My Mom Asked What the Boys Want for Christmas. This Is the List I Finally Sent Her.
Every September she asks, and every year I say "oh, anything." This year I actually wrote it down: six gifts two toddlers will still be playing with in February, and the four rules behind them.
- Mom approved
- No batteries
- No screens
- Ages 6 months to 6 years
Published September 22, 2026. 7 minute read
My mom texts me the same question every year, and it always lands in the third week of September. This year it came in on Monday night at 7:42, while I was scraping mac and cheese off a high chair. "What do the boys want for Christmas?"
And every year I give her the most useless answer a daughter can give. "Oh, they're fine, honestly. Anything."
I'm not trying to be difficult. It's September. I'm thinking about daycare germs and whether Wyatt, my four year old, will agree to wear the dinosaur costume he picked out himself. Christmas feels like a problem for future me.
So my mom does what any grandma would do with "anything." She guesses. And she guesses generously. Last year Wyatt and his little brother Beau got a talking fire truck, a light up ball popper, and a tablet style learning toy that sang the alphabet in a voice I can still hear when I close my eyes. Three gifts, eleven batteries.
By the middle of January two of them were in the garage, and the third had run out of batteries that I had not replaced. On purpose.
Then on Valentine's Day she asked me on FaceTime if the boys were still playing with the fire truck. And I lied to my mother's face.
So this year, when the text came in, I did something different. I actually answered it.
The actual thread. Yes, I used an emoji at my mother.
That last text is how this page happened. My mom is 64, lives in Tucson, and we're two time zones away in Columbus, so everything she buys has to ship. She would rather be finished by Halloween than spend December refreshing a tracking page, and honestly I'd rather she was too.
If you're a grandparent reading this and your daughter or daughter in law keeps telling you the kids "don't need anything," I promise that isn't quite true. She means she doesn't want more stuff. There's a difference, and this list is my attempt at explaining it.
One honest thing before the list. Most of it is from one brand, Toddla. That wasn't the plan. Their busy book is what got Beau through a nine hour flight in June, and after that I trusted them enough to try the rest. My mom had already heard of them because I would not stop talking about that flight.
These are the six I sent her, in the order I'd buy them, with ages on each one so you don't have to text anybody to ask.
1. Montessori Busy Board
★★★★★ 4.8 out of 5, 1,156 reviews
"When I gave my 15 month old granddaughter the blue activity book, she was in her car seat and she grabbed it out of my hand. Her Mom said she played with it for over 30 minutes on their road trip."
Peggy J.Verified
- Ages
- 6 months to 5 years (a grown up close by for the littlest ones)
- Why It's on the List
- Most toys show a toddler something. This one makes them do something. It's the real stuff they watch us use all day, buckles, zips, laces, latches, a little clock, sewn onto felt pages, and the pages are double sided, so the second he masters one there's a new one waiting. It folds shut like a book and has a handle. If you only buy one thing and you're not sure what the grandkids can do yet, start here. Beau has been working on the buckle page since the end of July, and Wyatt still fights him for it.
- Why I'd Actually Thank You for It
- It's the one toy that comes everywhere with us. The car, restaurants, the pediatrician's waiting room, and yes, the plane. It's already packed for our flight to Tucson on December 19. It buys me twenty quiet minutes exactly when I need them, which is the best present you can give a mom of toddlers, even if it's technically for the kid. One tip: the cheaper ones online arrive flat with a sheet of sticky velcro dots you attach yourself, and a friend of mine lost pieces within a week. This one comes ready, with the buckles, zips and laces stitched on.
- Still Out on the Rug in February?
- Yes. The buckles take weeks to figure out, and when one page gets boring he flips to the next one and there's something new waiting. That's the whole trick, and it's why this one outlasted every beeping thing we own.
2. Montessori Christmas Tree
★★★★★ 4.7 out of 5, 151 reviews
"Brought the Christmas tree for our granddaughter. She absolutely loved it. Kept taking off the decorations and putting them back in different places so tree looked different each time."
A grandparent in the UKVerified
- Ages
- 18 months to 6 years
- Why It's on the List
- A soft felt tree, a little over three feet tall, that hangs low on the wall where they can reach it. It comes with velcro ornaments and a string of lights. They decorate it, strip it bare, and decorate it again. The whole toy is the exact thing they spend December being told not to touch, which is why they never get tired of it. No glass, nothing that breaks. (The lights are the only batteries on this entire list. I let that one slide.)
- Why I'd Actually Thank You for It
- If you've ever spent December saying "not the real tree" forty times a day, you already know. Last December I lost two of my grandmother's glass ornaments to a toddler, both in the same week. This gives him his own tree, so he leaves ours alone. I'd frame the receipt.
- Still Out on the Rug in February?
- No, and I'm not going to pretend. It goes in a box in January. But it's the only thing on this list with a deadline, which is why I told my mom to order it first. It needs to go up on December 1, not show up on the 20th. And then it comes back out every year after.
3. Montessori Geometric Eggs
★★★★★ 4.8 out of 5, 1,149 reviews
"We are very pleased with the geometric eggs, my granddaughter really enjoys opening and closing them, they are a good size for her hands."
Ela M.Verified
- Ages
- 12 months to 3 years
- Why It's on the List
- Six eggs in a carton, each one opening to a colored shape inside. The halves have to go back together the right way, and they click when they do. So the toy tells him he got it right, not me. Most shape sorters need a grown up saying "no, the other hole." This one corrects itself, which means he keeps trying on his own.
- Why I'd Actually Thank You for It
- The carton. Every piece has a home. You would not believe how much of my day goes on fishing tiny toy parts out of the couch. Toys with somewhere to live stay in my house. Toys without one quietly don't.
- Still Out on the Rug in February?
- It changes as he does. Opening and shutting first, then matching, then naming colors out loud while he sorts. It's basically three gifts in one carton.
4. Montessori Farm Animal Set
★★★★★ 4.8 out of 5, 55 reviews
"Love these, my 2 yo grandaughter finds endless ways to play with them. Great for teaching colors, animals, fine motor skills."
E***BVerified
- Ages
- 1 to 5 years
- Why It's on the List
- Twenty smooth animals and farm pieces sized for small hands. No buttons, no voice telling him what the cow says, so he does the voice. That's the difference between this and the talking barn toys. Sorting colors at one, counting at three, full farmyard drama at four.
- Why I'd Actually Thank You for It
- It's the one thing both my boys play with together, which in my house is rarer than sleep. The little one sorts, the big one narrates. And the barn doubles as the storage box, so it all goes back in at bedtime.
- Still Out on the Rug in February?
- Pretend play is where toddlers stay the longest. Once the cow has a name it isn't a toy anymore. Wyatt's pig is currently named Gary and has a job at the post office.
5. 7-in-1 Montessori Cube
★★★★★ 4.7 out of 5, 93 reviews
"Perfect for keeping babies entertained in public."
D***lVerified
- Ages
- 12 months to 3 years
- Why It's on the List
- Seven activities across six sides: a dial, a slider, a mirror, a rope toggle, a puzzle, a windmill, and an animal that rolls out. Everything is built into the cube, so there's nothing to come off and nothing to lose. It fits in one hand.
- Why I'd Actually Thank You for It
- It lives in my purse. It's for the five minutes in the checkout line at Target when everything else is in the car. And it's small enough to wrap without a giant box, which grandmas appreciate too.
- Still Out on the Rug in February?
- He gets bored of a side, not the toy. Turn it over and there's something he hasn't done yet.
6. Sensory Fruits & Veggies Sorting Set
★★★★★ 4.7 out of 5, 128 reviews
"Perfect gift for my granddaughters first birthday. The colors are bright and the size is perfect for toddlers! Kiddos will learn while they play. Good quality toy that will last. Oh, and it's washable!!"
Q***PVerified
- Ages
- 6 months and up
- Why It's on the List
- Sixteen soft fruits and veggies with crinkle and rattle inside, plus colored baskets to sort them into. It's the opposite of the hard plastic play food most babies get. Everything is soft and crinkly, so a baby can chew a strawberry and nobody has to leap across the room.
- Why I'd Actually Thank You for It
- This one was for the baby cousin. My sister Meg's little girl, Rosie, is seven months old, and every grandma knows the struggle of buying for the baby when the toddlers get all the fun stuff. It's washable and it packs into its own bag, which her mom will quietly love you for.
- Still Out on the Rug in February?
- What she does with it changes as she grows. Chewing and squishing now, sorting into baskets later. Same set, new reason to reach for it.
What It Looks Like When Grandma Gets It Right
Before I sent my mom the links, I did what I always do and read the reviews, specifically the ones from grandparents. These three made me laugh, because they're exactly what I want my mom to hear back from me.
"My son and daughter in law love it!! They were very impressed I had even heard of your company because my daughter in law adores you!! You made this old lady look good, so thank you!!!"
Lisa T.Verified
"I am in Florida and they are in Buffalo so I have not been able to see first hand how Clara likes the book....but her parents send rave reviews!"
Beverly B.Verified
"We bought this busy board for our grandson's 1st birthday. Having received many gifts on the actual day, we didn't know if he liked it or not, but according to his Mom & Dad, he absolutely loves it and it's one of his favourite toys."
JudithVerified
Mom, If You're Reading This
If you only buy one thing, make it the Busy Board. It covers the most ages, it comes everywhere with us, and it's the one my boys still reach for. If there's room for two, add the Christmas Tree, and order it first, because it's the only thing here that's pointless if it shows up late.
If you live far away, everything on this list makes sense to a toddler without anyone showing them how. You can ship it straight to their house and trust it to do its job on Christmas morning, even if you're watching on FaceTime.
If you see them every week, think about keeping one at your house instead. Toys that only exist at Grandma's are magic for exactly that reason.
Orders take about a week to arrive. That feels like forever away in September. It feels very different on December 15, when every delivery estimate starts creeping later. My mom ordered at 9:15 the night I sent her the list, and her plan is to have it all wrapped and in the hall closet by Halloween. There's a 30 day trial too, if something turns out not to suit.
And one last thing, from the mom side. One gift they actually play with beats five they open. We always remember who sent the one that's still out on the rug in February.
(If you're a mom reading this, send it to your mom. That's what it's for.)
SavannahMom of 2 boys under 5
Savannah shares real family life with her two boys. This list features products from Toddla.