Hey! For your Christmas shopping, say goodbye to the stuffed animal.Giving purposeful and fun toys to children with special needs is getting easier. Toys “R” Us, for instance, provides an annual “Toy Guide for Differently Abled Kids,” complete with symbols that indicate the skill-building benefits of each toy.“I think it’s important to know what types of things a toy provides to a child - sensory, fine motor, gross motor (skill development) - and we can pass that on to the customer,” said Kathy Mabry, owner of Village Toy Shop in Canton and Easton.
Though it’s important for children with special needs to get toys they can use, it’s equally crucial they have fun playing, Mabry said.
“Our biggest mission is to try to get toys into the hands of kids with special needs that they can play with their friends and family.”
Here are a few great toy gifts for the differently abled child, also available at Amazon.com, just click on the names below:
• Gross motor muscles get a workout in the Jump ’n Slide Bouncer.
• Signing Time Videos encourage communcation for all children.
• See Me Sensory Balls are perfect for tactile stimulation and hand/eye coordination.
• Alex Toys Tissue Paper Art promotes sensory, tactile and artistic play. Comes with six self-stick patterns, 500 tissue paper squares in a rainbow of colors and four giant wiggly eyes.
• My Tabletop Easel has a chalkboard on one side and wipe-off board on the other, to help kids develop communication, fine motor skills, sequential thinking and spatial relations.
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