While the holidays are about a lot more than gift giving, they are a great opportunity to grab some new games and toys to support your child’s learning, development, and therapy goals! We put together the following list for inspiration when shopping for your child, as well as to share with grandparents, relatives, and friends who are looking for skill-building gift ideas to support your child’s development!
Sensory
- Kinetic Sand
- Tactile input, motor planning, fine motor skills
- Slime Kit
- Tactile input, motor planning, fine motor skills
- Body Sock
- Tactile and proprioceptive input for calming
- Thinking Putty
- Tactile input, motor planning, fine motor skills
- Squiggle Wiggle Writer
- Tactile input, fine motor skills
- Silly Straws
- Proprioceptive input, oral motor skills
- Finger Paints
- Tactile input, fine motor skills
- Whistles
- Oral motor input and coordination
- Pop Toobs
- Auditory input, bilateral coordination
Fine Motor Skills
- Suspend (ages 6+)
- Hand-eye coordination, social skills, body awareness, force modulation, grasp
- Operation (ages 6+)
- Grasp, hand strength, fine motor accuracy, impulse control
- Honey Bee Tree (ages 3+)
- Hand-eye coordination, fine motor dexterity, grasp, hand strength, social skills, turn-taking
- Lacing beads (ages 3-5)
- Visual perceptual skills, grasp, hand strength, bilateral coordination, hand-eye coordination
- Sneaky Squirrel (ages 3-6)
- Hand-eye coordination, color matching, turn-taking, social skills
- Squeezy Tweezers (ages 3+)
- Use in sensory bins, fine motor control, hand strength, visual perceptual skills
Gross Motor Skills
- Mini trampoline
- Proprioceptive and vestibular input, postural control, endurance
- Foam Pogo Jumper
- Coordination, balance, postural control, proprioceptive input
- Hippity Hop Ball
- Balance, motor planning, postural control, proprioceptive and vestibular input
- Jump Rope (ages 4+)
- Coordination, motor planning, endurance
- Scooter board
- Proprioceptive input, postural control, motor planning, balance, coordination
- Plasma Car (ages 2+)
- Coordination, motor planning, postural control
- Monster Stilts (ages 3+)
- Balance, coordination, motor planning
Motor Planning Skills
- Rush Hour (ages 8+) or Rush Hour Jr (ages 5+)
- Problem-solving, planning, flexibility, frustration tolerance
- Squigz (ages 3+)
- Spatial awareness, fine motor skills, problem-solving
- Twister (ages 6+)
- Body awareness, postural control, motor planning
- Crocodile Hop A Floor Mat Game (ages 3+)
- Following directions, jumping, balance, problem-solving
- Balance Buckets Stepping Stones (ages 3+)
- Balance, motor planning, postural control
- Mouse Trap (ages 6+)
- Problem-solving, flexibility, social skills, turn-taking, sequencing
- Maze Books (varies by age/difficulty level)
- Visual perceptual skills, impulse control, motor planning, problem-solving
Visual Perceptual and Visual Motor Skills
- Spot It! (ages 7+)/ Spot It Jr (ages 4+)
- Visual scanning, attention, pattern recognition
- Tangrams (ages 3+)
- Spatial relations, visual perceptual skills, problem-solving, flexibility
- Color/Paint by Number (ages 4+)
- Visual perceptual skills, pattern recognition, fine motor skills
- QBitz (ages 8+)
- Visual perceptual skills, memory/recall, pattern recognition, spatial relations/awareness