Each year Autism Live curates a list of top toys and gifts in a wide range of categories and developmental levels to help you find the perfect gift to delight the children, teens and adults in your life who are on the Autism Spectrum. This year we have chosen toys in various price ranges to help you make the perfect holiday selection. We hope there is something to delight everyone on your list!
Best Educational Toy Winner
Sit-To-Stand Learning Walker
VTech®
Description
Interactive learning baby Walker has a removable play panel; with an early learning center that features 5 piano keys that play music and encourage creativity; 2 colorful spinning rollers, 3 shape sorters, and 3 light-up buttons that develop motor skills, a pretend telephone handset and mechanical elements to enhance role-play fun. Interactive play offers over 70 sing-along songs, music, sound effects and fun phrases; meant for babies and toddlers 9 months to 3 years old.
Autism Live Says:
This Walker is a powerhouse! It is fun to touch and learn for little hands. We love that there are so many skills to work on in fun and interactive ways. The panel comes off to make this toy super flexible to meet the needs of your growing child. This toy is perfect for all areas of baby development.
Best Sensory Toy Winner
Spike the Hedgehog
Learning Resources®
Description
Inspired by Learning Resources® bestselling Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog preschool toy, this fun fidget friend comes with 6 ways to fidget — spin the wheel, turn the crank, press the button, twist the knob, push the plunger, and move the switch! As they play, kids won’t just build new preschool tactile skills—they’ll also boost their coordination, hand strength, and other fine motor skills essential to real-world success!
Autism Live Says:
Little hands love to explore! Spike is so cute and offers so many opportunities to interact and get sensory input. We love all the hand/eye coordination small children will build while on the go. It’s perfect to pop in the diaper bag for play and interaction when you find yourself stuck in traffic or without access to other fun.
Best Card/Board Game Winner
Zoo® Crew Memory Game
Skip Hop®
Description
The classic card game—with a ZOO® twist! These large and sturdy cards are perfect for little hands. From Bailey Bat to Luna Llama, match 24 cute and colorful critters while encouraging memory, matching and turn-taking skills. Whoever finds the most pairs wins!
Autism Live Says:
We love a great memory game and Skip Hop® certainly delivers with this one. We love the colorful cards with delightful animals and the fun text displays the animal name with an alliterative first name… Darby Dog, Luna Llama, etc. It’s never too early to start pairing language, text and special memory!
Best Puzzle Winner
Toddlers First Textured Sensory Puzzle Kit
KAPLAN®
Description
Toddlers explore textures, bright patterns and movement while encouraging hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Textured and rocking animals are easy to grasp and match to pictures on sturdy wooden puzzle boards. Pieces also stand on their own for pretend play.
Autism Live Says:
This is a quality puzzle. The artwork is beautiful. We love the texture on the animals and the fact they can stand on their own. This is the perfect first puzzle set for any child.
Best Motor Play Award
4-in-1 Kickin’ Tunes Music and Language Discovery Activity Gym
Baby Einstein®
Description
Orchestrate the perfect playtime for baby with the Baby Einstein 4-in-1 Kickin’ Tunes Music and Language Discovery Gym. Your baby’s musical genius will stretch from their head to their toes when it comes to this baby play gym and toy piano. Thanks to Magic Touch technology, baby can play the piano with just a press of a finger or the kick of a foot! The included prop pillow helps make tummy time a more comfortable and enjoyable experience while your baby takes in the world. Using all senses, baby will explore 7 interesting toys, 70+ melodies & sounds, and 4 languages.
Autism Live Says:
This activity gym has it all! It’s light-weight, portable and it grows with your child from tummy time to toddler time. We especially love the cause and effect aspects that allow even the smallest baby to make music through their movement!
Best Book Winner
Where’s the Bear? Board Book
Discovery Toys®
Description
Beautifully illustrated pages show a series of friendly animals hiding behind bright felt flaps. A mirror on the final spread makes for a satisfying ending to the book’s search-and-find inquiries. (Where are you?There you are!) A perfect book to share with very little ones.
Autism Live Says:
Beginning reading is all about interaction and this book makes it easy for parents by building satisfying interaction into the book. Children will love to look for the animals and discover their hiding place. This sturdy board book will be a family favorite.
Best Oldie but Goody Winner
K’s Kids Match and Build Soft Blocks Set
Melissa & Doug®
Description
Matching activities, pair numerals and quantities, animal halves, and everyday shapes are featured in this soft block set for babies and toddlers. The soft, lightweight pieces are easy for young children to lift and manipulate and develop these skills: sensory, fine motor, gross motor, logical, creative, linguistic, communication, and self-esteem.
Autism Live Says:
Every child needs a set of blocks for fun building activities. These award-winning soft blocks have so many extras, they blow us away. We love the flaps with surprise reveals, the puzzles, the numbers, and the endless building possibilities!
Therapist Recommendation Winner
Toy Winkel Rattle & Sensory Teether
Manhattan Toy
Description
Babies are instantly drawn to this colorful and lightweight infant toy. The Winkel promotes clutching and two-handed play while the center cube with tapered corners encases a quiet but pleasing baby rattle to provide auditory stimulus. The Winkel features a mesmerizing maze of soft, continuous BPA-free teething tubes, and can be refrigerated for additional soothing comfort – a perfect baby chew toy for tiny hands.
Autism Live Says:
Therapists love this ball for its open ball construction, this makes it ideal for working on fine motor ball skills, which develop hand/eye coordination skills. These are critical skills for later development! Add in the sounds and soothing teething elements and this toy rocks!
Parent Recommendation Winner
Laugh & Learn™ Busy Learning Tool Bench
Fisher-Price®
Description
The Fisher -Price Busy Learning Tool Bench has all the right tools for learning and role play fun! As your little builder hammers, drills and toggles the switch, playful songs, phrases and sounds introduce numbers, colors, the alphabet, Spanish words, and more. Plus, with Smart Stages technology, the learning fun builds as your baby grows!
Autism Live Says:
Parents love this interactive workbench and the many things their children can learn while playing! We also love how the toy is designed to meet the child’s needs and grow with them, making this a fun toy throughout the early stages of development.
Top Toy Winner
Little People Launch & Loop Raceway
Fisher-Price®
Description
This toddler-friendly vehicle playset features multiple tracks, a Hot Wheels orange loop, a crash zone, cool lights and sounds, and 2 Wheelies vehicles. The double car launcher lets kids send multiple cars zooming down the track at the same time. Cars race down the track and can either crash, drop through the trap door, or continue down the spiral track or jump ramp.
Autism Live Says:
This is our top toy in the category because it so fun everyone will want to get in on the action. Your toddler will have endless fun while learning hand/eye coordination, cause and effect, problem solving, social skills and more!
Boredom Buster Award
Dimpl Duo
Fat Brain Toys®
Description
Textures, colors, shapes, and words! This unique tablet featuring silicone buttons, textured shapes, and words written in Braille, encourages sensory exploration, tactile learning, shape learning, color learning, and reading skills.
Autism Live Says:
This toy is the perfect low tech answer to keeping your baby engaged in an interactive, educational environment at all time! We love the sensory element of the “pop” buttons, paired shapes, colors and text. Little hands will love this toy, but the truth is adults can’t keep their hands off of it either.
Best Art/Craft Winner
Color the Ocean Color Magic Bath Book
Mudpuppy
Description
Colors appear in water like magic with Mudpuppy’s Color the Ocean Magic Bath Book! Bath time friends come to life when their colors magically appear under water in this delightful bath book.
Autism Live Says:
We love this mess free opportunity for endless art projects! Work on colors, fine motor skills and so much more. Bath time just got a lot more fun!
Best STEM Toy Winner
Matching Egg Set
YEEBAY
Description
With 12 different shapes in 6 colors, YEEBAY eggs toys set will help preschoolers learn to sort and match! They will also develop hand-eye coordination, color recognition, fine motor skills, and logical thinking abilities. See the amazing progress your children make as they play!
Autism Live Says:
It’s never too early to start working on STEM skills and this set of eggs is a great start. Your child will learn to match color and shapes while problem solving how to fit them together! It’s fun, colorful and educational!
Best Speech Builder Winner
Speak & Learn Puppy
Leap Frog®
Description
Unleash your puppy love for the plush Speak & Learn Puppy™! Watch your little friend come to life with flapping ears, a head that moves, and real-time responses. As toddlers learn to talk, this interactive dog repeats what they say and asks questions to keep the conversation going. Bailey says what your child says in a fun and interactive way in Babble mode. In Talk mode, the puppy has conversations with children and creates stories from their responses. Explore animal facts, animal sounds, food, feelings, letters and numbers through four paw buttons and a light-up collar. Multiple songs encourage learning, and three learning levels allow the toy to grow with your children as their language skills develop. Talk and learn with Bailey!
Autism Live Says:
Seriously? We could not LOVE this toy more! Cute, cuddly and he fosters language? Could it get better than that? Yes! Bailey’s lessons grow with your child, matching their development! Well played Leap Frog! We love this toy for its speech building prowess.
Best Social Skills Builder Winner
Cry-Activated Soother
Skip Hop
Description
Soothe baby with sweet songs, nature sounds and your recorded voice—even in the middle of the night. This soft bedtime friend features an innovative cry-activated smart sensor that automatically responds to cries for instant comfort. Easy to attach to the crib, it’s also a cinch to set and customize; a voice recording option lets caregivers comfort baby no matter where they are. As baby grows, it becomes a huggable friend for toddlers.
Autism Live Says:
First, this sweet sloth is so adorable and cuddly and full of stress reducing sensory options from music to a recording of your choice, we love this. Second, we love the technology that allows for this plush to be activated when the child is crying. This is a great way to help babies and toddlers begin the process of self-soothing. It also comes in an adorable Panda version!
Employment Empowerment Award
Peekaboo Learning Farm
Learning Resources®
Description
Discover a farm friend surprise in this learning toy’s colorful, countable barns! Five colorful animal finger puppets help your child learn early math and color recognition skills through imaginative play!
Autism Live Says:
You might be wondering: Is it is too early to start teaching babies and toddlers pre- employment skills? The answer: Not if you make it fun! This play set has so much to offer: learn numbers, colors, animals and prepositions while working on fine motor skills!
We at AUTISM Live
wish you the
Happiest of Holidays!
After all of your shopping is done, if you find that you have more to give, please join us in making a donation of any size to Autism Care Today (ACT). This wonderful organization gives grants to families for things like iPads, insurance co-pays, sensory equipment, GPS devices and more. Your donation could make another family’s holiday wishes come true.