One of the most common questions we get asked at the clinic is to share recommendations for gifts, activities, and games parents can get for their children for the holidays. There are so many options that can not only be fun but also help your child achieve their therapy goals. Last year, our therapists shared some of their favourite toys and activities and this year we wanted to continue this tradition!

Hollie’s Favourite OT Toy:

My favourite toy this festive season is the Magic Inductive Car Tank Truck Toy with Marker Pen! This wonderful resource is a fun and engaging way to develop your childs pre-writing skills and ability to copy and draw shapes using their marker. FIRST STEP the child chooses a pattern to draw, SECOND STEP the child places the car/truck on their line and THIRD STEP the car/truck moves along their line or shape that they have created! What better way is there to motivate our little ones to pick up a marker and practice their shapes. This resource will also be good for targeting pencil grasp, pencil control and attention to the task when copying shapes.

Allison’s Favourite SLT Toy:

I really love this game! Zingo has similar instructions as a classic bingo game, just with a bit more zing! Not only is fun for the whole family, but it addresses many areas of speech. It is a motivational way to learn new vocabulary and practice speech sounds as you play. It also can be a tool to initiate social skills like turn taking and commenting on the game, as well as practicing prepositions (placing the pieces ‘on’ the board, and the pictures coming ‘out’ of the Zingo). Zingo is a fast-paced game that will keep everyone involved and excited until one person covers their entire board and shouts ‘Zingo!’.

Amy’s Favourite SLT Toy:

One of my favourite toys is the Fisher Price stack and roll cups! They’re actually bowls, which makes them a great companion to any pretend food, for a pretend tea party or picnic to build pretend play skills! Not only can you use them as stacking cups/bowls, but you can put two together to make balls! I love hiding reinforcers inside the balls. It’s a great opportunity for kids to ask for help to pull the balls apart, since they can see inside the ball, but sometimes can’t pull it apart by themselves! You can use the balls for bowling, turn-taking with rolling the ball back and forth, or knocking down a tower of cups. Kids can request for the ball, request to ‘roll,’ ‘pull,’ or to ‘throw’ the ball. We’ve also been silly and pretended to use a bowl as a hat – you can work on ‘hat,’ ‘again,’ ‘silly,’ protesting (“No!” or ‘stop’), or spatial concepts (‘on’ or ‘off’ your head). Have fun with this versatile toy!

Emily’s Favourite OT Toy:

One of my go to items in any therapy session is an exercise ball. Kids love them and they are really versatile. These balls can be rolled, kicked and thrown to develop object manipulation skills or you can use them to develop balance and core strength by having the child balance on the ball while on their tummy, back or in a seated position. For kids with sensory needs these balls can be used to apply deep pressure and they can be used to help a child develop their ability to process vestibular input. Kids also love to use them as a musical instrument as they make a fun sound when you tap them. The possibilities are endless! The ideal ball size depends on your child’s height. Pick a ball that your child can sit on while their feet are flat on the floor.

Megan’s Favourite OT Toy:

One of my top toys is the Super Sorting Pie! Not only can you work on educational skills such as sorting pieces by colour, size, or shape, but the game also includes kids’ tweezers that can be used to retrieve the pieces. Tweezers and other similar resistive materials are great for improving muscle strength of the little muscles of your child’s hand and fingers. Using tweezers is also great for improving pencil and scissors grasp as well as learning to better isolate different fingers of their hand for manipulation tasks. There are so many fun variations and games you can play with this: “hide” the pieces around the room and have your child go “seek” them, have your child match the pieces based on colour while lying on their belly to improve core strength, or mix pieces by picking them up and releasing them into a container.

Fatima’s Favourite OT Toy:

This is my favourite time of the year where I get to buy lots of toys for myself…I mean for the kids! Some of my favourite educational toys that I really enjoy and recommend as an occupational therapist, are from SmartGames. For younger children (as young as 2 years old), I recommend the Bunny Boo, and for slightly older children (4-7 years old), the Little Red Riding Hood. All games from SmartGames work on visual perception, visual motor integration, spatial orientation, problem solving, and concentration. All of which are prerequisite skills to writing and many other school-related tasks. Each game comes with a large number of challenges, that will keep your kids busy for hours!

Click this link for information on how to play Little Red Riding Hood.  And here are instructions for Bunny Boo.