000!
10+ Educational Stocking Stuffers: Science, STEM, and Nature
Keep your budding scientist happy with these fantastic stocking stuffers. These items will fit in a stocking and provide endless entertainment and learning! In particular, I’d like to mention our portable microscopes and compact binoculars. Each child has his or her own and we’ve had them for years. We rarely hike without one or the other! Another great idea would be a subscription to Groovy Lab in a Box– it’s a gift that keeps on giving! Another wonderful way to include science in your home is to enjoy what I call TUB STEM. I’ve included these amazing bath toys below.
10+ Educational Stocking Stuffers: Reading, Writing, Language Arts
Build a love of reading and writing with these fun stocking stuffers. I’d like to mention (again!) how much we all love this book light. It has fueled so much reading over here!
I am also super-excited about this new book and if you read and loved Wonder, you’re going to want to check it out. It is called 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne’s Precepts: A Quote for Every Day of the Year About Courage, Friendship, Love, and Kindness. I plan to use it daily to spark conversations and for copywork!
10+ Educational Stocking Stuffers: History and Geography
This year, our family has fallen in love with Around the World Stories. I cannot recommend these stories highly enough. While eating lunch, or snuggled on the couch, we have traveled the globe and learned so much in the process! I’ve also included three of our favorite DVD collections:
Finally, I have to mention History Unboxed, a monthly hands-on history subscription that we have enjoyed for the past two years.
10+ Educational Stocking Stuffers: The Arts
Here are some of our favorite art-related stocking stuffers. I’d also highly recommend checking out online art courses- they would make a great stocking stuffer! We have loved chalk pastels and studying the masters.
10 Educational Stocking Stuffers: Play & Imagination
Every year, our family picks our favorite toy of the year. I know that the year isn’t over yet, but we have a winner. I have a post and giveaway planned soon, but I wanted to give you a sneak peek. Our favorite toy this year, by far, is Build & Imagine. This kit is amazing. It is STEM meets play meets dollhouse meets colorforms (I’m dating myself here) meets magnatiles meets stories …. I could go on and on and on. Another fun play-based stocking stuffer would be a recipe for BIG bubbles and a bubble wand! You’ll notice I also included the famous Yodeling Pickle because it deserves a moment. It is hilarious and would make a fantastic Yankee Swap gift! (This pickle is my one exception to noisy plastic toys!)
Want to keep those kiddos busy through the holidays and make gifts in the process?
My holiday plan is to set up a craft invitation on our rarely-used dining room table and complete as many of the ornaments from this book as possible. And then, we will give them as gifts!
Looking for more gift ideas?
Be sure to check out our gift guides:
Do you want to encourage kindness and avoid Elf on the Shelf?
Me too! Here’s what we’re planning:
Curious about our family’s curriculum choices?
Here they are:
Now, it’s your turn. I’ve listed some of our favorites and now I’d love to hear yours! What educational stocking stuffers would you add?
A calculator – my son plays with his for HOURS!
Great one!
Pinning this! These are great ideas!
Thank you, Shelly!
Hello! Great list.. thank you! 🙂
Some favorites here have been –
Modeling clay & tools; modeling beeswax. Magnifying glass. Rock tumbler. Nature identification books. Grow a butterfly kit. Bug net. Usborne books are always a huge hit here too!
Such great choices, Mindy! Thank you for sharing them!
Such a great list! We have many of these goodies at our house already so will be taking a look at some of your other suggestions seeing as we seem to like the same things 😉
Thank you so much, Nichole!
Thank you!! I just read a lot of reviews for the yodeling pickle. Soooo funny! I think I need to get these for my friends’ kids. ?
It’s the only toy that makes noise in my house. It’s just so funny!
Handheld light-up microscope and compass are going into our little explorers’ stockings this year. 🙂
Let me know how they like them, Michelle! They are HUGE hits here 🙂
Books and small travel games!!
My favorite choices!
Our favorite stocking stuffers are small travel games or learning activities since we are on the road often.
Every time I head north for a long weekend, I’m thankful for travel games!
Gertie Balls! They deflate and easily inflate so great to take along while traveling to use at rest stops, or airports. They are soft enough to use inside but sturdy enough to use outside. Now, at our house they usually only last about a year so each Christmas there is one in each of our kids’ stockings.
I just had to look them up, Rachel. They look like fun!
I think any of us would love the book light. My kids adore apples to apples and madlibs so those would make them happy as well.
I love my Mighty Bright. It’s still going strong and I bought it years ago!
These are all so fantastic! I’ve added several to our Amazon Christmas list. 🙂 I think my favorite stocking stuffer ideas are always word related. Magnetic poetry, Rory’s story cubes, and anything else that lets my children play with words!
Magnetic poetry is the best!
Honestly? Candy! Haha. Other than that we love some art supplies around here.
Love it, Laura!
Good little books, like Countablock or Alphablock!
Great choices!
My kids love journals & fun pens. Small craft/building kits, unique recyclables for making marble runs, & days to fun places like a dance or science city.
I love love love the recyclables idea!
My family LOVES all the resources on your site and who can ever tire of so much to love? THANK YOU for making homeschooling so much easier. My grandson loves to read, and we are building our library by reviewing the books on your site. Thanks to you and your crew.
You made my morning, Jnana. Thank you so much for your words <3
The portable microscope is on our list this year. We have a couple rules with Santa gift wishes. The gifts have to be small because you know, elves are small, and they have to be able to fit into a stocking. Also the elves use old time-e tools, so wood, clothe or metal. The fancy toys come from mom and dad. (Wink wink) I also like to add candy from different areas on the globe. His favorite Santa toy was a small sling shot with puff ball ammunition.
Love this <3
Watercolor paints!
Love!
Right now, my kids are still pretty little, but they love fun treats and new coloring books in their stockings. They’ve both have just gotten into exploring and hiking (especially when it’s dark!) so I think this year we’ll give them headlamps! I loved the rocks and geode idea; my little guy will get a kick out of that!
Ooooh, headlamps are an awesome idea!!
I want to say thank you for all of the resources that you provide for us! My kids are still little (2, 4, and 6, so oldest is in first grade) so we are still getting into our homeschool groove and finding out what works for us. But I SO appreciate all of the books and games and recommendations that you give. We are currently on a $5 month of Sparketh thanks to you and my daughter is loving it. THANK YOU.
Stocking stuffers…man, I’m really not sure. We haven’t done stockings in awhile because I’m waiting until I know we’re done having kids so they can all match! But I think that things like card games, chocolate, and essential oils would top my list!
Thank you so much, Michelle. I’m so glad you are enjoying Sparketh (so fun!) and that you’ve found the posts helpful. That makes me smile. Merry Christmas!
Flashlights, hair clips, head bands, kazoo, harmonica…of course, socks and underwear?.
Oh yes, socks and undies are a must over here too!
I love to give art supplies and fun pens and pencils. Thanks for your list! And all of your lists. They are so helpful. I wouldn’t know about most of the awesome stuff that exists if it weren’t for these lists!
Fun pens are the best! Thank you for reading, Sue, and for the kind words. Happy holidays!
There are so many good ideas here! Mad Libs are always a hit with my kids. I love those portable microscopes; so cool! I’m also thinking about that Roald Dahl audio collection to save my voice later this year. 🙂
Oh my gosh, it’s SUCH a great collection. When we head up north to my parents’, we almost always pack our Dahl. He was such an amazing storyteller.
My husband does stockings each year. When he was a kid, his grandma would give him and his siblings each a giant stocking filled with candy, cereal, pop tarts, etc- things that they normally at home wouldn’t eat. Now my husband does it for our kids! They love it! I sneak in little gifts here and there 🙂
How fun that he carries on the tradition!!
Our favorite stocking stuffers are silly game or books.
Perfect!
I need to get a Rubik’s cube & some chapstick!
Perfect stocking stuffers!
We love putting an orange in each of our kids’ stockings– it’s based on the tradition of my grandmother and each of her 13 siblings getting an orange in their stockings each year. It’s a simple gift, but they look forward to it every year!
Love traditions! And what a perfect way to fill the toe of the stocking!
My favorite stocking stuffer is card or dice games to play as a family!
Such a fun one!
I love this post! I can’t decide between Math Dice and the Carson Pocket Microscope. Eeek!
Two great choices!
My current favorite stocking stuffer is an ornament for each family member. Then when my kids have homes of their own, they will have a good collection! My littles are still very little though. They love reading and our family loves playing games so those will probably become future favorites. 🙂
We do that one, too! I love that they will have a collection for their first tree <3
I love mastermind but we haven’t bought it for our kids yet!
Such a classic!
My son loves Mastermind. It really works great for logical thinking. My favorite stocking suffer for this year was a set of Story Telling Dice. having a little bit to spark a story is a wonderful way to get it going
We love our story cubes- great stocking stuffer!
Such great ideas! We love the Timeline games around here, too.
Love Timeline!
My favorite stocking suffers this year are a Circuit Scribe lite set for my daughter, and a dinosaur fandex for my dino obsessed 4 year old. They’re also both getting reindeer Hexbugs in their stockings!
Fun!
My kids love simple things like post its there own pens and a new book too!
What a great way to encourage writing!
Santa always leaves a new toothbrush! And art supplies!
Great idea by Santa!
Our favorite stocking stuffer has been hand held mini microscopes! Thanks for all the ideas!
Those microscopes are the best!
Mad Libs and Kinetic Sand are my favorite stocking stuffers!
Mad Libs are always a hit here!
I love this list! It’s the best to stock up on fun school stuff that they have no idea they are learning so much while they are using it. Card or individual logic games, madlibs, Dover coloring books about whatever they are most interested in have been hits around here. And long underwear- it makes them more excited to get outside! I just found your site this year and most of my Christmas shopping came from it. Thank you so much!
Awe, I am so happy that the site has helped. Your stocking stuffers sound amazing!
A new Christmas puzzle. That way everyone can work on it during Christmas Day. For years my dad always did the same 500 piece puzzle every Christmas until we started doing this
What a wonderful tradition!
These are all great options! I really like the microscope and timeline cards. Thank you for great options!
Timeline is so much fun!
I have my husband the field microscope this year, and it was a bit!! Love the game suggestions, though. Hoping to win Mastermind for Kids, because I’m itching to give Gameschooling a try!
A book light has been our favorite stocking stuffer recently. Though the Rubiks cube has proven to be a great fidget for both my kids!
Story Cubes, Pass the Pigs, bookmarks, little notebooks, colored pencils, playing cards, and — because I’m *that* mom — toothbrushes, always new toothbrushes! 🙂
Hey! Tootbrushes are important!
I usually put in a new stocking cap and a flashlight every year, and candy. This year they got personalized stainless steel cups like Mama and Daddy have, small card games, and 6 packs of their favorite gum (Project 7 so it’s kind of fancy gum).
I gave Keva blocks in the stocking and they were a huge hit!
I got an Extreme Dot to Dot for my own stocking! 🙂
They are amazing!
We stick with an orange, a bit of chocolate, and new pencils/markers/crayons. I did do the booklights and a card line game under their bedroom trees though!
My kids get a kick out of getting “stockings in my stocking”. Every year they get a wild pair of socks that are related to something that they are in to that year.
A slinky! Never gets old! My son just gets more creative with what slinky can slink down each year!
In our Virtual Book Club this month (Facebook) we are reading a book about the inventor of the Slinky!
What great ideas for Christmas.
Modeling clay?
The book light has brought so much peace to the bed time routine – definitely my favorite stocking stuffer this year!
I love mine so much!!
I like the Mastermind for Kids game because it has 3 levels of play.
Some useful stocking stuffers are a small flashlight, magnets for experiments, mini notebooks, fun erasers, colored pencils, a pencil sharpener, and a new toothbrush.
We love giving small travel games — can be used in the car, at restaurants, on planes, at home, etc.
a small book or game
I love the idea of small games and art supplies! I am crazy excited about the board games in your giveaway!
Art supplies are the best thing for my daughter right now and color and alphabet games for my son. They are still little and just getting into games. Anything science related is also a huge hit. So blank notebooks and different colored pens were our favorites in stockings this year and cheap! 🙂