Happy Holidays!
We are so grateful to our wonderful clients. All of us at Miracle Farm Speech Therapy and Kids Therapy Partners consider ourselves blessed to work with you and to have such a rewarding job. We wish you peace this holiday season and hope that you all get a chance to enjoy time with your family. Please find below a list of suggested toys, games, and gift items that we have personally recommended to Santa! We hope you like them!!
Games:
–Go Go Gelato This great game by Blue-Orange games challenges all cognitive, math, and language skills. This game is suited for ages 6 and up.
-Bumparena This amazing game by Cranium Games is a great way to work on strategy and planning. It involves building somewhat of a pinball machine, adding bumpers on each turn. There is a lot of movement and fine motor involved which keeps kids engaged.
-Bounce Off This game by Mattel is involved bouncing ping pong balls into appropriate holes to create a pattern. It is fun, includes movement, and can be modified to work on articulation or language because you can put pictures under each hole.
–Get the Picture This game by Mindware is like a dot to dot on steroids. It incorporates skills for visual closure, visualizing, writing, and counting. It is recommended for ages 8 and up.
–Super Duper Inc. has a couple of great games available. One of them is called Word Joggers and it looks at many aspects of language (multiple meanings, opposites, categories, describing). Cool in School is a game that focuses on social skills and problem solving, specifically related to things that come up at school
-Diggin’ Doggies This game incorporates auditory integration and listening skills. Instead of rolling the dice or spinning a spinner, the player has to listen to how many times the dog barks in order to know how many places to move forward. This game is recommended for ages 3 and up.
–Princess Cupcake Party We love this game for fine motor as well as sequencing, directions, and FUN! Boys and girls all love this game of constructing cupcakes.
-Quizoo (by Blue Orange Games) is another great one to work on concepts of order, superlatives, and other skills related to number line, comparatives, right to left, etc. Kids love this card game that compares all kinds of animals.
-Buzz Blast A great group game that works on all facets of language and articulation in a fast paced pass-it game. Kids love it and it would make a great gift for any teacher (2nd grade and up)
-Cranium Brain Breaks Another great group game and a great gift for teachers! This game has over a hundred 5 minute games for the brain! So fun!
-View Master is back!!! This old favorite toy is back and you can now buy discs. Children love looking into these binoculars to see 3-D pictures. You can buy discs for any of your child’s favorite topics. Great for having children describe what they see!
-The Classics! Sometimes nothing beats the classics such as ‘Don’t Break the Ice’, ‘Kerplunk”, ‘Sorry’, ‘Pop up Pirate’, ‘Zingo’, and ‘Hullaballoo’.
Active Toys:
-Rocket Balloons
-Toss Across- the giant tic tac toe game with bean bags and a board
-Plasma car- available through Amazon for $41.99, this is a great ride on toy!!
-Hula Hoop
-Sizzle seats- available through Amazon, these are great for kids who need to fidget.
-Bubbalooka- This new bubble toy makes “bubble snakes” and encourages airflow, volume, and breath stream.
-Stomp Rockets- Blast Pad
-The Bounce Pro 7 foot “My First Trampoline”- Just like the one in the office. It is a bargain for the endless fun it provides. Available for around $129
-The Giant Yogibo!
– Mesh and Marble Fidget- These are great little fidget toys that are being used in schools to help with attention and focus.
Books and Apps:
-Pete the Cat books- Truly a favorite with all kids!!!
-Press Here- by Herve Tullet (Just a great book!!!) He has others and they are all great!
-Pogg (app for kids)
-Bit Breaker (app)- One of the greatest apps ever created!!! It involves a lot of movement and is great for a day that the kids are stuck indoors.
-Head’s Up (app)- Fun for the whole family!!!
-My Play Home (app) – store, school, and home apps that are great for teaching routine, daily activities, and sequencing.
-A great book for parents to use with elementary age/adolescents is ‘How to Make and Keep Friends’ (Tips for kids to overcome 50 common social challenges) by Nadine Briggs and Donna Shea
-Social Rules for Kids- another great book by Susan Diamond, MA, CCC-SLP
-Good Dog, Carl and all of the Carl books are wordless picture books that are great for having your child tell the story and practice narrative language. This is a great gift for the dog-loving family!
Pretend Play:
The Playmobile Advent Calendar- this is the greatest advent calendar that allows you to collect a thematic group of Playmobile as you enjoy opening a new box from Dec. 1st-Dec. 25th!
Kids love to open a purse. Why not get them their own. A children’s purse (or get one from a second hand store- even better!) with a variety of gadgets inside makes a great gift. Fill it with a pretend phone, hairbrush, makeup brushes, old keys, some jewelry, and pretend money. The ideas are endless!!
Cash Register, play food (we love Melissa and Doug), grocery bag, apron, and hat-these items will create an amazing grocery store and hours of fun exchanging words and using skills such as counting, describing, and categorizing.
Play Mobile Wild West Set- Nobody seems to play Wild West anymore!! This Play Mobile set it the greatest. It comes complete with a cactus, rattlesnake, and bag of money! It would be a great gift along with one of my favorite Western stories; Bubba the Cowboy Prince!
Star Wars costumes, super hero costumes- Why not?? Kids love to dress up!! Super Heroes are very popular and are girls and boys!!! It is a great way to teach good vs. evil!!
Doctor’s kit- Putting band aids on your Teddy Bears and bandaging up your dolls is a lost art. Why not give a doctor’s kit?
Insta Snow continues to be one of my favorite items for winter. Mix up some pretend indoor snow and gather your little people or figurines! They can have their own winter wonderland!
For Babies:
-Sweetooth baby teether (teether that smells and is shaped like an ice cream) Made with all safe materials. Check it out at www..babysweettooth.com
-Chewelry Necklace- Baby Go Round in Hampton Falls has a beautiful selection of this jewelry that mom’s can wear and babies can chew!!
-Baby Mirror
-Massaging teether by Nurtureland
-Infantino Textured Multi Ball Set
We all wish you health and happiness in 2018 and remember this quote:
