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Both of my kids have unique sensory needs. My oldest is a sensory seeker and needs a lot of vestibular input to stay regulated. My youngest has a rare genetic disorder and with that comes sensory processing disorder. She seeks out any kind of visual or auditory stimulation, but is also very sensitive to certain stimuli. We are always looking for new toys that will keep her interest and will satisfy her sensory needs. I’ve put together a great list of toys that work well for both of my kids’ sensory needs and a few that are on our wishlist for their playroom.
I’ll start by saying our MOST used toy is the nugget. My sensory seeking kid uses this every day without fail. My youngest uses it occasionally and it has been a great tool for improving her balance since it has some give. The toniebox is the next most used toy in this house. My youngest loves it because it is easy for her to use even with her poor fine motor skills. She will keep it on in the background a lot of times while she is playing. My youngest particularly loves electronic toys that light up/make sound when she interacts with it. She loves linkimals and this leap frog laptop (another fav of hers). These sensitive touch lights are great too. We didn’t want to attach these individually to our wall and risk tearing up the paint/dry wall so we bought a dry erase board and stuck them to the board. It works awesome. The lights are bright for me, but my child loves them. Another favorite I need to mention are the water activated light cubes and the star projector. Bath time is challenging some days for our special needs daughter, so we will sometimes turn all lights off, turn on the star projector and add the water activated light cubes to the tub and she LOVES it. Very calming at bedtime.
My sensory seeking kid loves anything that she can climb on, spin, swing, jump, etc. We have this round tree swing that she uses regularly. It’s great for vestibular input. We don’t have a good branch for the tree swing, but we purchased this Instant Tree Branch and it works great! (Side note: if this link isn’t working to go directly to the instant tree branch product, just type “instant tree branch” in the search bar on the site and it will come up). As I mentioned above, the nugget is a must for a sensory seeker. Truly. I’m considering buying another one. We’ve had ours for two years and it is still in great condition. The foam has held up after being jumped and climbed on regularly and the covers come off easily to be washed. For Christmas this year, we purchased a full size trampoline for our girls, but this mini trampoline is great for indoors! This variety pack of fidgets are great for stocking stuffers!
Anything else you would add to this list? We are always looking for new items to support our kids’ sensory needs. Let me know in the comments and I’ll add to the list.
- Nugget 2. Sensory bright light station 3. Toniebox 4. Spooner board 5. Wobble cushion 6. Swivel car 7. Round tree swing 8. Balance board 9. Foam pogo stick 10. Glo Pals Blair water activated bath toys 11. Glo Pals variety pack light up cubes 12. Linkimal 13. Flowing sand 14. Seek and Find bear 15. Memory and brain game cube 16. Newton’s cradle 17. Bright Autism sensitive touch lights 18. DJ bouncing star 19. Creature pop up 20. Leap Frog laptop 21. Light up bath toys 22. Bounce board 23. Star projector 24. Sensory variety pack (great stocking stuffers) 25. Therapy swing 26. Crash pad 27. Plasma ball 28. Bumper car 29. 3D pin art sensory toy 30. Balance pods 31. Sensory busy board 32. Mini trampoline
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