Happy Holidays! Our child therapist-approved gift guides are here to inspire you to choose gifts that foster genuine connections and emotional well-being. Whether you’re shopping for your own children, nieces and nephews, or the kids of friends and family, our Holiday Gift Guides have something for every age group.
From games that promote cooperation and teamwork to books that explore emotions and differences, we’ve handpicked a collection of gifts that are not only fun, but also contribute to the growth and development of the young ones in your life.
So, let’s dive into our selections of gifts! Starting with toddlers:
Toddler Gift Guide
- 1 Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
- We love predictive text!
- 2 Playmobil Fairy Playground
- Helps develop fine motor and language skills as children manipulate the pieces.
- 3 LR Big Feelings Pineapple
- Builds preschoolers’ social-emotional learning skills with every face they make!
- 4 LR Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog
- Builds fine motor skills with chunky, peg-shaped pieces that fit to the back of this friendly hedgehog. Spike can also be used for occupational therapy exercises!
- 5 Llama Llama’s Little Library
- We love predictive text!
- 6 Playmobil Shovel Excavator
- Helps build fine motor skills by stacking the bricks.
- 7 Peek-a-who?
- Helps toddlers work on making different sounds.
- 8 Learning Resources Number Pops
- Builds number and color recognition and also early math and fine motor skills.
Kids 4-6
- 1 Hoot Owl Hoot!
- This game helps kids learn simple strategies and places focus on following directions and taking turns.
- 2 Concept Kids
- Helps kids practice describing skills, deductive reasoning, and listening comprehension skills.
- 3 Classic Legos
- Enhances kids’ creativity, construction, and engineering skills.
- 4 Slimy Sand
- This slimy sand provides a sensory experience that relieves stress and strengthens fine motor skills!
- 5 Hexbug Nano
- Hex bugs and tracks promote creativity and learning with these toy building sets and are the perfect sensory toy for kids.
- 6 Headbanz Junior
- Younger kids will develop their deductive reasoning skills with the game’s simple question and answer method.
- 7 Outfoxed
- We love how this game supports group problem solving, strategizing, and listening to your partners.
- 8 Magnet Tiles
- These help develop a strong sense of color and geometrical shapes while practicing creativity.
- 1 Different- A Great Thing to Be
- This story is about a young girl who doesn’t quite fit in with her classmates.
- 2 A Boy and a Jaguar
- Great story about being a voice for others.
- 3 Aaron Slater Illustrator
- This is a story about a kid with dyslexia.
- 4 Ricky, the rock that just couldn’t Rhyme
- This book focuses on phonemic awareness.
- 5 When Things Get Too Loud
- A story about sensory overload.
- 6 Sammy Goes to Speech
- Sammy learns new ways to develop his speech and language skills with the help of a SLP.
- 7 Waiting is Not Easy!
- Patience is something we all struggle with!
- 8 What If, Pig?
- This story is perfect anyone who has ever had a worry.
Kids 6-8
- 1 Max and the Midknights
- Magic and (mis)adventures abound in this hilarious illustrated novel.
- 2 Labyrinth
- Labyrinth uses a clever board design to create a series of ever-changing mazes.
- 3 Jenga
- Just about everyone will enjoy this fun, challenging game.
- 4 Captain Underpants
- Author, Dav Pilkey, has dyslexia. These are a hit with boys!
- 5 Playmobil City Life Hospital Wing
- Playmobil is notorious for imaginative play.
- 6 Gnomes at Night
- This game is great at developing kids’ effective communication skills while using descriptive language.
- 7 The Girl Who Thought in Pictures
- This is a picture book about a girl diagnosed with autism.
- 8 Tightrope
- Tightrope is a great way to practice fine motor skills, impulse control, frustration tolerance, planning and prioritizing, and flexible thinking. AND it’s super fun!
Kids 8-10
- 1 Cat Crimes
- Kids practice critical reasoning and logical deduction as they solve challenges.
- 2 Scattergories the Card Game
- Kids practice quick thinking and fast word retrieval skills while having fun.
- 3 Distraction
- This game strengthens kids’ working memory and improves their recall.
- 4 Fluxx
- Flexible Thinking! A brilliant card game with ever changing rules!
- 5 Connect 4 Spin
- This game is great for strategy, flexibility, and frustration tolerance. Spinning the board is incredibly satisfying!
- 6 Superfight
- Kids practice their reasoning, debate, and descriptive language skills.
- 7 Headbanz
- Kids will develop their deductive reasoning skills with the game’s simple question and answer method. They will also practice their critical thinking skills by coming up with questions that will lead to answers!
- 8 Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
- This is a social card game that will keep your mind guessing!
- 1 The Westing Game
- This book is full of word games, disguises, and multiple aliases to keep kids guessing!
- 2 Extreme Dot to Dot
- These coloring workbooks stimulate kids’ minds while entertaining.
- 3 Pax
- A novel about the powerful relationship between a boy and his fox.
- 4 A Kind of Spark
- This book unpacks what it means to have autism.
- 5 Caleb and Kit
- A story about the meaning of friendship and coping with disability.
- 6 Hummingbird
- Olive is tired of being seen as “fragile” just because she has brittle bone disease.
- 7 Stuck
- Austin, the new kid in school, struggles to read.
- 8 Roll with It
- A young girl has to suddenly be the new kid at school— who’s also in a wheelchair.
Kids 10+
- 1 Abducktion
- A weirdly strategic duck kidnapping game using mind-bending, shape-finding logic!
- 2 Chasing Lincoln’s Killer
- This is a fast-paced thriller about the pursuit and capture of John Wilkes Booth.
- 3 I’m a Little Crabby
- This is a great game to focus on teamwork.
- 4 Forbidden Island
- This game enhances strategic thinking, problem solving, and cooperation.
- 5 3D Puzzle
- 3D puzzles support a child’s development as they play while building skills such as concentration and creativity.
- 6 Al Capone Does My Shirts
- This is a historical fiction book with a hint of mystery about living at Alcatraz not as a prisoner, but as a kid.
- 7 Coup
- A game of strategy.
- 8 Betrayal at House on the Hill
- This is a tabletop game of strategy and horror.