Its the last day of our Holiday Shopping Guide Series and today is dedicated to toys that will be fun for the whole family! One of the best experiences a child can have developmentally is the opportunity to learn from, grow with, and interact with their parents and/or other loved ones!
Peaceable Kingdom Stack Up
This game is great because its three levels of difficulty make it easy for it to grow with your child. Its an award winning game that centers around tower building, which can be a great activity for developing fine motor and visual motor skills.
Best for Ages: 36 months - 5 years
Skills Addressed:
Color Matching
Hand Eye Coordination
Cooperation
Following Directions
Fine Motor Skills
Visual Motor Skills
Turn Taking
Where to buy: Find it here, on Amazon
The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game
This game focuses on fine motor skills, so OTs love it!. Similar to Hi Ho Cherry-O, players attempt to fill their tree with nuts, but they use a little squirrel that is actually tongs. So great for fine motor skills and hand strength!
Best for ages: 3-5 years
Skills addressed:
• Fine Motor Skills
• Color Identification
• Matching
• Turn Taking
• Cooperative Play
• Hand Strength
Grasping Patterns
Where to buy: Find it here, on Amazon
Peaceable Kingdom Feed the Woozle
Another great game for fine and gross motor skill development! Use a spoon to feed the monster his snacks. It has 3 levels and lots of fun ways to play!
Best for Ages: 36 months - 6 years
Skills Addressed:
Body Awareness
Fine and Gross Motor Skills
Counting
Turn Taking
Following directions
Where to buy: Find it here, on Amazon
Peaceable Kingdom Willy’s Wiggly Web
We love Peaceable Kingdom’s board games, and this one addresses scissor skills! Awesome! It also addresses a lot of other developmental skills including cooperative play, following directions, counting and more!
Best for Ages: 36 months - 6 years
Skills Addressed:
Turn Taking
Following Directions
Fine Motor Skills
Gross Motor Skills
Cooperation
Bilateral Coordination
Scissor Skills
Where to buy: Find it here, on Amazon
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
Based on the popular book, this game is an fun game that helps children with counting and developing find motor skills. The object of the game is to get your five monkeys on the spring-action bed before it pops. Sure it bring on lots of fun and laughter!
Best for Ages: 36 months - 8 years
Skills Addressed:
Fine Motor Skills
Counting
Hand Strength
Hand Eye Coordination
Cooperative Play
Where to buy it: Find it here, on Amazon
Dr Suess What’s in the Cat’s Hat?
In this game, one player, hides a household object inside the hat. The other players use questions, clues, and the hat’s exploratory features to guess what it is!
Best for Ages: 36 months - 15 years
Skills Addressed:
Identification
Problem Solving
Vocabulary
Tactile Discrimination
Turn Taking
Social Skills
Where to buy it: Find it here, on Amazon
OgoSport Super Disk
One of the most fun gross motor toys around, the Super Disk is can be a giant frisbee or a bouncy racquet for tennis balls, Koosh balls, and even water balloons! Hours of endless fun!
Best for ages: 36 months - 10 years Skills addressed:
Visual Motor
Throwing and Catching
Hand Eye Coordination
Gross Motor Skills
Trunk Rotation
Where to buy: Find it here, on Amazon
Avalanche Fruit Stand
Any game with tweezers or tongs is a great game for fine motor development and pincher grasp to prepare kids for handwriting and this one is so much fun! Spin the wheel, then use the jumbo tweezers to pick or place fruit. Also game also helps to reinforce color and fruit vocabulary.
Best for Ages: 36 months - 10 years
Skills Addressed:
Following Directions
Turn Taking
Visual Discrimination
Fine Motor Skills
Pincher Grasp
Hand Strength
Color and Fruit Identification
Where to buy: Find it here, on Amazon
Frida’s Fruit Fiesta Game
Another great game with tongs. In this game, there are three spinners, which provides more opportunities for visual scanning and more fun! Matching letters during the game also helps with letter identification.
Best for ages: 4-6 years
Skills addressed:
• Fine Motor Skills
• Visual Scanning
• Letter Identification
• Turn Taking
• Hand Strength
Pincher Grasp
Where to buy: Find it here, on Amazon
Robot Face Race
Adorable game for visual scanning! Everyone scans for the robot face that matches the game example. First one to find it wins that around. Simple, fun, and perfect for developing visual skills. What more could you want?
Best for ages: 4-8 years
Skills addressed:
• Visual Perceptual
• Visual Scanning
• Visual Discrimination
• Turn Taking
• Color Identification
Where to buy: Find it here, on Amazon
Cat in the Hat I Can Do That!
Simple game that addresses a lot of great skills including following directions, gross motor skills, and body awareness. Kids will have a lot of fun balancing, crawling, leaping, and skipping with the the crazy props. This helps keep kids with shorter attention spans entertained, and helps to motivate kids who don’t enjoy gross motor movement.
Best for Ages: 4 years - 8 years
Skills Addressed:
Balance
Bilateral Coordination
Body Awareness
Following Directions
Turn Taking
Where to buy it: Find it here, on Amazon
Cranium Hullabaloo
Hullabaloo is a great game to get the whole family moving. Kids bounce, spin, and jump between the colorful pads, all while learning new shapes, colors, and words. Its also great for following direction skills. All the activities are so fun, even the parents will want to get up and move!
Best for Ages: 4 years - 10 years
Skills Addressed:
Gross Motor Skills
Motor Coordination
Visual Scanning
Following Directions
Vocabulary
Identification
Where to buy: Find it here, on Amazon
Touchy Feely
Your child will use their sense of touch to reach into the covered container and feel around for the object their card. Such a great game for tactile discrimination!
Best for ages: 5+
Skills addressed
Sensory Perception
Tactile Discrimination
Turn Taking
Fine Motor Skills
Where to buy: Find it here, from Marbles the Brain Store
Ker-plunk
Such a great game for fine motor skills and developing appropriate grasping patterns. Simple to play too, simply place the sticks in the container, then pull them out, without letting your marbles fall into your compartment!
Best for Ages: 5+
Skills Addressed:
Problem Solving
Turn Taking
Find Motor Skills
Grasping Patterns
Where To Buy: Find it here, on Amazon
Apples to Apples Junior
Apples to Apples Junior is the game of hilarious comparisons! Based on the popular card and party game, Apples to Apples, this Junior version gives kids hilarious, fast-paced fun while also building their vocabulary and thinking skills.
Best for Ages: 9 years +
Skills Addressed:
Turn Taking
Vocabulary
Problem Solving
Where to Buy: Find it here, on Amazon
Hedbanz
With Hedbanz, kids use their heads in more ways than one! By using deductive reasoning to figure out the answer, kids build on their imagination and memory skills. And since each player asks and answers questions, everyones involved from beginning to end!
Best for Ages: 7 years +
Skills Addressed:
Deductive Reasoning
Social Skills
Turn Taking
Memory
Vocabulary
Where to buy: Find it here, on hedbanz.com
Spot It
Another great game for visual scanning! Between any two cards, there is only one matching symbol, find it and you’re the winner! This game helps develop visual scanning skills, which are so so important for reading, writing, and every day life!
Best for ages: 6 - 10 years
Skills addressed:
Visual Discrimination
Matching
Visual Discrimination
Turn Taking
Visual Scanning
Cooperative Play
Vocabulary
Where to buy: Find it here, on Amazon.
Learning Resources Crocodile Hop A Floor Mat
Kids roll the cube and learn numbers, colors, shapes and counting then hop to a spot. Great for cognitive skills and gross motor skills!
Best for Age: 4+
Skills Addressed:
Following Directions
Turn Taking
Visual Discrimination
Problem Solving
Fine Motor Skills
Identification
Where to buy: Find it here, on Amazon
We have had so fun much sharing our shopping guides this week! Please let us know if you have any questions or any toy suggestions to share with us. Be sure to check out our shopping guides for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and school aged kids as well. Also, don't forget to like and share our Facebook page. The drawing for the Visa Gift card will happen tomorrow at midnight!