The season of filling stockings and exchanging gifts is here! Last year, we shared a list of gift ideas for ADD/ADHD/Autistic kids, and this year we wanted to help you pick out the toys that will enhance a child’s visual development.
Functional vision includes the entire visual system – the eyes, brain, visual pathways – and how they all work together to help us interact with our environment.
Here are some top optometrist-approved gift ideas for toys that are not only fun but will also help improve a child’s functional vision skills:
Building Toys
Building toys help children develop eye-hand coordination and visualization and imagination.
Roller Coaster Challenge – an exciting engineering challenge where players get to build their own roller coasters and amusement park! This game (Ages 6+) earned American Specialty Toy Retailer Association’s (ASTRA) Best Toys for Kids Award in the Logic Skills category and a National Parenting Products Award.
Fine Motor Skill Toys
Toys that help children develop visual-motor integration and fine motor skills, such as Origami Sets, Lite-Brite, Pegboard and Pegs Dot-to-Dot Activity Books, Finger Paints, Playdough/Silly Putty/Modeling Clay, etc.
Space Perception Toys
Space perception toys help develop depth perception and eye-hand coordination.
Jumpin’ Monkeys: Fun game that has been many people’s favorite for years, suitable for ages 5 and up, for 2 to 4 players.
Photo via: Pressman® Toy Skills Game
Other toys to explore in this category include Egg and Spoon Race and Flippin’ Frogs.
Visual Thinking Toys and Games
These toys develop visual perceptual skills, including: visualization, visual memory, visual discrimination, pattern recognition and sequencing – skills important for mathematics, reading and spelling, and more.
Color Cube Sudoku: Stimulating play and 3D logic puzzle make a perfect game for kids (Ages 8+) and adults. It is a Parents’ Choice Gold Award winner and a finalist in American Specialty Toy Retailer Association’s (ASTRA) Best Toys for Kids.
Kanoodle: This award-winning, brain-twisting game contains more than 100 puzzles, also great for hours of solo play with varying levels of difficulty to help develop problem solving, strategic thinking and spatial reasoning skills. For a more challenging game, there’s Kanoodle Genius or Kanoodle Extreme; for an easier version, go for Kanoodle Jr.
When selecting a toy or activity, be sure to align the gift with the developmental age, rather than the actual age, of a child, and, as always, give the best gift of all – good old-fashioned family time. Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones!
At Vision Development Center of Lancaster, we are passionate about offering therapy program that is based on the particular needs of an individual and includes natural treatment. If your child or someone you know is suffering from a visual dysfunction or has been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, or a learning disability, take steps now and let the journey to better health and quality of life begin today.
Call our office at (717) 656-0534 to make an appointment with our expert vision therapists for a professional evaluation, vision and ADD therapy, or click here to take our free symptoms survey.