This toy requires kids to fit cylinders of varying widths and depths into the wooden bars. At first, Junior had to practice a lot of trial and error to learn where each cylinder fit. We talked about the cylinders being too tall, too short, too wide, too thing, or just right! Eventually he learned to visually discriminate where they belonged.

We have a cardboard version of this with matching lids, but a wooden set is much more sturdy. Figuring out how to nest and stack the boxes is great for problem solving. I usually give my son five boxes at a time to work with, otherwise it’s a little overwhelming to solve.

For a more affordable option, these stacking cups are just as good and may be a safer option if you have kids that throw toys.

This is great for number recognition, counting, and for figuring out how many more muffins you need to balance the scale.

Pattern Block sets have long been a staple at our house for young kids, since they are so good for matching and figuring out how to rotate objects until they match the pieces on the picture. I purchased this magnetic set for Junior because the pieces stay put.

These have been a big hit at our T21 Co-op, and one day the boys did all of them in one sitting. Puzzles are so good for problem solving and encouraging persistence, however puzzles with too many pieces can be frustrating. These are a good, easy start once your child moves beyond the wooden insert puzzles.

Four-piece puzzles are the next step. You can also teach your child how to sort the pieces based on the color of the boundaries. For example, all the pieces with yellow edges go together. Once they have sorted the pieces, help your child decide which pieces should go at the bottom of each picture. (ie. wheels go at the bottom; so does water.) These are strategies that will help your child figure out how to solve puzzles.

I have recommended these puzzles in a post about Gifts for Preschoolers with Down Syndrome, and I’m bringing them up again, because they are so good for kids who are just learning to complete puzzles. The pictures are simple and not overly busy, and the pieces and thick and sturdy. There is a four piece puzzle, a six piece, puzzle, and a nine and twelve piece puzzles.

These were recommended by Junior’s occupational therapist. You get a lot of bang for your buck with this $6 toy. Junior — and all my kids — enjoy pulling these apart and pushing them together. The pipes can be attached to make a huge pipe or circle. Junior loves when I stick a pom pom into one end of a long tube and watching it fall out the other end. This is such a great toy for strengthening the hand and fingers.

Here’s another toy recommended by the OT. The pieces come in three categories: animals, fruits, vegetables. So your child can practice sorting and categorizing while working on their fine motor skills. I like that the ends of the strings have blunt wooden sticks which makes it much easier for kids to thread the beads.

These are so great for strengthening fingers as kids have to push pretty hard to get the beads to snap together. At this point, Junior can only pull them apart, which is plenty of fun for him. Of course, they are also great for sorting and counting.

This toy helps kids manipulate very small objects as they have to squeeze the “pin” side of each peg into the board. I often use this as a motivator: after each worksheet or task, my son gets to pick a piece and put it on the board. When we’re all done, we go into a dark room and turn on the Lite Brite.

Play-Doh is probably a household staple in any home that has kids, and for good reasons! They’re great for creative play, pretend play, and definitely for fine motor skill. Rolling, squeezing, cutting, and doing pretty much about anything with Play Doh helps to strengthen those little fingers. Using various Play-Doh tools helps your child practice a variety of small finger movements.

I recommend sticking to the simplest tools, as some of the more complicated Play-Doh set tools are hard to use, even for my big kids and I! There are so many different sets, so choose a set you think will appeal to your child most.

Junior loves to pretend that he is cooking and serving food. Being able to match the pieces of the food, stick them together, and then cut them apart is a bonus.

Handwriting is a lot of work for my son, so I try to find ways to make it fun. This tablet adds variety to our handwriting lesson and it is also great for travel. I like that the stylus is thin enough for him to use with a pencil grip. It’s also great for travel.

Maybe it’s because he sees his older sibling tossing a football around (in the house, arghhh!) or maybe it’s because the ball is just plain fun… whatever the reason, Junior likes to kick the football around. Kicking a football produces much more exciting results than kicking a soccer ball, because you never know which way the ball is going to go. In any case, kicking a football around the house keeps him happily occupied, which makes me happy too!