Holiday Gift Guide 2018 Part 2

We’re back with Part 2 of our therapist recommended toys for gifts and why they are recommending them! For those of you that missed Part 1 check it out!

• Yoga Spinner – This is another game that is fairly new to our clinic but it has been pretty popular! As many of you know, we love yoga and use it a lot. We’ve written about it before in this post and in this post. I’m not sure if anyone has actually used the yoga spinner game based on the rules but who needs the rules anyway when you can make up your own games! Here are a few reasons this game is such a hit:
  1. It lets the child feel like they are in more control when they get to spin the wheel and then pick from the correct deck color – also works on color matching!
  2. Yoga works on flexibility, strength, balance, coordination, body awareness, and motor planning (can they imitate the pose or do they need help to figure out their body position)
  3. Let’s you start with short time frames for kids that don’t like to stay still
  4. Can be incorporated into an obstacle course – when they get to the end they get to spin the spinner and do the pose before starting again

• Balance Bike – Strider (which is linked here) starts their balance bikes with a very small size for those little ones, and goes all the way up to adult size which makes it nice. There are lots of brands out there though, so don’t hesitate to look around for what works best for you. Here are some of the reasons our therapists use them:
  1. Clearly it can work on balance that will translate into bike riding as kids get the hang of the glide
  2. It also works on overall balance and core strength
  3. If you keep the seat low enough so that they can put their foot flat on the floor, it can help work on gait mechanics by allowing heel strike, foot flat, and then push off
  4. It allows for reciprocal leg movement (one leg at a time) which is great for activities like walking, running, riding a bike, etc

• Squigz – We’ve written an entire post about how much we love this toy! Besides all the ways we have used them for gross motor, here are some of the reasons our OT loves them:
  1. You can place small items (pom poms, beads, checkers) on top of them to work on fine motor precision and control as well as different grips/grasps
  2. You can suction cup them together and then pull them apart again working on using both hands together in a coordinated way
  3. If you have cotton balls sitting on top of them you can work on breath control by trying to blow them off
  4. If they are stuck on the window or mirror and hard to pull off, it encourages the use of a stabilizing hand to get more force with the hand doing the pulling
  5. For kids with less control of their movement you can place items on top and have them work to knock the items off as they gradually build up control and coordination of their hands and arms

• Gator Grabber Tweezers – Fine motor strength and control is often a concern and these tweezers can make working on this area fun! Here are some reasons why:
  1. You can pretend that the gator is hungry and you are feeding it by trying to pick up different objects to work on pinch strength
  2. You can strengthen by feeding the gators play dough, putty, or heavier objects like puzzle pieces – and then work on control by using the tweezers to put the puzzle back together
  3. Make it into a race – kids always love dumping things out of containers, get a bunch of pom poms or other small objects and see who can get the most back into the container
  4. Find small objects and work on sorting skills by putting all the colors together using the tweezers

We’d still love to hear your favorite toys/games and why as we continue to add to our list! More to come!