12/13/2025
PRESCHOOL!
📣We have kept it simple this year since we are behind and most parents have already finished the bulk of their shopping, but we will be sharing some of our favorite toys and games for each age range over the next few days.
For this age we prioritize toys, activities, and games that:
✨Provide speech and language learning opportunities
✨Encourage pretend play and creativity
✨Provide opportunities to move and work on balance and coordination
✨Teach early social skills and supportive cognitive development
✨Help build fine motor skills essential for later academic readiness
We want our preschoolers using their whole body to move, learn, and communicate!
🛠️Magnetic building tiles, blocks, and construction toys are a hit with this age. They encourage problem solving, build fine motor skills and bilateral coordination, and encourage creativity and pretend play.
✋🏼Occupational therapists love Play-Doh and kinetic sand because they can be used to strengthen little hands, build visual motor skills, assist in self-regulation, and encourage creativity. Speech therapists love to use Play-Doh as an opportunity to model speech and language skills.
🚙A train set or car and ramp provides endless opportunities for your child to use their imagination by building and pretending. You can also model language, ask questions, and work on storytelling while you play together!
⛑️You can never go wrong with a pretend play kit for little ones. Kids can spend playtime being a doctor, fireman, nurse, teacher, chef etc. The options are endless with pretend play! Dressing up is also a great way for kids to practice dressing skills. “Cooking” can support fine motor development, hand-eye coordination and teach sequencing, planning, and organizing. These pretend cooking sets can also be used to model quantity concepts (more pepperonis, less cookies), descriptive words (sweet, salty), and is a great opportunity to model asking and answering questions.
🧩Puzzles are also always a hit! They help develop fine motor, visual motor, and visual perceptual skills. You can also use puzzles to work on following directions, spatial concepts, and early language development, including basic concepts or categories like animals, clothing, or food. You can modify puzzles by adjusting the number and size of pieces, adjusting the background, and providing assistance.
👀Search and find activities are so much fun. My own toddler LOVES these activities! They provide so many opportunities for modeling language and expanding vocabulary, improving visual perceptual skills, and what three-year-old doesn’t love using a dry erase marker?
♠️This age is also GREAT for cooperative games- think early board games! These games can help teach children how to understand "winning" and "losing," turn taking, counting, number and letter identification, etc. We will share some of our favorites tomorrow!
