DD#1 needs a gift list and I am trying to include any good toys that would help her strengthen herself through play. She has hypotonia and ataxia. PT suggested the Rody horse, a ride on toy you push with your feet, and a truck or something she can push across the floor while walking on her feet. OT suggested short markers or crayons to force her to grasp them correctly.

Any other good ideas?

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Mom to two beautiful girls.

For more ideas, you can check out ToysRus' catalogue for differently abled kids, Lakeshore Learning and Discovery Toys. I like a lot of the basic things like crayons, blocks, playdoh, but am careful with hi-tech w/ the exception of certain ones as in the Leapster line.

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Can dark get darker?

My son's therapist had suggested a mini trampoline (the kind with the hand rail) and one of those sit on scooters for my son with the same problem.

Thanks ladies. I had forgotten about the Toys R Us catalog - I will have to take a peak!

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Mom to two beautiful girls.

I think a box full of glue, paper and collage items (buttons, beads, pom pom balls, foam pieces, etc) would be a great idea. It takes controlled movements to use the glue, pick up the small collage items and place them on paper. Those really help with muscle strength and control. My 2 year old in just a period of a few weeks is getting better at grasping and picking up the items for her collage.

If you have a 40% off Michaels coupon they have a great arts and crafts jar filled to the top with goodies for $9.99 that you can get for $6. Then you can add a bottle glue ($1), construction paper ($2) and possibly a Crayola Craft Surprise box ($12).

I really love the Crayola Craft box. It comes in a plastic storage container (think shoe box). It is filled to the top with many items. My DDs last box included: stick glue, 16 Crayola Crayons, 24 Crayola color pencils, 2 paint brushes, 4 small bags of air dry clay, scissors, coloring book, small Crayola Wonder coloring book with 3 Marker, plastic toys to use with Play Doh or clay, white drawing pad, 2 travel size boxes of crayons and color pencils, water color paints, 6 mini pots of washable paint, color your own stickers, 2 paint sponges and 3 tubes of glitter glue.

If you use the coupon. You could set up a really nice craft box for about $20.

You could also get a kid size balance ball.

Jen