The holidays are upon us! During the holiday season, we know how hard it is to come up with gift ideas for all the little ones. Looking for ideas for presents for your kids, grandkids, cousins, etc.? The best type of toys to buy are ones that provide both educational value and fun!
If you’re looking for the best holiday gift ideas, keep reading. All of the toys in this holiday gifting guide are recommended and approved by The Therapy Place therapists.
Below, we’ve broken down the best holiday toys into categories based on the skills they help children build. You’re bound to find the perfect gift below!
Toys for Reinforcing Fine Motor Skills
The following toys make the perfect holiday gift for children to have fun while working on hand strengthening and fine motor skills.
Wiki Stix: Made of non-toxic, food-grade wax, Wikki Stix are a fun and inexpensive toy perfect for kids ages three and up. These sticks allow kids to work with their hands, shaping the wax sticks into all different shapes and configurations. This is also a great toy to take on the go for kids who benefit from fidget toys.
Cupcake Pinching Game: The Cupcake Pinching Game is a fun game for kids to improve their fine motor skills using a mini muffin tray. Not only do they work on color recognition, sorting, counting, and early math skills, but kids also improve their fine motor grasp by playing this game. (Great for kids ages three and up!)
Peg Game/Hexie Motor Skill Turtle Toy: The Hexie Motor Skill Turtle Toy is a fun peg game, voted one of the best Christmas toys for toddlers. This peg game comes with 12 colorful hexagons that kids can grasp, working on their fine motor skills. It also helps children improve counting skills and color recognition too!
Super Sorting Pie: The adorable Super Sorting Pie features jumbo tweezers which help kids improve their fine motor skills. Children work to sort objects across a plastic pie plate, helping them with hand-eye coordination, sorting, patterns, and more.
Toys for Reinforcing Gross Motor Skills
The following toys are great to reinforce gross motor skills for kids of all ages.
Scooter Board: Scooters Boards are a classic toy that kids have enjoyed for years! There are dozens of fun games using scooter boards, helping kids improve gross motor skills, body awareness, and movement skills.
Swing: A saucer tree swing is another fun idea allowing kids to explore the outdoors and improve gross motor skills. If your kids need a break from screen time, get them outdoors on this heavy-duty disk swing or hook swing.
Skip It: The Skip It never goes out of style! You might have had one of these yourself as a child. The Skip It is great to improve jumping and coordination skills for kids of all ages.
Pogo Stick: Every kid needs a pogo stick! Pogo sticks help improve coordination, jumping skills, balance, and more.
Toys for the Sensory Seeking Child
The following toys are great for sensory-seeking children, helping them explore movements, lights, colors, sounds, smells, and more.
Wrapper Snappers: Kids who seek sensory touches will enjoy playing with Wrapper Snappers, colored pop tubes that bend and stretch. This inexpensive holiday gift would make a great stocking stuffer!
Water Beads: Non-toxic Water Beads offer a great toy for sensory exploration, providing squishy feeling kids enjoy touching. Kids will stay engaged for hours, finding new ways to play with water beads.
Kinetic Sand: Kinetic Sand is a great toy idea for kids to explore the sensory feelings of sand while exploring their imagination and creativity. Kinetic Sand never gets old, with fun ways to make shapes with sand, using various molds and modeling tools.
Sit N Spin: The Sit N Spin is a fun way to improve balance and coordination through active play. Children seeking the sensory experience of spinning will have a blast on this toy, great for kids 18 months and up.
Rice Box Toys: Rice Toy Boxes include many tools, like tongs and scoops, which allow kids to explore their touch sensations. Children also improve on imaginary play using rice box toys.
Bean Bags: Kids love sitting on bean bags and enjoying the sensory feeling of sinking into a bean bag chair. This is a one-holiday gift idea you know they won’t outgrow anytime soon!
Body Sock: A Dynamic Body Sock offers a calming sensory experience that wraps around a child’s whole body. The body sock helps improve body and spatial awareness for sensory-seeking children.
Finding the Best Holiday Gifts
With these excellent holiday gift suggestions in mind, you won’t need to worry about the hassle of finding the best toys for the kids in your life. These toys are great for children of all ages, providing an exciting way to advance educational skills. Whether you’re looking for a sensory-seeking toy or an all-around educational toy, you can’t go wrong with these highly-recommend holiday toy ideas.
The links to buy each toy are embedded throughout this article, so all you have to do is click. Check out our toy list on Amazon and buy through our associate’s account!
Leave a Reply