Staff Picks for Holiday Gifts
Our staff are always excited about a game, toy, or material to use in therapy that can help them target several goal areas at once AND are enjoyed and asked for by our clients. The Lark Center OTs, SLPs, and Mental Health Clinicians have put their heads together to compile the best in each category. The holidays can be an exciting time, but also an expensive one. If you are looking to get the most bang for your buck by gifting your child, teen, or young adult something that is both fun and therapeutic, consider shopping off our amazon list. Every time you purchase a gift using our Amazon links, a small proportion of the total cost will come back to The Lark Center. All proceeds go directly enhancing our therapeutic programs.
In this post, we will highlight one favorite “staff pick” per age category and describe the therapeutic benefits relied on by each of our domains. While we have certainly thought of many of the benefits from each gift on this list, our list is not by any means complete. Can you think of other benefits or uses for these items? If you were to pick a fun and therapeutic go-to toy, book, or game to add to this list, what would it be and why? Email contact@thelarkcenter.com with your ideas!
Staff Favorite - Ages 1-3
The spin again stacking toy, from Fat Brain Toys is so enticing for little developing explorers and it is so versatile. Whether you enjoy lining up toys in color or size order, watching things spin, or filling and dumping, this is the toy that can keep little ones engaged and attentive for a long time. How do our clinicians use this toy in sessions?
OT: We love to use this toy to explore the sensory inputs such as the texture of the pieces, the sounds of the rings spinning, and the way the colors look while moving up and down the peg. We also love the fine and visual motor benefits of reaching for a ring, manipulating it into the correct orientation, and coordinating how to accurately place the ring over the peg. For even more challenge, we can use this to support bilateral coordination as the child holds the peg in one hand and places the ring with the other, or passes rings from one hand to the other to better reach the peg.
Speech: We love to use this toy to work on joint attention and affect as it is interesting and stimulating for grown ups and kids alike. We find it offers amazing opportunities for teaching basic language concepts (stop and go, up and down, over and under, etc.) It also offers a great way to encourage labeling (colors, shapes, etc.) and requesting (“more,” “my turn”, “again”. For an added challenge, this toy can be used to work on sequencing (putting the colors or sizes in order) and requesting using more than 1 property, such as “I want the big red one.”
Mental Health: We love this toy for the bonding and joy it can foster between the therapist or caregiver and the child. There are many opportunities to use this toy in silly ways to foster development of humor. Depending on the motor and visual skills of the child, this toy may present a mild challenge which becomes a great opportunity to help build frustration tolerance and problem solving.
Staff Favorite - Ages 4-6
Mr. Potato head, his family of spuds, and his assortment of body parts and accessories has been around for many years (since the 1950s if you can believe that!) But it still endures as a childhood favorite and it is well loved and utilized in our clinic as well. What could be more fun and silly than mixing up the Potatoes’ facial features and putting their feet on their head. For children, the possibilities seem endless. How do our clinicians use this toy in session?
OT: We love Mr. Potato Head and his whole family for the great fine-motor benefits it offers. It can be challenging to grasp, manipulate, and puuuusssshhhh those pegs into those tiny holes. This toy is great also for bilateral coordination as the child can support the head with one hand and place the pegs of the body parts with the other. In addition to the hand strengthening work, this toy also supports strengthening body awareness (“Do feet go on heads?” “Noooo.”)
Speech: We love to use this toy for labeling of body parts (eyes, nose, mouth, ears, purse…wait, that’s not a body part). It affords a great opportunity for describing words as well like, “those eyes are too big,” or “I like the blue eyes better than the green eyes.” Once the Potato Heads are dressed up and ready to go, pretend play and creativity naturally emerge. This toy can be a great tool for working on perspective taking, noticing similarities and differences, and practicing compromising in play.
Mental Health: We love the Potato family for all of the opportunities to story-tell and work through complex family emotions and/or conflicts. When dealing with a trauma or even just a frustration, change, or disappointment, it can be easier to act it out through play (and the Potato Heads feel particularly non-threatening since he is barely humanoid) than it can to talk about it. We can practice expressing ourselves, problem-solving, and building confidence through non-threatening pretend play.
Staff Favorite - Ages 7-11
Whether you prefer following directions and building “by the book,” or free styling your LEGO builds, LEGO bricks are a timeless staple of childhood and so incredibly versatile in their uses. How many LEGO sets does your child already have? Our view is that you can never have too many LEGOs (ok, sometimes there are too many, but then you bring all of your random pieces to Brickify and keep collecting.) LEGO bricks have a huge and loyal following (children and adults alike) and provide a great subject for affinity groups. Keep your eyes posted for our next LEGO Brick Club social group. Why do our clinicians love LEGO so much?
OT: We love LEGOs for so many of our clients and sessions. Lego provides incredible fine motor and visual motor challenges as you work to manipulate bricks into the correct orientations, press them together hard enough to hear them click, and visually compare whether your build looks like the model. LEGO builds can be made easier or harder to become the just-right-challenge and have a way of holding a child’s attention for a significant amount of time. Even if you are not building, there can be such a sensory benefit to digging through the bin for that one single piece.
Speech: We love to use LEGO in session for the executive functioning benefits it offers, such as following visual instructions, organizing pieces, and monitoring your work for mistakes. Additionally, the blocks offer a great opportunity to sort by characteristic such as color, shape, or size. Using these bricks for partner or small group challenges can help to work on perspective taking.
Mental Health: LEGO bricks are such a versatile tool in counseling. They provide a manipulative activity that can keep your body and brain focused while engaging in hard conversations. They can also provide a meditative-like state for recovery from overstimulation or dysregulation. We also love to use these bricks for self-expression and for challenges to help with self-esteem and self-confidence. LEGO can be a great ice-breaker as well for someone who experiences social anxiety.
Staff Favorite - Ages 12+
Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set (or additional game pieces)
D&D sometimes gets a bad rap for being too nerdy. But the benefits of playing go way beyond just a reason to get together with friends. And many neurodivergent teens and young adults really connect to the structured and collaborative game play and social interactions. This activity is a popular affinity group topic due to its fun and exciting nature, and also helps to directly develop and hone many cognitive, social, and mental health skills. How do our clinicians use it?
OT: We love to play D&D in therapy as the game play (even starting from character creation) has so many built-in opportunities to hone executive functioning, decision-making, and self-regulation skills. By taking on a fictional (or fantasy) character, players can feel more free to be silly, expressive, take risks, accept challenges, and more. The cognitive skills develop and strengthen as a result of the game creating a low-stress, low-stakes environment from which to try. It is a very supportive place.
Speech: We use D&D to help support our clients social connections and communications. The game play includes very structured turn-taking, supported decision-making (the dice rolls help you make important decisions), and opportunities for self-expression. When expressing themselves as a character instead of as themselves, many of our clients feel less vulnerable and are more likely to open up and connect with others.
Mental Health: D&D is a great activity in which to support attention, self-regulation, problem-solving and perspective-taking in a non-threatening way. Research has shown that teens and young adults who play D&D experience less loneliness, anxiety, and depression than their counterparts. This may be because the game allows players to externalize their feelings onto characters in order to process them effectively. It also allows for connections through game play that satisfy the basic human need for connection to others.
For more recommendations from our staff, take a look at our favorite sensory tools for all ages or our caregiver resource guide. And have a happy and healthy holiday season.
-The Lark Center Staff
