Gift Giving Guide: Ideas for Growing Minds

Look­ing for the per­fect gift or activ­i­ty for the kids in your life? We asked the experts — our Quin­cy Med­ical Group Pedi­atric Ther­a­py team! From our pedi­atric neu­ropsy­chol­o­gist to our expert speech, occu­pa­tion­al, and phys­i­cal ther­a­pists, each team mem­ber has shared their top rec­om­men­da­tions for inspir­ing, sup­port­ing, and engag­ing chil­dren in mean­ing­ful and fun ways.

“Using babies while play­ing is great for both boys and girls. Most chil­dren love babies, and it rein­forces every­day lan­guage, increas­es pre­tend play skills, increas­es direc­tion fol­low­ing and helps with devel­op­ing empa­thy.” — Tana

“This set allows you to cre­ate end­less obsta­cle course loops that incor­po­rate move­ment, chal­lenge bal­ance, increase motor coor­di­na­tion, and keep your kids mov­ing when it’s dif­fi­cult to get out­side. Also, it is ide­al as they are easy to store and don’t take up a lot of space when not in use.” — Erin

“This set is designed to improve your child’s bal­ance and coor­di­na­tion skills both indoors and out­doors. This equip­ment pro­motes sen­so­ry inte­gra­tion through dai­ly exer­cise. They can become a part of imag­i­na­tive play sce­nar­ios to spend out­doors or indoors.” — Samantha

“This is my new favorite find, and I wish it was around when my kids were lit­tle. A timer for tooth­brush­ing and hand­wash­ing — any­thing to reduce the germs and have healthy teeth!” — Erin

Pic­tured here: Soar­ing Kids Timer

“The Bluey Scav­enger Hunt board game pro­motes improv­ing qual­i­ty fam­i­ly time and work­ing togeth­er to achieve a goal. This game encour­ages the devel­op­ment of ear­ly learn­ing skills such as count­ing, match­ing, and fol­low­ing direc­tions.” — Ali

“For ages 1 – 5, ben­e­fits include fine motor strength with push/​pull pieces, bilat­er­al coor­di­na­tion to bring hands to the mid­line to push/​pull pieces, color/​shape match­ing, design copy when play­ing with an adult, and increas­es imag­i­na­tive play.

For ages 6 and up (watch age rec­om­men­da­tions of box­es), ben­e­fits include fine motor strength with push/​pull pieces, bilat­er­al coor­di­na­tion to bring hands to the mid­line to push/​pull pieces, color/​shape match­ing, visu­al scan­ning to locate the cor­rect piece in a busy back­ground, design copy when play­ing with anoth­er per­son, exec­u­tive func­tion­ing to fol­low writ­ten and visu­al direc­tions to build from a design mod­el, and increas­es imag­i­na­tive play.” — Laura

“Con­nect­ing blocks and toys are a fun and edu­ca­tion­al way to play! They help kids to devel­op grip strength and bilat­er­al coor­di­na­tion skills.” — Rhea

“Croc­o­dile Den­tist is a great game to pur­chase for young chil­dren as it teach­es turn-tak­ing, pre­dict­ing, and cause and effect. It’s a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­nect with your child espe­cial­ly on cold or rainy days when they can’t go out­side.” — Chancy

Open cups are a piv­otal part of feed­ing devel­op­ment. They are typ­i­cal­ly intro­duced before the age of one, when baby is reach­ing for your glass and wants to see what’s inside! Adult cups are just too big for babies. This small con­tain­er is per­fect for babies tran­si­tion­ing from bottle/​breast to an age-appro­pri­ate drink­ing ves­sel. It is the right size for a child to hold and bring to their mouth, and the rims are just the right size for their tiny mouths!”

Pic­tured here: SAMi­GO Sil­i­cone Baby Cups for 6 – 12 Months 

“I rec­om­mend a toy sim­i­lar to this to pro­mote iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of body parts and col­ors as well as learn­ing cloth­ing manip­u­la­tion such as but­tons, zip­pers, snaps, and shoe tying. This could also be used for sen­so­ry inte­gra­tion of dif­fer­ent tex­tures.” — Donetta

“This foam bas­ket­ball bounces like a nor­mal bas­ket­ball but is almost com­plete­ly silent! This is a great indoor phys­i­cal activ­i­ty, espe­cial­ly dur­ing the cold­er months. It can be used on any floor sur­face.” — Caroline

“This is a great sen­so­ry activ­i­ty that is qui­et and very easy to clean. Chil­dren can cre­ate their own mas­ter­pieces or use the mate­ri­als as some­thing to keep in their hands while they are com­plet­ing anoth­er activ­i­ty.” — Allison

“Melis­sa and Doug Jum­bo Blocks stim­u­late cre­ativ­i­ty and activ­i­ty. Build what­ev­er you like and climb in — a fort to hide in, a garage for your cars, a house for your dolls or fig­urines, etc. Knock it down and do it again. This is a great indoor activ­i­ty dur­ing the win­ter months.” — Julia

“This is one of my favorite toys of all time, each present has a col­or coor­di­nat­ed ​‘toy’ inside. The kids love to open presents and there are mul­ti­ple oppor­tu­ni­ties for request­ing, com­ment­ing, and pre­tend play using this set.” — Amanda

“This is a per­fect toy for young chil­dren that will help pro­mote ear­ly speech and lan­guage skills! This toy helps encour­age vocab­u­lary devel­op­ment, sound imi­ta­tion, knowl­edge of lan­guage con­cepts and can pro­mote pre­tend play.” — Angie

“The Pel­i­can Lit­tle Tikes bike can help your child devel­op coor­di­na­tion, strength, endurance, and bal­ance. It includes YouTube videos that they can watch while rid­ing to make them feel like they are rid­ing through the woods, rid­ing a jet ski on a lake, fly­ing like a bird, or rid­ing a roller coast­er. Some of the videos can help them learn their ABCs or count. It is a fun, inter­ac­tive way to exer­cise. It is the kid ver­sion of the Pelo­ton.” — Nikki

“I choose this toy because it helps grow a child’s imag­i­na­tion and cre­ativ­i­ty through play­ful learn­ing.” — Bianca

“Prea­ca­d­e­m­ic skills with col­or and num­ber recog­ni­tion and count­ing through turn-tak­ing play. Encour­ages strength­en­ing and fine motor skills.” — Ashlee

“I rec­om­mend Rush Hour Jr. as a hol­i­day gift this sea­son for your kids 5+. This game pro­vides time­less fun pro­mot­ing exec­u­tive func­tion­ing skills, prob­lem-solv­ing, visu­al pro­cess­ing, and fine motor skills.” — Morgan

“Spot it! games are a favorite for me in the clin­ic and at home. Any sim­ple board or card game like this pro­vides an oppor­tu­ni­ty to work on impor­tant social skills like turn-tak­ing, frus­tra­tion man­age­ment, and gra­cious winning/​losing. These par­tic­u­lar games also help improve skills such as pro­cess­ing speed and visu­al pro­cess­ing for our kid­dos with AD/HD, anx­i­ety, dyslex­ia, and oth­er con­cerns for exec­u­tive func­tion­ing or learn­ing.” — Dr. Clark

– ​“Each class focus­es on bal­ance, motor skills, focus and atten­tion, endurance, and strength while build­ing con­fi­dence too. It can also be a great fam­i­ly activ­i­ty as I train with my three kids in Taek­won­do (or as much as par­ents can train with their kids).” — Lynnae

“These are great for kid­dos learn­ing about tex­tured food.” — Claire

“This adorable lit­tle mouse makes sounds when some­one hides her, low at first, then loud­er and loud­er until one play­er finds her. This unique toy devel­ops fine motor coor­di­na­tion, teach­es young chil­dren about fol­low­ing direc­tions and lis­ten­ing care­ful­ly, and strength­ens social skills.” — Jenna