The Vision Therapy Center of Brookfield and Madison, Wisconsin, has released its 2012 Vision-Friendly Holiday Gift List. The list includes 81 toys and games that promote visual skills such as hand-eye coordination, visualization, and space perception.
The list does not include hand-held video devices and home gaming systems, which can increase the risk of computer eyestrain.
“By spending excessive amounts of time on hand-held video devices and home gaming systems, there is a potential for worsening vision problems such as focusing issues, poor eye teaming and even nearsightedness,” said Dr. Kellye Knueppel, developmental optometrist and owner of The Vision Therapy Center.
The 2012 Vision-Friendly Gift List is arranged by visual skill and includes ideas for preschoolers through adults. It was developed by Dr. Knueppel and her team of vision therapists.
Building toys – Develop eye-hand coordination and visualization/imagination.
1. Building Blocks
2. Legos/Duplos
3. Lincoln Logs
4. Tinker Toys
5. Erector Set
Fine motor skill toys – Develop fine motor skills including visual skills and manual eye-hand coordination.
6. Light Bright
7. Pegboard and Pegs
8. Coloring Books and Crayons
9. Dot-to-Dot Activity Books
10. Finger Paints
11. Playdough/Silly Putty/Modeling Clay
12. Chalkboard (24” x 36”)/Easel
13. Bead Stringing
14. Sewing Cards (craft)
15. Paint or Color By Numbers
16. Sand Art
17. Stencils
18. Bead Craft Kits
19. Models (car, airplane, ships, etc.)
20. Jacks
Space perception toys – Develop depth perception and eye-hand coordination.
Within arm’s length:
20. Jumpin’ Monkeys
21. Flippin’ Frogs
22. Ants in the Pants
23. Fishin’ Around
24. Operation
25. Pick-up Sticks
26. KerPlunk
27. Jenga
28. Don’t Break the Ice
29. Marbles
Beyond arm’s length:
30. Oball (good for kids who aren’t very good at catching)
31. Ball (any kind!)
32. Pitchback
33. Toss Across (tic-tac-toe)
34. Ring Toss
35. Nerf Basketball
36. Dart Games (velcro)
37. Ping Pong
38. Cuponk
39. Elefun
Visual thinking toys and games - Develop visual thinking including visualization, visual memory, form perception, pattern recognition, sequencing and eye tracking skills. These skills are important basics for academics including mathematics, reading and spelling.
40. Color Blocks and 1” Cubes
41. Parquetry Blocks
42. Attribute Blocks
43. Make N Break Game
44. Jigsaw Puzzles
45. Rory’s Story Cubes
46. Card Games (Old Maid, Go Fish, etc.)
47. Dominoes
48. ThinkFun Bug Trails
49. Checkers
50. Chinese Checkers
51. Perplexus
52. Qwirkle
53. Battleship
54. Labyrinth
55. Blokus
56. Connect Four
57. Rush Hour/Rush Hour Jr.
58. Regatta
59. Perfection
60. Tactilo
61. Bingo
62. Memory Games
63. Chicken Cha-Cha-Cha
64. Simon Flash
65. Bop It
66. Hyperdash
67. Blink
68. Set
69. Loopz
70. Racko
71. Sort it Out
72. Tangrams/Tangoes
73. Mancala
74. Q-bitz
Balance and Coordination toys and games – Develop large motor skills.
75. Hoppity Hop
76. Jump Ropes
77. Sit and Spin
78. Slip ’n Slide
79. Trampoline
80. Stilts
81. Twister
For more information on The Vision Therapy Center, visit http://www.thevisiontherapycenter.com.
