Back to School Series: Toys and Tools for Building Literacy Skills

By Pauline D | August 3, 2023

Help your child practice their reading and writing before they return to school.  We’re continuing our Back to School Series with suggestions of tools and toys that can help children keep up with their grade’s curriculum and ward off the summer slide. This week we’re exploring toys that foster literacy skills such as reading and…

Back To School Series: Toys to Help Children Practice Math

By Pauline D | July 27, 2023

Looking for toys to help your child brush up on their math skills before returning to school?  The days are still hot and long, and time feels endless. Nonetheless, in many states the school year is right around the corner. For many parents, children, and teachers, August means rushing to get ready for the return to…

3 Summer Activity Ideas for Children with Sensory Disabilities

By Pauline D | July 20, 2023

Summertime can be difficult for parents and caretakers wondering what to do with their children during the long months when school is out and everyone is hot and restless. Below we offer 3 summer activity ideas for children with sensory disabilities.  1. Make a Sensory Playkit Just because school’s out doesn’t mean enrichment needs to…

Happy Disability Pride Month!

By Pauline D | July 6, 2023

DID YOU KNOW…???  Many Americans celebrate Independence Day every July 4th. However, this month is significant for another group of people who fought for freedom one summer over a decade ago. Each July, folks around the world celebrate Disability Pride Month. This month is so designated to remember when more than 1,000 people marched on…

How do Fidget Toys Work?

By Pauline D | June 22, 2023

We’ve written about sensory toys before on this blog, but today we’re focusing on fidget toys and their usefulness. Fidget toys are devices that provide a repetitive action that a user can engage in with little to no thought. Fidget devices are often visually pleasing and may also offer tactile or auditory stimulation, such as…

Helping Your Child’s Social Anxiety with Role Play

By Pauline D | May 19, 2023

Today we continue our Mental Health Awareness Month series by talking about a common anxiety disorder in children. Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) affects between 7% and 12% of the U.S. population. Increasingly, it’s impacting young people. Global research has found that nearly 1 in 3 respondents aged 16–29 years meet the threshold criteria for SAD.  …

Arts, Crafts, and Mental Health

By Pauline D | May 11, 2023

“Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Pablo Picasso Childhood mental health outcomes have been a concern of experts for several years now. The C.D.C. estimates that one in six children between the ages of two and eight has a mental or behavioral disorder. Mental health rates are even worse for pre-teens and…

How Positive Representation Improves Mental Health

By Pauline D | May 4, 2023

Hooray — May is Mental Health Awareness Month! This month, we are running a series on how different types of toys can help improve children’s mental health outcomes. Today’s blog will examine one factor of mental health impact: positive representation in a child’s toys.   By positive representation, we mean toys, games, and books depicting…

Puppets as Therapeutic Toys 

By Pauline D | April 28, 2023

Our last article for Autism Acceptance Month focuses on the usefulness of puppet play for children with autism. Puppets have been used as entertainment since ancient Greece, though puppets have also been found in ancient Egypt, Australia, China, India, and across the Middle East. The art form is ubiquitous anywhere that humans have a history…

Sensory Toys Buying Guide, Part 2: Sights, Sounds, and Smells

By Pauline D | April 20, 2023

In our last post we covered the most common types of sensory toys, which are tactile or chewable. However, many sensory products stimulate other senses. In this post we will talk about how auditory, visual, and olfactory sensory toys can help children with sensory processing issues regulate those senses. Toys for Auditory Stimulation Auditory awareness…