Wooden Stocking Fillers Under £20

A broken eggshell, and the little dragon that hatched from it, asleep right across the path. Whether it wakes up friendly is up to whoever is telling the story. It isn't in any of the sets, so it never doubles one they already have. One solid oak tile, 120 mm square and 13.5 mm thick, with the arrow joint that fits any other tile. £17 on its own, or £15 each with two or more pieces, so two tiles each stay under £20.

A small golden key, and an old tree with a very small door. As its page says, a fairy door is a question with a keyhole in it, and this one opens wherever the child decides: find the key, and the next tile drawn from the bag is what lies behind the door. It is in no set, so it is always a new place on the path. Solid oak, engraved, ebonised with iron and vinegar so only the lines turn black, and oiled.

A unicorn with its head down to drink, at a quiet pool among the trees. Who is the unicorn waiting for? That is the game: draw it from the bag, join it to the path and say what happens there. The pool is in no set, so it never doubles one they have, and if they already have the wood, its hoofprints lead nicely down to the water. One solid oak tile with an arrow joint; two or more pieces are £15 each.

For a child who doesn't yet have a set, the bookends start one for under £20: the first page engraved with their name at £19.95, or reading simply “Once upon a time…” at £14.95, with The End and the cotton drawstring bag that every set is drawn from. Put a tile in the basket too and the bookends are £10 less, so the first page, a tile and The End can share a stocking. Solid oak, engraved, ebonised and oiled, like the tiles.

A turtle in sixteen pieces of timber: a hexagonal padauk shell, osage side plates, a walnut head and four zebrano feet, on a beech-wood shore. The pieces slot together only when hands slow down and notice the grain, which is rather the point. Children can rebuild the shell, or mix the colours into a fantasy turtle, counting from one to six as they go. No paint at all, just natural oils and waxes over the hardwood.

For a house that already has one of our tracing boards. Four styluses, two in pale oak and two in dark walnut, each 95 mm long, cut from solid dowel, sharpened to a rounded point and finished like the boards, in a cotton drawstring pouch. A brother or sister can trace alongside, and there is a spare for the one that goes missing under the sofa. Made by us in the UK, and they fit every Oak & Sprout tracing board.

Forty illustrated cards of fairies from around the world, to match in pairs, drawn from the book A Natural History of Fairies by Emily Hawkins and Jessica Roux. The 28-page booklet that comes with it doubles as a field guide to the fairies, with their habitats, dwellings, distinctive features and habits. A quiet game for Christmas afternoon, when the table is cleared and there is time to sit down together.

A pocket-sized book of spell-poems by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris: the barn owl, the red fox, the grey seal, the silver birch, the jay and the jackdaw, each written to be read aloud and painted in brushstrokes. Its page calls it a present for adult and child alike, and it is small enough for the toe of a stocking. Read one on Christmas morning, and keep the rest for the winter evenings after.

For the walk after Christmas lunch. A rhyming 32-page paperback that sets off on a hunt for natural treasure, from prickly pine cones to swirly snail shells, then tells you more about each find in illustrated nature notes. It is written to get children outside and exploring, on a nature hunt the whole family can join. By Moira Butterfield and Jesús Verona, and at £5.43 the smallest thing in this guide.