Okay parents, I know you want to make your kids happy for the Holidays. After parenting three children, one of which has sensory processing disorder, I have amassed a list of our favorite toys and activities. I can attest that not only will the following items bring laughter and joy to your house this season; they will work your children’s brains and bodies developing their cognitive, physical and emotional skills. Happy Holiday shopping; potential websites for ordering items are listed as well.
- Wok n Roll – this game requires finger grasping with “chop sticks” and grading/patience to pick up game pieces in moving bowls
- Mr. Mouth – a frog moves around in circle as the child tries to flick pieces into the frog’s mouth; nice for grading, fine motor planning
- Jump Rope – great for motor planning and vestibular input
- Snap-it-Up – a math card game my kids love; it can be tailored to the age of the math level of the child
- Blink – another card game that works visual, color and shape perception
- Slamwich – a cute card game that teaches sequencing
- Stacking blocks – the hollow kind, great for hiding treats under as they do floor work like crawling or creeping, or stacking for motor planning and sequencing work
- Wooden block puzzles – we especially like the ones shaped into animals with the alphabet on them
- Large cardboard blocks – perfect for building things and then crawling into them to knock them down, or crawling/creeping through a maze of set up by parent or child
- Hungry Hippos – a silly game that is just fun
- Nerf guns – we especially liked the ones that made noise, had lights and shot discs; good for getting one off the couch and moving
- Small wind-up toys – wonderful for building pincher grasp and for following around when creeping and crawling
- Light up small spinning tops some of which even scream as they spin – these work fine motor skills and eye tracking
- Large balloons, some of which scream when air is being let out – good for blowing which helps brain organization and calming
- Twister – this blast from the past helps with crossing the midline work, large motor planning and also inverts head at times which is vestibular work
- Bowling – life size plastic pins and medium size ball this is nice for working on grading and eye hand coordination
- Sensory balls – these medium sized, rubber balls with spikes on them provide tactile fun
- Old tire inner tube – blow it up, cover the valve with duct tape (to protect bodies and flooring) and put a blown up large exercise ball in it. A child can then sit on it and bounce while holding your hands. Or hang it outside from a tree and swing the day away
- Exercise ball – always nice for rolling on
- Hoppy ball – this is like an exercise ball but it has a handle for holding onto, sit on it and hop around the room
- Play Money and cash register – set up a store and watch them migrate to this old fashioned fun
- Straws and puff/cotton balls – so cheap and so good; sucking and blowing organize and calm the brain; this also teaches grading as they have to decide how hard to blow
- Regular/Crazy straws – suck up thick drinks and organize the brain. We used to suck jello up through regular straws; my daughter loved the fun of it and loved what it was doing to her developing brain
- Bubble blowers – what kid can resist these; these can provide tactile input (soapy water, bubbles) and once again blowing calms the brain
- Sit and spin – great for vestibular work; I like the one from Ikea that doesn’t have a handle in the middle so child can lay across the it or sit on it and spin
- Hanging pod swing – so nice for a secret place to go, also for vestibular work; always spin in both directions to “unwind” the brain
- Hanging wooden ladder for climbing – teaches motor planning and provides vestibular input
- Swing – hang in this in your house from plug in ceiling beam, or hang outside for daily vestibular input
- Gym mats – great for dancing, crashing, cartwheels, all kinds of fun
- Large pillows for crashing into and on – this activity provides nice good proprioceptive input especially for the child who likes to bump into things
- LARGE scarves or swaths of filmy fabric and clothes pins – perfect for creating forts, safe places to escape to, quiet corners to read, obstacle courses to crawl through, etc; if child does the set-up it is even more motor-planning fun
- Texture Box with small objects for hiding in texture – take a large plastic under-the-bed-box or similar tub, fill it with lots of dried beans or some other “texture” (even saw dust works nicely), then hide small cars, blocks, animals in the texture and have them find them. When you are done for the day, put the lid on it and slide it away until next time
- Texture Tent – our OT gave me this idea: take a teepee-style tent that has three or four sides and a floor (all one integral unit) and fill it with beans and then cups, ladles, bowls, spoons for pouring, sorting, playing with the beans.
- Shaving Cream – my kids can’t get enough of this. It provides such nice tactile work and seems to be so calming for some children. We like to squirt it on a large shower curtain in a safe area of house, or in a large flat plastic bin (remember your texture tub?) along with a turkey baster filled with colored water
- Playdoh – another oldie but goodie for motor planning and tactile work as well as providing proprioceptive input to the hands
- Hyper Dash and Hyper Slide – this works on crossing the midline, motor planning, sequencing, and auditory skills
- Hullabaloo – similar to Twister but with a recorded voice that calls out what to step on and how to get there (spinning, skipping, tiptoeing) this works large motor planning, auditory skills, and even vestibular needs
- Screwball Scramble – this is an awesome marble maze game for teaching motor planning, sequencing, grading
- Large Hama Bead design kits – so nice for fine motor planning and getting the craft juices flowing
- Large sheets of lycra fabric (buy 2-3 yards per sheet) – good for wrapping a child in to give deep input to their dysregulated system (note: not all children will like this!). Also can be used for clipping/tying to stools, chairs, coffee tables to create quiet spaces, hideouts/forts
- Lyrca BodySox – great for giving deep input to body and for “hiding in”/seeking a quiet space
- Scooter Boards – my house has two of these and I can tell you that I have not met many kids who do not come into our kitchen, hop on one of these and scoot away into the reaches of the first floor
Shopping Resources:
Your local parent teacher store or Independent toy store, and: