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!
Top Toy Winner
Shashibo® Dice Series
Fun in Motion Toys
Description
8+Years
Unlock the mystery of Shashibo®! MESH and STEAM-accredited. Shashibo® (the original Magnetic Puzzle Cubes) are made of recycled ABS plastic, tear-resistant stickers, and contain 36 internal rare earth magnets – which are recyclable at the end of their life. Transform your cube into over 70 geometric shapes. Can you master the shape shifting box?
Autism Live Says:
These amazing cubes are addictive. They work on fine motor finger and hand skills, while developing spatial problem solving skills. Best of all they create a calming Zen state of concentration!
Therapist Recommendation Toy Winner
Talk-It-Out
Creative Therapy Store
Description
12+ Years
Talk-It-Out is a theraputic board game designed to get teenagers talking about friends, family, feelings, values and goals. It is filled with thought provoking topics and imaginative questions to help players connect.
Autism Live Says:
We love the clever ways this game prompts teens and parents to discuss topics that are important to build self esteem and reduce feelings of overwhelm, anxiety, and isolation children and teens overcome challenges having to do with emotional development.
STEM Toy Winner
HyperTiles®
Fun in Motion Toys
Description
5+ Years
HyperTiles® are a radically fun new construction toy based on a mathematical shape called a hyperbolic paraboloid. HyperTiles® are simple, super-versatile shapes that can be linked together in an infinite number of combinations – providing endless options, surprising outcomes, and hours of 3-dimensional adventure!
Autism Live Says:
This toy gives the builder on your gift list a whole new dimension to build in. We especially love the potential for motion depending on the building mode. This is truly a great gift for the builder who is ready to go beyond simple cubes.
Speech Builder Toy Winner
52 Essential Conversations®
MindBrain Parenting®
Description
This award-winning game was created by a Harvard educated Mom of 3 to help kids and teens build the knowledge and skills to communicate better, be good humans, and handle conflict appropriately.
Autism Live Says:
We love that these easy to use cards are sequenced according to difficulty, so you can start where your teen is and gradually increase the challenge level.
Social Skills Builder Toy Winner
Together Land
Lupash Games
Description
Inspired by the ABCD Approach in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, this games helps build skills for better communication and social interaction.
This card game focuses on learning how to handle different situations and develop an awareness of thoughts and behaviors.
Autism Live Says:
We love that this game uses basic principles from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help a teen begin to understand their thoughts and feelings in relation to themselves and others.
Sensory Toy Winner
Karmagami
Fun in Motion
Description
Karmagami flips infinitely, each one rotates an transforms seamlessly into four colorful designs, much like a kaleidoscope. It promotes a calm mind and is ideal for both kids and adults who fidget with their hands.
Autism Live Says:
Honestly, what we love most about this fidget is that it is beautiful and it requires little skill level to be wildly successful. This is perfect for the kiddo who needs to move their hands to be able to focus.
Parents Recommendation Toy Winner
Build A Bubble
3D Bubble Kit
South Beach Bubbles
Description
This kit allows you make tons of bubbles in 3D geometric shapes, like Cubes, Hexagons, Pentagons, and loads more. It encourages the learner to solve problems and promotes hand-eye coordination while providing endless hours of fun!
Autism Live Says:
We love all the skills that can be learned from this kit starting with fine motor skills but also including tons of STEM skills that are incredibly useful! Plus it is just FUN.
Oldie but Goodie Toy Winner
Simon
Hasbro Gaming
Description
Watch, remember, and repeat! It’s the exciting electronic game of lights and sounds. Players repeat random sequences of flashing lights by pressing the colored pads in the correct order. It starts off at a nice steady pace, but the light sequences get more and more complicated as the game continues. Play the Simon game with friends or play solo; Try to hit a new high score by completing the longest sequence possible without making a mistake.
Autism Live Says:
We love this classic game because it develops memory skills while having a blast. Introduce this Oldie but Goodie to your teen and let the good time roll!
Motor Play Toy Winner
SlooMoo Slime
SlooMoo Institute
Description
Sloomoo Institute embraces joy through hands-on play. Slime is nuanced. It’s key to get the right texture for your skill level or you may not enjoy the experience (you can go from novice to expert in no time once you get started). Take the online quiz to find out which slime is right for you!
Autism Live Says:
We love the way this slime promotes good fine motor skills. Have a reluctant writer? Have them knead and stretch this slime to regulate and build the hand skills to glide through handwriting!
Kid's Choice Toy Winner
NeeDoh Nice Cube
Schylling
Description
Bring chill vibes with you everywhere with a squeeze of the Nice Cube! This squish sensation feels soft when slow squished and firm when fast squished. Squeeze, stretch, squish, and watch it return to its square shape! Nice Cube comes in assorted colors of pink, blue, and purple.
Autism Live Says:
Kids love this toy. Parents love this toy. We couldn’t find anyone who didn’t love this toy. Stretch it, pull it, squeeze it, punch it, it always goes back to being a cube. It is deeply satisfying and a great way to work out frustration or just chill out.
Empowering Employment Skills Toy Winner
Snake Oil
Snake Oil
Description
If laughter is the best medicine, then Snake Oil “cures what ails ya!” Bring out your inner snake oil salesman as you pitch your crazy product inventions to wacky customers in this comparison card game. Quickly combine two word Cards from your hand to create a zany new product like Rumor Mirror! or Burp Balloon! Then pitch it to the player who is the wacky customer for the round. This National Mensa Competition Winner with fast gameplay and simple rules is the perfect party game.
Autism Live Says:
We love how this hilarious game will help your teen learn what it takes to sell. They will learn perspective taking skills and how to speak effectively to customers, even when the product is absolutely ridiculous!
Educational Toy Winner
Mechanical Hand
Smartivity
Description
Bring out your inner super hero with this exciting mechanical machine. The step-by-step instructional manual ensures a deeply engaging DIY experience, perfect for kids to construct and enjoy for hours. Reduce screen time and boost confidence and creativity as kids build their own toys, they learn about the science around us, developing a lifelong love for science.
Autism Live Says:
We love how motivating this kit is. As your teen learns about science and technology they are preparing for when their hand is fully assembled and functional. There is so much to learn along the way, but the pay-off is massive.
Best Card/Board Game Winner
The Uzzle
Project Genius
Description
Players race to crack the puzzle on the card by flipping, spinning, and merging identical sets of 5 patterned blocks. You will need to have sharp eyes, quick thinking ability, strong observation power, and fast hand speed all at the same time. The Uzzle board game is great for enhancing problem-solving and many cognitive skills in children.
Autism Live Says:
This popular board game is great for helping kids, teens, and adults problem solve quickly, which helps build fluency and flexibility. There is no reading involved making it a fun game for individuals of all abilities.
Boredom Buster Toy Winner
Tecti
Fun in Motion Toys
Description
Discover Endless Possibilities with TECTI: The Ultimate Kinetic Building Toy! Build 50+ dynamic structures with TECTI’s interlocking cubes. Experience captivating seismic-like movement, thanks to TECTI’s innovative hinges. Secure structures in place with a keystone to keep them from moving.
Autism Live Says:
We love to way these cool cubes attach to make every thing from modern art sculptures to models. They are super fun and educational to blast away the duldrums.
Best Video Game Winner
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Nintendo Switch
Description
Take control of the powerful pink puffball, Kirby, and move around in 3D stages as you discover a mysterious world. What journey awaits Kirby Take a deep breath and discover a mysterious world with abandoned structures from a past civilization—like a shopping mall! Take a break from your adventure in the lovely Waddle Dee Town. Play some of the townsfolk’s favorite games or compare scores online through Wise Waddle Dee.
Autism Live Says:
We love that this is a very mainstream game that is popular and will lead to good peer social interaction, but that it is not a violent game. There are lots of fun games within the exploration aspect of the game as well.
Best Puzzle Winner
Inverse: Volstar
Project Genius
Description
The Volstar is a puzzle for the non-conformist- not quite a triangle, definitely not a cube. With ten sides and seven different colors, it defies traditional shapes. The puzzle is solved when the pieces on each face are the same color. It looks impossible, but experienced twisty-puzzlers will find the familiar solvable patterns accessible in this medium difficulty puzzle.
Autism Live Says:
We love this new “twist” for the many Cubers out there. We also love that Project Genius is a Women Owned Company that proudly has a work program for young people with autism.
Best Book Winner
Good Different
Scholastic Books
Description
Good Different by Megan Eden Kuyatt is an extraordinary novel-in-verse about a neurodivergent girl who comes to understand and celebrate her difference.
Selah knows her rules for being normal. She feels like a dragon stuck in a world of humans, but she knows how to hide it. Until the day she explodes and hits a fellow student.
Ultimately as Selah starts to figure out more about who she is, she comes to understand that different doesn’t mean damaged. Can she get her school to understand that, too, before it’s too late?
Autism Live Says:
This is lovely book about identity, masking, acceptance, and self-esteem. It is an ideal to share with your teen/tween as a spring board to discuss when/where they feel they need to mask in order to be accepted, and how they can authentically be themselves and embrace what is unique in them
Best Art/Craft Winner
My Comic Book
Lulu, Jr.
Description
Create Your Own Comic! This new version features an updated “Comics in Action” guide book that navigates your tween/teen through creating their characters, settings, panels, words and artwork for their comic book. Everything contained in the My Comic Book kit allows a tween/teen to write and illustrate their own full-color, 18 page, professionally printed comic book.
Autism Live Says:
We LOVE that when your child has completed their comic book you can, for an additional fee, get the book professionally printed for a one of kind keepsake. Plus it makes being creative easy for your comic loving teen!
Don’t forget to check out all the fabulous toy and gift winners in other categories.
You might find exactly what you are looking for there!
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.