Toys and Games for the Holidays

By the Occupational Therapy & Speech-Language Departments
December 7, 2009

The Occupational Therapy and Speech-Language Departments at the League School of Greater Boston hope that you find this list of suggested toys and games useful this holiday season. We have chosen to group the items into two main categories: promoting independent play and promoting cooperative (i.e., group or social) play. Within each category, you will find items that address a variety of motor, sensory, and language areas and a broad range of abilities. Please use your knowledge of your child’s strengths and challenges when investigating these suggestions before purchasing.

Promoting Independent Play
Sensory Exploration
Crayola Model Magic Fusion
Fascinating Pin Art (Toysmith)
Insta-snow®
Koosh balls
Moon Sand
Non-Stop Top (Can You Imagine)
Uncle Milton’s Moon in My Room
Twilight Ladybug

Fine Motor Skills & Finger Strength
Crayonball™ Crayons
Cube Burst (Magnif)
K’nex
Legos
Hello Kitty Fortune Cookie Maker
Lite Bright (Hasbro)
Pop Bead People (Klutz)
Model airplanes or cars
Spyro Gyro Pen (Hog Wild)
Write & Learn Desk (VTech)

Visual Perceptual Skills (including handwriting and cutting skills)
Etch-a-Sketch (Ohio Art)
Highlights® Hidden Picture Books
I Spy books and games
Spore for Wii and Nintendo DS
Magna Doodle (Ohio Art)
Perfection (Milton Bradley)

Motor planning (including timing and sequencing body movements)
Bop It (Hasbro) Bulls-eye Baseball (Hasbro)
Fun Slides Carpet Skates (Simtec) Screwball Scramble (Tomy)
Dance Maker 2 Dance Machine Little Big Planet for PSP or PS3
Power Chutes (Rokenbok) Rhythm Heaven for Nintendo DS
Marble Run with Motorized Elevator (Quercetti)
Speed Stacks Competition Cups Stack Pack (http://www.speedstacks.com/)

Language Development
Cranium WonderWorks Talking Picture Book (Hasbro)
Dora Links Doll (Fisher Price)
LeapFrog Tag Reading System & Jr. Book Pal (LeapFrog)
Write & Learn Desk (VTech)

Organization
Learning Resources® Time Tracker Timer and Clock
Melissa & Doug® Magnetic Responsibility Chart

Promoting Cooperative Play
Sensory Exploration
What’s In Ned’s Head? (Fundex) Gearation (Beyond Play)
Cranium Cadoo Texture Dominoes (Beyond Play)
Sock’em Boppers Set or Sock’em Bop Buddy (Big Time Toys)

Fine Motor Skills & Finger Strength
Gassy Gus game (Fundex) Mancala
Operation (Hasbro) Dino Xcavator (Uncle Milton)
Kerplunk (Mattel)

Visual Perceptual Skills (including handwriting and cutting skills)
Perfection (Milton Bradley) Cranium Matching Madness
Cranium Balloon Lagoon Splatster (Fisher Price)
Pictionary Junior (Hasbro) Aftershock! (Learning Express)
Battleship (Hasbro)

Motor planning (including timing and sequencing body movements)
Barrel of Monkeys
Bop It (Hasbro)
Cranium Hullabaloo
Electronic Hot Potato Game Elmo’s Hot Tomato Game
Qwirkle (Mindware)
Cosmic Catch (Hasbro)
Wii Fit (Nintendo)
Gnip Gnop (Fundex)
Jenga (Hasbro)

Language Development
Apple to Apples (Mattel)
Bananagrams (Banagrams)
Cranium Cadoo (Hasbro)
Cranium Hullabaloo (Hasbro)
Cranium Whoonu (Hasbro)
Elmo’s Hot Tomato Game
Guesstures (Hasbro)
Imagine If (Buffalo Games)
I Spy Seeing Doubles (Briarpatch)
Last Word (Buffalo Games)
Scattergories (Hasbro)
VisualEyes (Buffalo Games)
Zingo! (Think Fun)

For even more ideas, check out toysrus.com, which includes suggestions for differently-abled kids. Ableplay.org is another web resource that allows you to search for and read reviews of toys based on disability, age, and category.

Happy Holidays from OT & Speech
 

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