Toys are one of the significant tools in aiding your
child's development. Surrounding your child with the right toys may provide
opportunities to improve your child’s communication, social skills, motor
skills, and cognition, to name a few. Here is a list of toys that may assist in
targeting these skills for young children with autism. These items are both
visually appealing and great for social and independent play. Keep in mind that
in order to reap the most benefits from these toys, your interaction through
building conversations, modeling play, and giving necessary prompts will play a
significant role.
1. Peg
Puzzles - Basic peg puzzles are great for improving your child’s cognitive
skills, hand-eye coordination, and definitely fine motor skills. Putting these
puzzles together may teach your child to match and improve visual-spatial
orientation. Also, since they come in different themes (e.g., alphabet,
numbers, shapes, animals, etc.), your child may also get a head start in
learning about categories.
2. Wooden
Geometric Stacker - Help your child learn how to recognize and differentiate
between shapes, colors, and sizes. Enhance your child’s problem solving skills
as s/he stacks pieces that vary in size. When you interact with your child,
this toy may aid in teaching object attributes and basic receptive skills.
3. Modeling
Clays - Nothing disguises fine motor skills tasks as well as playing with these
malleable products. Rolling, pinching, smashing, and using the standard plastic
tools for these items are good exercises for various parts of the hands. You
could make these motions even more functional and fun by creating items with
details (e.g., a long snake with eyeballs, a layered birthday cake with small
rolled up candles, etc.). Please note that some common brands contain wheat, so
please read ingredients carefully.
4. Basic
Skills Boards - A puzzle board that doubles as a dressing-up game is a perfect
way to introduce this important self-help skill. These types of boards can
contain buttons, laces, buckles, and a zipper—perfect for teaching your child
how to manipulate these items while improving fine motor skills.
5. Bean Bag
Toss Games - Visual orientation, gross motor skills, and hand-eye coordination
are some of the skills that are targeted as your child aims and throws.
6. Kitchen
Play Sets - Playing with a kitchen set provides plenty of opportunities to
enhance socio-dramatic play, functional pretend play, parallel play, and
language. Your child could imitate real-life actions of cooking and serving
food while learning to label food and household items and their functions.
Teaching language including verbs and attributes could also be easily done
while you model play to your child.
7. Animal
Play Sets – These toys present an amusing way of introducing different animals.
Your child may learn general knowledge about animals as s/he associates them
with their habitats and the bonus matching sounds included in this toy.
Creative play, fine motor, and language are some of the skills that could be
targeted as your child maneuvers and manipulates the actions of the animals in
different ways.
