Gift Guide for Therapy Toys

Seeing that it's Christmas time, I thought I would put together a gift guide. I can't believe it's well into December already!!! We, fortunately, are done our holiday shopping. I'm feeling very thankful to have this month to spend just enjoying our family and friends. May your cup runneth over this holiday season. And I probably mean with eggnog and rum, but love and peace works too.  

For those of you who still have some last minute shopping to do, I thought I would try to help. Hope these toys will work for someone on your list. Here are some of the toys that we have been using during therapy time with Hazel. These are mostly Occupational Therapy toys.

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Buying toys I always look for 3 qualities.

1. Developmental skills

2. Longevity

3. Fun

Keep this list in mind when buying for the kiddos on your list this year. These toys are not only great for children with Down syndrome but any child. These are skills all children will need to practice and toys that they will enjoy!!!

Lacing Beads

We started with the wooden spools and the big beads in the first set. Then we moved to the string lacing set. I did take some electrical tape and reinforce one end of the string to make it easier and more firm for Hazel to grasp.

Play doh

So many things you can do with this inexpensive toy. Also, make your own and it's even cheaper. We hide little objects or animals in the Play doh and Hazel digs them out.

Puzzles

Large peg puzzles are a great way to start and move onto the smaller pegs. We also use the puzzles that the doors open (hide and seek barn) and the latches board.

Lift Flap Books

ANY BOOK with lift flaps will do. Helps children to learn to isolate their finger to manipulate objects.

Duplo Lego Sets/Mega Blocks

Love these for pulling apart, building, and pretending.

Blocks

These are the best!!! Can be used for building, stacking, spelling. These will be around for a while.

Colouring/Crafts

We try to get Hazel to do this often. Practice with grasping the markers, working on her grip.

Sensory Play

We have not yet attempted this sensory activity yet. Hoping to get this from Santa!!! It was recommended by our Occupational Therapist as a great sensory play toy.

Pretend Play

Baby dolls, kitchen set, cupcake making set, the list can go on. Use whatever toys your child is interested in. We use a lot of Little People toys.

Slots

We use so SO many different toys for this skill. I feel like it takes a multitude of toys to master this skill. Each toy offering a different way to turn your wrist and put the item in the slot. We use buttons in a peanut butter jar, coins in a small plastic container, the fisher price pig, and on and on.

Occupational Therapy - What's in the bin?

  When Hazel and I do OT (Occupational Therapy) I like to have her sit in her high chair so that she gets used to more of a structured activity time. We are kind of always doing OT when we play just by doing puzzles, snap beads, pull apart activities, eating, dressing, reading etc. But I find that it's easier to introduce new skills and activities when her and I can both focus on one thing at a time. Once she has mastered the skill I take the toy and put it in "gen-pop" (general population with the rest of the toys).

Also, I try to give her as many different ways of doing the same thing that her therapist and I can think of (most of these ideas are her therapists. I just try to find things around the house that reinforce the concepts). For instance, building blocks. She has several different shapes, sizes and colours that she can practice with. Specifically, mega-blocks, bristol blocks, counting blocks, ABC blocks etc.

Here is what is in our OT bin at the moment:

We work on all these activities together. We try everyday but more realistically its probably 3 to 4 times a week.

We use the containers to put the toy into that we are done with. It's important to offer her a place for them so that she doesn't throw them everywhere. OT can be very messy....Yikes!!!

The little people toys are for teaching animal sounds or to use while we read books with the corresponding animal. Girlfriend likes props!

Play-doh for hand strengthening and putting pegs into. Sometimes we sing songs and make it into different shapes. For example, "Patty Cake". We roll it, pat it, and so on.

The textured surface for colouring just makes it more interesting because of the sounds when she colours.

As always I encourage you to share "what's in your bin?" I love to hear your ideas, thoughts, comments, questions. Please leave a comment!!!