The following is from my son’s BSC. I asked her what she felt are some of the best toys for kids with autism, intellectual disabilities or developmental delays, and she just started spouting off suggestions. From there, it evolved from a conversation and thankfully she was willing to turn it into a blog post!
She added a personal note that I’m not sure she wanted to be included, but I felt it should be, because I agree with the sentiments. I also want to add that many of these toys have therich, saturated colors that are preferred by kids with CVI or cortical visual impairmentfor other benefits.
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Best Toys for kids with Autism, Intellectual Disabilities and other Developmental Delays
I hope that your readers find this list helpful and not overwhelming. I feel like I could literally walk through a toy store and pull items off the shelves and talk through the good and bad about that particular toy per a specific child’s needs. I tried to keep these toys general, entertaining and educational all in one. This list is geared towards younger children with developmental delays or older children who are functioning on a lower level than their peers. I would suggest not reading too much into age ranges or what gender a toy is geared towards.
At the end of the day, who cares if an 8 year old boy plays with baby dolls when there is so much to be learned in the process and no worries when your little girl is having the dinosaurs stomping through the farm, eating all the sheep or if she’s hammering away at something special with the construction toys. Your kids are hard at work building and acquiring skills as they learn about the world.
Every yearToys R Usused to publish a shopping guide for children with special needs and every year I cringe when I see this list that may be driving the choices for toys that parents make. Not that it’s the worst list, but there’s no real help aboutwhyandhow. Now that I have children of my own, I have a real appreciation for the thought, energy and hard earned dollars that go into buying toys. With this perspective, I have made a point of talking to all of the families I work with this year about holiday shopping and hopefully helping them in any way I can in picking out toys that serve as many needs as possible for their children, while not draining the holiday fund completely for things deemed “educational” (which typically carry a heavier price tag). Furthermore, educational toys do not have to equal “no fun”. There are plenty of toys out there that are multipurpose, fun-fulfilling toys that are complete with a functional purpose that won’t leave you feeling that you may have wasted your money.
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Gifts for Children with Autism or Developmental Delays
I have been lucky enough over the years to work with some amazing co-workers. Without the teachers, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists and school psychologists who have shared their toy/play skills wisdom along the way, I would not be as helpful in toy areas. Also, to share credit where it is due, these toys are all inspired by the developmental assessments VB MAPP by Mark Sunberg and the ABLL’s R by James Partington. That said, this is not an autism specific list. This list of toy suggestions is for any child that may be developmentally delayed, visually impaired or other disabilities.
Disclaimer: I am not endorsing any of these brands or toys specifically. I just hope they inspire you to look at toys differently and that they help you pick out what is right for your children based on their interests, strengths and areas of need.
Best Puzzles for Autistic Toddlers
Fine motor needs are one of the easier skills to work into things you would typically play with. Every kid should be attempting puzzles and puzzle possibilities are endless. There is a range of skills that are addressed in puzzle play. From simple puzzles like a large knob, single inset puzzles to a foam puzzle set,where one foam piece goes into one small square. With this particular toy, you have tackled fine motor skills, cognitive matching skills and it also served the purpose of a simple compliance talk to be completed.
With this puzzle, children with autism and other developmental delays can work on:
- fine motor skills
- matching skills
- simple task to complete
Foam Puzzles
Foam puzzles are great for:
- fine motor skills because of the little bit of extra effort that foam affords you
- give you something to talk about because some of the animals are identifiable (a few are hard to make out) which gives you more possibilities in the way of purpose and function
Pop Beads for Sensory and Fine Motor
Pop beadsare a great fine motor toy for both putting together and taking apart. Again, you can incorporate skills that involve colors and shapes depending on the set that you find. Another nice feature is that they are reasonably priced, durable and usually in a decent container.
Pop beadsare a great toy for:
- fine motor skills
- putting together and taking apart
- can incorporate skills that involve colors and shapes
- reasonably priced, durable and usually in a decent container
Lacing Beads and Cards
Beads for stringing/lacing are also great for fine motor needs. When selecting your beads for lacing, I would suggest that you think “function” and “multi-purpose”. For example, beads to be stringed are great for fine motor skill and can usually be found on an IEP compliments of your occupational therapist. When you select your beads for stringing, pick ones that can be used different ways. You can use beads for sorting by color, shape, item, etc. Also, there are beads that have pictures on them or beads that are small objects and this will help prompt communication skills and language acquisition. Your child can request or identify beads by attribute, item, etc.
You can use beads for:
- sorting by color, shape, item, etc.
- some beads have pictures on them or beads that are small objects
- the child can request or identify beads by attribute, item, etc.
Real life toys to mimic every day life help develop language and cognitive skills.
“Real Life Toys” are toys that mimic every day life. Using real life versions of toys is a great way to promote language development, cognitive ID skills, pretend play skills and more. You can find all sorts of animals and dinosaurs that are tons of fun, and provide so much opportunity for skill building.
Using real-life versions of toys is a great way to:
- promote communication
- identification skills
- pretend play skills or life skills
Also, adding items to toys/activities you may already have such as kitchen items or baby doll items can make them educational.
- With kitchen items and baby dolls, there are a lot of functional imitation skills you can work on (with real-life objects, doing real life things), on top of the pretend play skills you are developing and the ID skills you are building with these toys.
- There is a lot of vocabulary that is functional and important to be used with these toys.
- You are now exposing and talking about everyday items and the actions that go with these toys with your child.
- Add some more food or a tea set to that kitchen.
- Consider getting your child’s baby doll a stroller, crib or highchair.
When you are adding food to that kitchen, keep an eye out for items such as the following:
Each of these can be found on Amazon at decent prices. They are great for pretend play in the kitchen, but they will allow practice with:
- fine motor skills
- communication
- cognitive skills
- colors
- shapes
- real life items
- matching and physically putting things together
- used as a tabletop activity for more intense teaching
- skill acquisition
Games for Taking Turnsand Socialization
When it comes to games, you should pick a focus. Do you want your child to:
- be involved with their siblingsin some way
- learn/practice turn taking
- improvecognitive skills
When it comes to games, you should pick a focus. Do you want your child tobe involved with their siblingsin some way,learn/practice turn taking, improvecognitive skills? If you ask yourself what you want out of a game, it may help you make a better choice when selecting games. Games likeHoney Bee TreeandCrocodile Dentistare great for turn taking and require minimal skills to participate.
TheMemory Gameis good for:
- cognitive and communication skills
- can be used outside the context of a game
- have your child match pictures as a tabletop activity
- to be done independently, or if your child is not currently able to match a picture to picture, you can use the Memory cards to work on this important matching skill
Light Up/Interactive Toys
Great For:kids with autism or vision impairments.
ThisFisher Price pigis a favorite for a number of clients of mine. The great thing about this pig is he is entertaining on his own. For a child who has minimal to no play skills, this is the kind of toy that is great to start with.
You’ve managed to hit your fine motor purpose by putting the coins in, but by adding just a few demands to a child with some basic play skills, you can easily tackle other areas such as compliance, color identification and even math skills, “put two coins in”.
Works on:
- fine motor purpose by putting the coins in
- color identification
- math skills, “put two coins in”
Leap Frog Leaping Lettersworks on:
- identify letters
- identify sounds
- very early learner is just working on putting something into something else
- gives instant feedback for “putting in” with sound
Leap FrogMy Discover House– This toy provides all of those fun sounds and lights that are always attractive on toys; that your child will probably love. This toy provides
- many communication opportunities
- fine motor opportunities because of how relatable the toy is to the natural environment
- For the beginning learner who has minimal to no play skills-touching the different buttons, such as ringing the doorknob and turning the light on, and teaching those cause and effect relationships that provide tons of entertainment.
- This same cause and effect relationship withlights and sounds will likely reinforce independent play
- talk about what you are playing with, where you can find those things around your own house
- continue buildingcommunication skills
Note: Since this was originally published, the My Discovery House has been discontinued by Leap. I am showing a resale option (and it’s expensive!) just so you can see what it looks like to look for it at yard and consignment sales.
Finding Educational Value in Traditional Toys
Legos/Blocks– Blocks and legos are just awesome, plain and simple. Kids are working on
- fine motor skills
- problem-solving
- improving cognitive skills
- imitation-can your child build the same three-piece building you have made?
- Can your child imitate banging on the table with that long yellow lego versus the tiny red one? Can your child request those blocks you’ve kept on your side of the table?
- Request any of them by color
And as far a multi-purpose goes, feel free to add legos and blocks to the list of things you have them sort and categorize. So much cognitive appeal here with these classic toys!
Melissa and Dougalso have a great selection of blocks.
Who doesn’t love a Doctor’s kit? Lots of pretend play skills to be had here. That baby doll is just waiting to get their shots and have their temperature and blood pressure taken.
It’s a toy that has always been around because it’s always been fun, and meanwhile, you are sneaking incommunication developmentby talking to your child about:
- what we do at the doctor’s office
- why we go to the doctor and
- what we find at the Dr.
- talk about what hurts
Mr. Potato Head– you can reinforce
- identifying body parts
- requesting those body parts
- help pushing them in because it’s not so easy for little ones that have fine motor delays
Shape Sorters for:
- fine motor
- problem solving skills
- identify or choose the pieces
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Books, Stickers, Sticker Booksfor:
- fine motor
- communication
- cognitive development
Books with large, easily identifiable pictures is a great way for you:
- to read to your child
- let your child be involved
- having your child identify those items and actions
- helps build their receptive and expressive vocabulary
- repetition
Books that are repetitive will help you work on your child’s communication skills.Brown Bear booksare a good option. Let your child fill in the “what do you see” parts, or any other part they might know.
Repetition is good!
Stickers are the ultimate stocking stuffer!
Stickers are an underrated item to be used for fine motor skills. Big stickers, little stickers, base it on your child’s needs and interests.
With sticker books, you can:
- categorize
- sort
- identify
- fine motor skills
Matching Puzzles
There are many different Match It puzzles out there. They range from puzzles that are simple 2 part puzzles (such as the heads and tails) to the higher skilled puzzles (such as counting and matching words to their pictures). Theskills addressed by matchingpuzzles:
- communication and cognitive skills
- matching
- associations
- sequencing
- usually cheap!
- independent task completion
I work with older children who work on these as independent activities at a table while their parents attempt to cook dinner or squeeze in a phone call.
Yard Sale Finds
If you come across the game,Hullabaloo by Craniumgrab it! It is so much fun and it tackles so many skills that have been discussed in this article.
It currently runs for $300+ on Amazon and I don’t think any game is worth that much, but if you stumble across it at a yard sale or resale event, don’t hesitate to buy it if all of the parts are there. (Blog owner’s note: I did see it oneBayfor $16, which is better)
Toys for Gross Motor Skills
- Make sure your child has balls to throw, kick and catch.
- Something to ride on or climb outside are also good options. This one is easier to save money on as a trip to the playground covers a lot of the gross motor skills that your physical therapist is likely targeting.
- If you have a child who is a sensory seeker, you could try a trampoline or swing in your home. But talk to your OT and PT first, let them get back to you before you install something in your home or invest in something that takes up a lot of space.
More Autism and Sensory Toys
No information provided here after the excessive details up above – but these all hit gross motor, fine motor, cognitive and communication skills.
- Bead maze
- Infantactivity table
- Activity cube
- Easel and chalk
- Sidewalk Chalk
- Wagon
- Tent
- Fisher PriceLittle People Toys
- Construction Toys
- Vehicles– all kinds
- Shopping cart
- Lawn mower
- Bead maze
- Infantactivity table
- Activity cube
- Easel and chalk
- Sidewalk Chalk
- Wagon
- Kid sized table
- Kid friendly book shelf
- House keeping toys
- Dramatic Play costumes
- Toy phones
- Riding toys (in the house)
- Riding toys (outside)
- Climbing toys (inside or outside)
- Basketball net/soccer net (inside or out)
- Balls (various kinds)
- Sand/water table
- Shelves and clear bins to house toys out of your child’s reach to encourage requesting and as a way to rotate toys out if you need to.
The last thing I want to do is sound preachy, I promise, so I apologize if that is how I sound. It’s not easy to play with your children as much as you would like with all of the things parents already have to do. If you aren’t sure where to start in teaching your child how to play with toys or if you aren’t sure if your child will like something, talk to your teachers. Other than you, there’s no better reference about your child.
So, happy playing and happy shopping this holiday season! Bridget McNelis, M.Ed, BCBA
Disclaimer: I am not endorsing any of these brands or toys specifically. I just hope they inspire you to look at toys differently and that they help you pick out what is right for your children based on their interests, strengths and areas of need.
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