Best toys/games for special needs toddlers

[freeindeed]

I am thinking ahead to Christmas. I need ideas for my dd4 (she is visually impaired & developmentally delayed & has limited verbal skills.) Any thoughts/ideas?

[PeterPan]

Hmm, well I don't know about visual impairments and whether it works for that, but the Richard Scarry games have been good in our house. There's Busytown (love, love, love!) and Airport. Both have a lot of ways to bring in language, work on turn taking, basic vocabulary, etc. There's also a Curious George at the Beach game we've enjoyed a lot. These are games we take to speech therapy and she uses with ds because they're good at a lot of levels.

 

We like Playmobil, especially our playmobil barn. Again, I got it for our speech therapy sessions. I take it and they can play for an entire hour. She'll put all the pieces (the people, animals, wheelbarrow, foods, etc.) into a bag and they'll take out one at a time, talking about it and adding it to the story. Lots of language, turn-taking, and useful words.

 

For a little girl, she might like play food. We're sort of nutso for play food around here. ToysRUs has nice play food. You buy it in bags buy type. We have a lot of veges, but they have fast food, whatever you like. They have a really nice toaster and stand mixer set that is fun. I got my ds a play kitchen for $20 a few years ago on Black Friday. It was at Meijers. It has burners that turn on, an oven, the whole nine yards.

 

Hmm, maybe these are off base and you need something different? Have you looked at Melissa and Doug stuff? They have a pizza kit that is fun and a similar birthday cake set. It uses velcro, has rather large pieces, won't use a lot of fine motor or require precise vision, and will give you a way to work on language. You can spend a lot of time assembling the cake, putting on the pieces, cutting it, serving, eating. Lots of language you can work on there. We've taken ours (both types) for speech therapy.

 

We've never used it, but the Leap Frog frig magnet things are supposed to be nice. I take that back. Our speech therapist used it during his eval iirc.

 

Fisher Price makes a wonderful set of Peek a Blocks http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-G8683-Alphabet-Blocks/dp/B00064MUJE/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1346641584&sr=1-1&keywords=fisher+price+alphabet+peek+a+blocks We've gotten a lot of use out of ours. I think they go in and out of production. Maybe they'll make them again for Christmas? That price seems a little high to me. Each thing in the blocks moves, so they're very fun. The train goes around the mountain, things squeek, etc.

 

Have you looked at Timberdoodle? I think ToysRUs has a differentiated abilities toy catalog, or at least they used to.

[freeindeed]

Thanks for the great ideas.:) Toys R Us still has that catalog. I am on the mailing list & should receive the new one soon. We have a couple of Melissa & Doug toys & we love them. I also found a game called Monster Toss when I researched ideas online yesterday & I'm definitely going to buy it for her.

[PeterPan]

Have you seen a plasmacar? If you have a smooth floor where she can use it, it's a TON of fun. Here's one at a super-fabulous price!

 

http://www.amazon.com/ProSource-Premium-Red-Wiggle-Scooter/dp/B005MJWXMM/ref=sr_1_8?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1346693655&sr=1-8&keywords=plasmacar

 

Well fooey, the reviews are saying the cheap one isn't as good. Don't know. Looks just the same, so it probably is? Search amazon for Plasmacars. :)

[hmvaughan4]

I love Lakeshore Learning. I ordered a lot of manipulatives/games/toys for my developmental preschool classroom. I am a developmental therapist now for early intervention and I use a lot of "typical" toys. The difference is the language that I use and being deliberate about taking turns, sharing, etc. Lego Duplo also has a new line called Read and Build. Each set has a board book and blocks. The book has a story and directions to build items from the book. We have the farm book and it builds a cow, pig, rooster, and sheep.

[PeterPan]

Oh my goodness, that Read and Build sounds fun!! :)

[Ottakee]

Check out some preschool stuff at http://www.timberdoodle.com

[freeindeed]

Thanks, all. Great ideas!

[wonderchica]

You can do a lot with this stacking ball

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LSZVJQ/?tag=hyprod-20&hvadid=15473531379&hvpos=1o2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12731452662143853976&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&ref=asc_df_B000LSZVJQ

 

I like the Melissa and Doug chunky puzzles at that age. They can put the pieces in or use them for imaginative play.

 

BioPutty is fun for sensory stuff. You can use it as paint, but we always just mixed it up to a wet silly putty consistency and played with it

http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?product=2873

[Jennifer-72]

Some games and toys that got lots of therapy use at our house:

 

Feel and Find

 

The Cat in the Hat I Can Do That game

 

Lotto games - good way to label lots of language

 

Melissa & Doug Sandwich Stacking Game - lots of ways to use this game for gross motor development and for following multi step instructions

 

Melissa and Doug animal magnets - can target receptive language, direction following and expressive language.

 

Puppets

 

I also found it helpful to have lots of props for acting out songs like five little monkeys swinging in a tree. Ds really enjoyed gathering them all up and requesting me to sing with him. Songs were really helpful in getting him talking.

 

Maybe a sounds bingo game would go over well.

[dtsmamtj]

Check out some preschool stuff at www.timberdoodle.com

:iagree: