Three-year-old Amelia tests seven top Christmas toys for 2025, finding imagination beats hype

A mother conducted a hands-on review of seven popular Christmas toys for 2025 after scouring wish lists and product videos. Her three-year-old daughter, Amelia, tested each toy without instructions or expectations, revealing which items held her attention and spurred imaginative play. The seven toys ranged from magnetic tile sets to screen-free communication devices, and the mother noted that Amelia’s responses consistently prioritized imagination and interactive storytelling over sheer novelty. Amelia often paused to ask, “You want to play with that?” a refrain that underscored which items invited ongoing exploration.

One standout was CONNETIX magnetic tiles, a 102-piece set priced at $99. Amelia opened the box and instantly let her imagination roam. She built a dollhouse one moment and a castle the next, snapping pieces together and planning layouts. The tiles are lightweight, sturdy, and brightly colored, and they snap together easily, making them ideal for travel and small spaces. Amelia’s play repeatedly shifted between structures, with her strategies to fit pieces together sharpening planning and problem-solving skills. The tester’s hands-on approach showed how the tiles promote spatial reasoning and sequencing, while encouraging open-ended pretend play. By morning, she woke up eager to resume building, a sign that the activity bridged rest and play. The experience aligned with studies suggesting that simple, open-ended toys can support memory, self-control, language development, and social-emotional growth, especially when children invent roles and scenarios rather than follow set instructions.

The Bluey Supermarket Playset, priced up to $49.99, appeared on multiple must-have lists and delivered a hands-on narrative for Amelia. The multi-level market includes more than 15 pieces, exclusive Bluey and Bingo figures, and 24 sounds and phrases. As boxes opened, Amelia explored the escalator, loaded carts, and navigated shelves, often narrating her own grocery adventures over the built-in intercom. The set encouraged cooperative play and cooperative problem-solving as she manipulated the shelves and imagined shopping trips with Bluey and Bingo. Her storytelling extended to imaginary scenes at Hammerbarn, a nod to fans of the show, highlighting how the design supports imaginative play and fine motor coordination through realistic textures and interactive features.

The Micro Maxi Foldable LED Scooter, priced at $169.99, represented a longer-term investment in mobility toys. The scooter is designed to grow with a child, offering adjustable handles to accommodate ages well into the early teen years and a three-wheel design for stability. In a test run around a small office space, Amelia glided with growing confidence, and the scooter’s lights added an extra layer of engagement. Its foldable frame and light weight made it convenient for travel, and the sturdiness gave parents reassurance about daily use. The assessment highlighted how durable, age-spanning equipment can extend interest across multiple holiday seasons, a useful consideration for families seeking lasting value from a single purchase.

Little Live Pets Ouchies Retriever, priced at $59, offered a softer, nurturing experience. The plush dog arrived with a limp and a ‘magic cast’ that kids could apply to help heal the pet, with a personalized touch that Amelia quickly adopted by renaming the dog “Lucy.” The toy invites caretaking play as children wrap, bathe, and later uncast or reposition the pup, which responds with soft barking and movement. The toy’s six-inch approximate height makes it approachable for small hands, and its tactile fur provided a comforting, cuddly experience that complemented the pretend medical care Amelia performed. The activity demonstrated how caregiver-led play can develop empathy and responsibility in early childhood, even in a toy context.

The Bluey and Bingo Chat Mates, priced at $15 each, delivered quick access to familiar voices. These six-inch-tall figures respond when their noses are pressed, repeating lines from the show and enabling children to rehearse dialogue and social interaction. For Amelia, the figures served as a reliable, independent play option that still encouraged collaborative storytelling with a parental figure or sibling. The simple mechanism made them durable for everyday use and easy to operate, which matters for younger children who enjoy repeat play and self-directed exploration.

GUI GUI, starting at $9.99, is marketed as a slime kit for older kids, but Amelia’s curiosity led to hands-on testing under supervision. The multi-step process begins with unboxing, then adding a booster to “get glowing,” decorating with charms, and finally revealing a hidden figure inside the slime. Initially, the slime was very sticky, but the booster transformed it into a softer, more manageable dough-like texture. The experience offered a sensory, tactile mode of play that held Amelia’s attention through the transformation process, illustrating how even products aimed at older audiences can provide meaningful, age-appropriate engagement when supervised and adapted. The kit’s progression—from unboxing to reveal—also introduced basic project-management concepts like sequence and timing in a playful context.

Tin Can, priced at $75, presents a screen-free approach to staying connected. The WiFi-enabled device supports child-to-parent communication via a companion app, with features such as contact management, quiet hours, and built-in 911 support. Parents can choose between calling plans that connect to other Tin Can devices or to standard phone numbers. The product nods to nostalgia for older generations while offering a modern, offline-compatible communication method that reduces the impulse to reach for a smartphone. For Amelia, the device offered a gentle bridge between toy and real-world communication, showcasing how technology can be integrated into play without the screen exposure typically associated with digital devices.

Across the seven toys, the review found a common thread: items that encouraged imagination, collaboration, and hands-on exploration tended to keep Amelia engaged longer than those relying on novelty or digital features alone. The evaluator emphasized that the best picks invited her to imagine, invent, and play alongside a caregiver, rather than simply perform a predefined sequence. Amelia’s repeated questions, curiosity about how each toy could be used in her own stories, and preference for open-ended play underscored the study’s broader point: toys that cultivate creative storytelling and problem-solving may offer broader developmental benefits in early childhood.

The holiday shopping season often centers on top-down endorsements and hype around “the must-have” items. This informal, toddler-tested review suggests that parent and child priorities can diverge from retail campaigns. For families weighing what to buy, the takeaway is clear: open-ended, imaginative play experiences—whether with modular tiles, interactive figures, or simple, screen-free communication devices—tave the potential to support cognitive, language, and social-emotional growth in meaningful ways during the crucial early years. As Amelia’s play sessions show, when a toy invites a child to imagine, plan, and invent, it becomes less about the product’s popularity and more about the moments of discovery, shared storytelling, and the learning that happens along the way.