Holiday Gifts that Support Your Child’s Development

 

A Brain-Boosting Holiday Gift Guide With Developmental Toys and Experiences for Kids of All Ages

By Alice Haefeli-Burch, Coach for Brain Balance of Brooklyn

December is the biggest time of the year for gift-giving. When most children unwrap holiday gifts, they find what my mother used to refer to as “5-minute toys.” Things like a Furby or a Tickle-Me-Elmo that will surely end up in the trash or donation bin once the novelty wears off. 

The toys on this list help with sensory motor development, focus, and gross and fine motor skills. Most of them are open-ended toys, meaning that kids use their imagination to play with them so they stick around a bit longer. 

You’ll also find experiences geared towards some of our older students. These give school-aged children, tweens, and teens opportunities for gifts that can include social aspects, supporting their growth mindset, resilience and confidence. And they are all screen-free!

And just to be clear: we are not paid to endorse any of these products—we simply love them because they’re fun, functional, and great for the brain.

Gifts for Ages 3–6

Stepping Stones

Stepping stones build balance, motor planning, coordination, and confidence. This set features uneven surfaces that challenge adaptability, and the included spinner lets kids create games and obstacle courses. They even double as sorting bowls when flipped.
👉 National Geographic Stepping Stones

Balance Bike

A balance bike promotes independent movement, core strength, balance, coordination, and confidence—key building blocks for early brain development.
👉 Balance Bike

Dinosaur Sorting Puzzle

A sensory-friendly fidget toy that strengthens fine motor skills, palmar grasp, and hand strength. Kids squeeze colorful balls into the dinosaur’s spikes—playful and developmentally rich.
👉 Gel Dinosaur Sorting Toy

Pipe Cleaners

Simple, inexpensive, and endlessly useful for fine motor play, bilateral coordination, crafts, and sensory exploration.
👉 Colorful Chenille Pipe Cleaners

 

Gifts for Ages 7–10

Rocker Board

A fun movement challenge that improves balance, core engagement, motor planning, stability, and proprioception.
👉 Kids Rocker Board

Indoor Trampoline

A great tool for emotional regulation, agility, motor planning, and cardiovascular health. Kids who are overstimulated often benefit from quick, repetitive movement.
👉 BCAN Foldable Indoor Trampoline

Exercise Dice

Turns movement into a game with endless combinations. Perfect for agility, coordination, social skills, and group play.
👉 Exercise Dice for Kids

Gifts for Ages 11–14

Lego Sets

Great for creativity, visual-spatial reasoning, fine motor skills, sequencing, and sustained attention.
👉 LEGO Architecture London

Genius Square

A fast, strategic puzzle game that sharpens spatial thinking, problem-solving, and flexible thinking.
👉 Genius Square Game

Q-Bitz

Strengthens pattern recognition, memory, visual perception, and fine motor skills.
👉 Q-Bitz Game

Slack Board (Advanced)

A more challenging stability and balance tool for older kids craving a bigger challenge.
👉 Gibbon Slackline Board

Fun for the Whole Family

Yoto Player

A screen-free audio player that builds listening skills, imagination, language, and comprehension.
👉 Yoto Player

Interval Workout Card Game

Fun for the whole family, this interactive card game will help increase your heart rate, improve strength, balance and coordination skills, which are foundational to the Brain Balance Program. 
👉 Exercise Card Game

Local, Experiential Gifts

We currently live in a world where there is so much stuff. Many people have too much and nowhere to put it. If this is you, here are some exceptional experiential gifts you can gift to your children instead. Bonus: These are mostly local suggestions. Please support local Brooklyn businesses!

Summer Camp

Summer camp leads to amazing friendships, lasting memories, a growth mindset, learning failure and resilience, and new experiences. There are more and more camps popping up for kids who are neurodivergent, namely The Story School LARP Camp, Camp Akeela, Camp Ramapo,  and Camp SkyWild.

 

Gym Membership

Joining a gym has many benefits for the whole family. Gyms offer different ways to get movement and exercise, whether it’s independently or part of classes. They can also be spots for social events, and even potentially job opportunities later in life. Check out general facilities like the YMCA or more sports specific gyms like rock climbing, pilates, yoga, dance or parkour.  Some local spots include: Movement Gym, Good Day Pilates, Shambala Yoga & Dance, and The Movement Creative.

 

Cooking Classes

Getting a child or a teen to eat something new can be tough, but when that kid is involved in creating the meal, they are more likely to try it. Plus, cooking involves creativity, fine motor skills, and in a class, you are bound to meet some friends. 

 

Pottery Classes

Taking a pottery class is a creative outlet that utilizes both fine and gross motor skills. Brooklyn locals, check out the Clayhouse.

Classes at Brooklyn Ninja Academy. Perfect for teaching strength and coordination.

A giftcard to a local bookstore, such as Brain Balance staff favorite, Books are Magic.

 

A camp or class with The Brooklyn Strategist, a game cafe that is great for children and teens  who have shown interest in strategic and role-playing games. Excellent for socialization and critical thinking. 

 

Archery Lessons

Classes at Gotham Archery, a Junior Olympic Archery Development program. Excellent for eye coordination development and upper body strength and control. 

 

Music Lessons

Anywhere. With anyone. Playing a musical instrument forces both sides of the body to coordinate with each other because they are doing two different things, and it is excellent for creating and strengthening neural pathways in the brain. 

 

Have a warm and cozy holiday season. From all of us at Brain Balance of Brooklyn to all of you, Happy Holidays!