2024 Holiday Gift Guide!

‘Tis the season for giving! Here are some of my favorite toys for every age group! I’ve listed skills that each toy can highlight and why they’ve made this list! Happy gifting to you and yours!

0-6 Months

High Contrast Socks - At this age, a mini-milestone to look out for is reaching for the feet! Having something interesting to reach for will allow baby to develop core strength and coordination

Tummy Time Mat - Encouraging tummy time and keeping it fun and interesting is a great way to aid in baby’s development. Tummy time is integral in developing core and upper extremity strengthening, developing oral musculature for feeding, and encouraging visual development

Crib Aquarium - This is a great go-to for babies that have a head turn preference. Place the crib aquarium on the non-preferred side and allow baby to enjoy the sights and sounds!

Rattle that Lights Up - This rattle is magic! It promotes age appropriate grasping patterns, switching hands, and lights up! It is so engaging and encourages visual tracking! The mirror on the bottom of the rattle is also a great motivator for baby!

Play Mat - Encouraging floor play in different positions (back, tummy, and side lying) is so beneficial for baby! The Lovevery play mat grows with baby and allows them to develop from high contrast cards, to reaching for hanging objects, to developing cause/effect with noisy toys.

Teethers - Teethers that are stick shaped are great for developing grasping patterns and provide great foundation for pre-feeding skills. Teethers can be used to introduce purees and promote biting on the lateral sides of the mouth, as well as developing tongue lateralization

Tummy Time Mirror - Making tummy time more fun and engaging will go a long way! Babies are not vain, they just love seeing themselves! Adding a mirror to your tummy time routine will promote a longer duration and quality tummy time. This mirror also includes high contrast cards to keep babies interest

6-12 months

Music Set - A music set is great for this age as it promotes cause and effect for cognitive development, provides a great sensory experience, and promotes development of a variety of grasp patterns and bilateral coordination skills

Push Walker - The push walker is something that babies at the lower end of this range can grow into. I like this push walker because it is heavy enough that it will not tip when baby is pulling to stand. For younger babies, playing at a vertical surface will promote core strength in seated posture. Playing in tall kneeling is also beneficial for core strengthening, shoulder girdle strengthening and hip strengthening

Pop Tubes - Pop tubes are great for developing hand strength, bilateral coordination and tactile processing skills. They can also connect, making them a great way to create loops for introducing pre-writing strokes and facilitating dressing practice by placing the loop overhead.

Pop-up Toy - Pop up toys are great for developing a variety of grasp patterns and facilitating cause and effect learning.

Ball Pit - Ball pits are amazing sensory tools! They provide tactile input necessary to improve body awareness and regulation. Climbing in and out of the ball pit will also assist in motor planning, and upper extremity and core strengthening.

Kids Couch - A couch is a great way to allow your baby to climb, sit, and crawl over surfaces. This facilitates gross motor skills, strengthening and sensory processing skills

Tunnel - Tunnels encourage crawling, sequencing, and sensory development. Crawling is a key milestone necessary for reflex integration, crossing midline and sensory development. Make reaching this milestone fun and engaging!

12-18 months

Ball Tower - This ball tower is great for facilitating upper extremity coordination and control. It allows your toddler to practice voluntary controlled release, and addresses fine motor and visual motor integration skills, as well as introduces tool use with the hammer. It can be easily graded to use without the hammer to push balls down. It also facilitates visual tracking skills.

Cube Blocks - A simple cube block set is great for this age! It can help facilitate a voluntary release pattern and upper extremity coordination and control. Toddlers should be able to stack 2-3 blocks, and this toy can grow with them as they will soon be able to imitate block designs and ideate their own structures.

Climbing Play Set - Climbing and crawling at this age is so helpful for proprioceptive processing, strengthening, and gross motor development. I love that this activity center can be adapted and changed to keep toddlers engaged and challenge their ability to problem solve.

Egg Toy - This egg toy is one of my favorites to use for therapy for all ages! It promotes visual motor integration skills, bilateral coordination skills, fine motor coordination and visual perceptual skills. It is awesome to use with obstacle courses!

Piggy Bank Toy - This piggy bank toy is great for developing fine motor and visual motor skills. It is a great precursor toy for functional skills like managing buttons

Kitchen Tower - This kitchen tower is amazing! I love that it folds away so we don’t have to have it in our kitchen at all times. More importantly, it keeps our daughter busy when we are cooking. Helping in the kitchen is great for developing functional skills like fine motor skills, bilateral coordination skills and sensory processing skills. Your toddler can also help with tasks like washing vegetables at the sink.

Simple Puzzles - Simple puzzles are great for developing grasp patterns, improving visual motor integration skills and problem solving

18-24 months

Felt Story Board - This felt story board is great for developing upper extremity strength facilitated through play on a vertical surface. Fine motor skills are also at play to place and remove objects. You can grade this activity by encouraging play in tall or half kneeling positions as well! This is also great for building language, labeling, and making animal sounds!

Rock Crayons - Rock crayons are great for promoting age appropriate grasp patterns. Smaller writing utensils will promote both hand division and development of hand arches necessary for a tripod grasp. At this age, it is appropriate to start introducing pre-writing strokes like horizontal and vertical lines.

Play Doh Starter Set - Play doh is great for developing fine motor and bilateral coordination skills. Introducing play doh scissors, stamps and rollers are a great way to encourage age appropriate fine motor and academic skills.

Pickler Climbing Tower - The pikler is great if you have space in your indoor play area! It promotes motor planning, body awareness, proprioceptive processing, vestibular processing and problem solving. At this age, developing core, upper extremity and hand strength is a must!

Easel - This easel is great for this age! Writing on a vertical surface is great for encouraging wrist extension, which is necessary to develop appropriate grasp patterns. Writing on a chalkboard also provides increased tactile feedback necessary to learn pre-writing strokes and letters. This easel also comes with magnets to promote fine motor strengthening.

Water Wow Books - Water wow books are great for on the go! They promote fine motor coordination, activity endurance, and visual processing skills.

Reusable Sticker Books - These are great for on the go! They promote fine motor coordination and precision, as well as visual skills. They are great for developing language and story telling concepts as well.

Preschoolers

Fruit Cutting Set - This is great for bilateral coordination skills, visual perceptual/motor skills and tool use

Busy Board - This is another great on the go toy! Practicing zipping, buttoning, snapping, buckling and introducing tying. Making self care skills fun goes such a long way!

Car Roller Coaster - This car roller coaster is awesome for gross motor skills, core strengthening, and provides increased vestibular input and proprioceptive input to push and pull the car to set up

Outdoor swing - The richest sensory experiences are formed outside. This outdoor swing provides vestibular input and proprioceptive input via the netting, such a perfect option for sensory seekers!

Magnetic Puzzle - This puzzle is great because while it is not interlocking, it does require significant visual spatial skills as the pictures are not shown in the slots. In addition, the fishing pole provides a fun way to add movement opportunities into a fine motor task It also promotes bilateral coordination to remove the puzzle pieces from the magnetic fishing pole

Squigz - My favorite toy! Squigz can be played on the floor, in the bathtub, on the fridge or dishwasher, on windows, etc They are awesome for developing fine motor strength, bilateral coordination, and ideation. Another toy that can be graded and your child can grow with

Peek-a-boo Farm - This farm toy promotes fine motor skills, bilateral coordination skills, language skills and finger isolation

Pre-K

Magnatiles - Magnatiles are great for this age as constructive play is emerging. Magnatiles will promote ideation, visual spatial skills, bilateral coordination skills and fine motor skills

Hippity Hop - Hippity hops are great for developing core strength, vestibular processing and regulation given the rhythmic movement it provides

Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game - Games with rules are great to start playing to address turn taking, social skills, motor planning and emotional regulation. This game in particular is great for fine motor coordination and strengthening as well

Kinetic Sand Kit - Kinetic sand is great for developing tactile processing skills, fine motor coordination and ideation

School Aged

Tricky Fingers Game - This game is amazing for visual motor integration and fine motor coordnatoin skills

Q-Bitz Game - This game is great for developing visual motor integration skills, visual spatial skills, and problem solving skills. You can grade it down by allowing one child to play, or grade it up and make it a race!

Bop It - The 90s are so in right now and I am loving Bop it! So great for auditory processing, motor planning, and overall coordination skills!

Marble Run - Great for ideation, fine motor coordination, visual motor integration, bilateral coordination, force gradation, visual tracking skills