Smart Gifting: Holiday Gift Guide for Kids

With the Holidays fast approaching, your shopping cart is going to start filling up. Here at The Thrive Group, we want to help you fill it with the best possible games and activities for the young people in your lives!

For ages 3-6

• • Fine Motor Skills: If the child on your list is working on increasing fine motor skills, I advise Magnetiles , Play-Doh, lacing activities, and marble racers.
  • Vestibular Input: If the child on your list needs vestibular input, look for a sit and spin or any style spin toy seat. Vestibular input is what your body receives when you experience movement or gravity. Some children desire more vestibular input than others.
  • Memory: If you are working on increasing memory, cognition, or turn taking, try a memory matching card game or Robot Face Race.

For ages 7-10

• Fine Motor Skills: If the child on your list is working on fine motor skills try Legos, puzzles, or Think Fun’s Traffic Jam Logic Game. Maze Balls require fine motor skills and a great amount of emotional regulation.
• Vestibular Input: If they are in need of vestibular input, and increasing gross motor skills, try a balance board.
• Auditory Processing: Bop It is a great game for improving auditory processing and hand eye coordination, as well as bilateral skills.
• Patience: Find It games can be relaxing, require less motor skills, and improve patience.

 For ages 10 & up

• Motor Skills: If the child on your list has typical motor skills try a challenging puzzle, origami kit, or jewelry kit. Again, K’nex or Legos would be a good option in this age group to boost creativity and fine motor skills.
• Tech and Logic/Problem Solving: For your techy teens Think Fun’s game of coding puzzles Hacker will get them thinking like a coder, hacker, and a security engineer. Also by Think Fun Escape the Room will work on logic and problem solving.

Happy shopping!

This post was written by Krista Caines, OTAS, a fieldwork student, currently studying at Jefferson University to become an occupational therapy assistant. She spent eight weeks shadowing at The Thrive Group.