Our Holiday Gift List

A Shared Vision families often ask us for recommendations on what to buy their very young child who’s blind or visually impaired for the holidays. 

We’ve got the list of perfect, sensory toys! Here are some of our favorites. You can order most of them through Amazon to make shopping even easier. Click HERE for the full list of ten toys.

Five Little Pumpkins

Storytime can (and should!) happen in many different ways – not just when your child is sitting quietly in your lap listening to you read a book. This hands-on activity is a fun and interactive way to include your child in the storytelling experience. Click HERE to read more.

Play in Your Own Kitchen Band

Everyday objects in the kitchen or around the home can be played with to expose your child who’s blind or visually impaired to a variety of new sounds, textures and sources of vibration – all musical concepts that you can use in parent-child play. Kitchen band play is endless fun and different every time! Here’s how to create your own “kitchen band,” from music therapist Amanda Bryant, MM, MT-BC, NMT Fellow. Click HERE to read more!

Music With Your Child

Music Therapy with Amanda Bryant. Board certified music therapist Amanda Bryant shares short videos (click HERE) on how music affects a child's sensory development by stimulating visual, auditory, tactile, vestibular and social skills. No musical experience or special instruments are required. Making music with your child is fun!

FUN PROJECTS

Five Little Pumpkins. Storytime can (and should!) happen in many different ways – not just when your child is sitting quietly in your lap listening to you read a book. This hands-on activity is a fun and interactive way to include your child in the storytelling experience

Tactile Baby Blankets. Tactile baby blankets or quilts are a wonderful way to encourage exploration among our youngest children who are blind or visually impaired, including those with multiple disabilities or deaf blindness. Presenting the child with a variety of tactile elements encourages exploration and promotes a baby's cognitive development.

Play in Your Own Kitchen Band. Everyday objects in the kitchen or around the home can be played with to expose your child who’s blind or visually impaired to a variety of new sounds, textures and sources of vibration – all musical concepts that you can use in parent-child play. Kitchen band play is endless fun and different every time!

Let's Make a Gardening Sensory Bin! Children who are blind or visually impaired need to experience nature. Even if your child can’t see a flower, they can touch the petals, smell its fragrance and listen to how it sounds swaying in the breeze.

Ring the Bells!  Put to music, finger plays are a fun way for children who are blind or visually impaired develop language by increasing vocabulary, learning the sounds of words and hearing rhythm. To make the mittens, all you need is a pair of children’s stretchy gloves, assorted jingle bells found at most craft stores, hot glue sticks and a glue gun.

Make Your Own Maracas. Celebrate Easter, Cinco de Mayo or any festive holiday with these fun, easy-to-make maracas. Babies and young children with visual impairments respond to the sound they make and their bright colors. 

Let’s Make a Texture Book. Early literacy begins in the first three years of a child’s life.  How do you make books engaging when the pictures are not interesting or meaningful to a very young child who’s blind or visually impaired?  A texture book is a simple solution and they’re easy to make yourself.  It might become your child’s favorite book!

Let's Make a Valentine's Day Sensory Bin.  Children who are blind or visually impaired need to know about colors.  Even if a child can’t see the colors, they need to understand the concept of colors and how they are used as descriptive words, especially as children are learning emergent literacy skills in pre-school. 

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments.  Homemade cinnamon ornaments are an easy holiday craft for the whole family.  They’re perfect for hanging throughout the house, on the Christmas tree or attaching to a present – and your house will smell like the holidays!

Pumpkin Pie Play Dough Sensory Recipe.  We like this recipe because it’s easy to make, it’s a fun sensory experience and it’s non-toxic, so if your child wants to eat it, it isn’t harmful.  Your kitchen will smell fantastic!   With each step, we provide sensory suggestions for you to try with your child – touch, taste, see, smell, hear

Beginning Story Box: Little Rabbit's Bedtime.  Story boxes are a collection of real objects that correspond to the illustrations or events in a story.  Little Rabbit’s Bedtime, by Alan Baker, is a great example of a very simple story that describes events from the child’s own experience, such as bedtime, bath or mealtime.

Touch and Feel Sensory Sticks.  Sensory play is a crucial component to early childhood learning and development. Many infants or young toddlers want to touch everything, and then maybe taste it, shake it, and so forth. This DIY project focuses specifically on touch and feel sensors and best of all, it couldn’t be easier to create.

How to Make a Sensory Hula Hoop.  Sensory hula hoops encourage babies to lie on their tummy and play.  It’s also a great toy for babies who are blind or visually impaired.

CVI Friendly Slap Can Koozie.  Encouraging children to use their vision for functional purposes is often easier to do when the target is food!  Making a bottle of milk or a cup of juice really stand out is easily achieved by using a CVI Friendly Slap Can Koozie.  

illumi-Spring.  The illumi-Spring is a favorite for our children that are visually able to see light and movement.  This lighted slinky is easy to manipulate, bounces slowly without making noise, the light is bright (high lumens), and it can be hung or suspended.

Toys & APPS FOR YOUR CHILD

Our Favorite Apps for Children Who are Visually Impaired.  WonderBaby.org teamed up with Paths to Literacy to create this list of their favorite iPad apps for children who are blind, deaf-blind or visually impaired.  They’ve categorized them by apps great for stimulating the use of vision, honing fine motor skills or teaching cause and effect, great communication apps, apps that tell stories and one app that is nice for calming down and relaxation.

Starting Blind Toddlers and Preschoolers on an iPad. A parent recently asked if there are any iOS apps for her son who is 16 months old and totally blind - the answer is a resounding YES! There are many preschool apps that are great for toddlers and preschoolers without vision.  I’d suggest starting with Cause and Effect type apps where the student touches the screen and hears a sound.  

The Ultimate Toy Guide for Blind Children: Choosing the BEST Developmental Toys for Babies & Toddlers Who are Blind.  We all want to find the best toys for our kids, but when your child is blind, where do you start? In this toy guide, you will learn how to find the best toys for your child’s needs, including what to look for in off-the-shelf toys and how to adapt or make your own toys so they are perfect for your little one. We’ll also look at how to create an adaptive play environment or sensory play space and how to use these toys to facilitate learning.

CVI.  This page on Pinterest was compiled by Paths to Literacy.  It’s a comprehensive collection of resources, books and toys for children with cortical visual impairment.

The “Big 3 Tool Kit” for Children with CVI: PLUS the 20 Best CVI-Friendly iPad Apps!  Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) is a form of blindness that is neurological. In other words, a child with CVI may have perfectly healthy eyes, but their blindness is caused by some form of brain injury or malformation.  While anything dealing with the brain can be confusing, it’s good to know there are some great educational tools that you can use to help your child learn!