….Following on from The Ultimate Hypermobility-Friendly Toy List (Part 1)
(This post contains affiliate links because I stand by the educational/developmental value of these products!)
Here are the remainder of my top picks for toys which keep the focus on skill building for children with hypermobility. Even if you don’t end up buying a single one of these items, perhaps you will be starting to learn the OT logic. A toy is great if it’s fun, but it’s amazing if it develops some kind of skill. And the more skills the better.
What an amazingly fun present to receive! Hours of endless fun could be had with o
ne of these cardboard cubby houses. I particularly like the Cardboard Rocket Playhouse (thinking of buying it for one of my favourite little boys). Think giant cardboard box, but in the shape of a rocket… They can paint it, colour it, stick things on it….
They come flat packed and apparently only take about 15 minutes to assemble (I hope with more instructions than you get with IKEA products)….. for hours and hours of fun skill-building fun.
What does it work on?
- Imagination.
- Play.
- Gross motor skills.
- Fine motor skills (decorating)
- ….Endless fun.
And best of all its made from recycled cardboard, so a) its environmentally friendly b) it’s super lightweight and c) it can be packed away for a few months if you are a ‘toy rotating’ kind of family.
You might wonder why I have chosen a doctors costume. There is a particular reason actually. Lots of kids with hypermobility conditions spend a lot of time visiting doctors throughout their lifetime. Therefore, I think it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to have a doctors dress-up costume at home for a couple of reasons:
- To desensitise your child with hypermobility (or any child) to the idea of going to the doctor, and the fact that they “examine” the human body and find out what’s going wrong or hurting or why they are sick.
- To help act out real or imagined scenarios, again for desensitisation but also it could be a good way of getting a younger child to communicate how they are feeling by playing “make believe doctors and patients”. You could role play with your child; you could take turns being the doctor and more importantly the patient. The “make believe” doctor could ask where something hurts or how the patient feels. A creative way of communicating with kids about pain & illness.
- It normalises doctors visits and the tools of the trade.
It’s also just fun to dress up (apparently!!) (Side note: I hated dress-up’s as a child and therefore have quite a limited imagination as an adult and don’t understand the concept of, nor the hype about fancy dress parties). It’s definitely a good way to build imagination, to introduce interactive play instead of parallel play, start talking about feelings and emotions, and the learning of body parts.
8. Pictopia Disney Game (might be hard to get!)
This one is for ages 7 plus (I can think of a few adults I know who would absolutely love this game!).
Why have I chosen it?
- Pure fun. It’s a board game/game you play with other people so there are always turn taking lessons, winning and losing lessons… and you never know – your child might learn something along the way that changes their life…. like the fact that Simba is actually the Swahili word for Lion (I bet you didn’t know that!).
- Board games are great for rainy days, pyjama days, and days where mobility is limited for whatever reason. It’s always handy to have these quiet time activities available at home.
P.S. If anyone I know gets this you can guarantee that I will be playing with them at some point in the near future.
9. Jimmy Jack 36 Piece Giant Puzzle – Dinosaurs (of course)
There is something about Dinosaurs that kids love. Big, scary, weird looking, really hard to pronounce names. Here is a puzzle for 3+ year olds to get into the dinosaur world.
Why are puzzles SO good?
- They use fine motor skills, visual perceptual skills and “big picture thinking” skills.
- They help with colour matching, learning colour names, learning straight edges and not-so-straight edges. This is often where kids first learn the idea of what a corner is (unless they have already been misbehaving and your family uses the naughty corner that is!).
As I said, there is something about Dinosaurs… especially with little boys. This one is for the 5+ age group. How cool. Mould your own dinosaur and then paint it….and make it glow in the dark. The only problem I can envisage is that your child may way to take said glow in the dark dinosaur to bed with them.
What skills is it building?
- Fine motor, fine motor, fine motor.
- Plus skills in waiting for things to dry
- colour recognition,
- dexterity…
- and blowing the imagination with the glow in the dark-ness.
Parents, be ready to answer questions about HOW things glow in the dark (if you work it out, please let me know too! Haha).
I was aiming for my top 10 toys for this Christmas…. but then I saw this. The Pic N Pop…. and oh my gosh, it had to go on the list, for sure. Do they make a grown-up version I wonder? You should follow the link and watch the video of it in action. It’s SO cool. I think my niece might be getting one from her Aunty this year.
What skills does it work on?
- Gross motor skills (balance, walking)
- hand-eye coordination
- cause and effect
- fun, fun, fun.
Go on, get your pic n pop on!
BONUS: Magna Tiles
My niece was given some of these for Christmas last year and wow, they are FUN. They are plastic tiles with strong magnets in the edges, allowing you (sorry, your child!) to connect them to each other to create amazing things like houses and castles and all sorts of fun objects.
What skills do they work on?
- fine motor
- imagination
- spatial awareness & logic
- colour recognition
- 3D awareness and creation
I wish they were around when I was a little person… good thing I have someone to play alongside who has them!
(This post contains affiliate links because I stand by the educational/developmental value of these products!)