The Ultimate Guide of 20 Cerebral Palsy Toys To Build Motor Skills
Are you looking for the best cerebral palsy toys to improve motor skills like sensory challenges, muscle strength, balance, or coordination?
If you answered yes, this list has you covered! The following toys are highly rated AND therapist-approved that focus on:
- Sensory
- Learning
- Fine motor development
- Gross motor development
Our sweet Lua was recently diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP) at 7 months old. I felt it was important to share this toy guide to help other parents who may be searching for cerebral palsy toys to benefit their kiddo! Some of these toys are recommended by my dear friends at NAPA Center and others we’ve heard about through our nonprofit, The LENN Foundation, which helps kids with CP.
Without further ado, here are the TOP 18 cerebral palsy toys ranging from infant and up.
This original post is featured in my other blog, Intensive Therapy for Kids.
Aqua Magic Doodle Mat
For Ages: 3 to 8 years
Targeted Skills: Creative play, Motor Development
Stimulate your child’s imagination with a mess-free activity, the aqua mat.
It comes with a safe magic pen that can be filled with water to begin drawing.
Within 10 minutes, the drawing magically disappears so you can start doodling all over again. Learn numerous things like:
- Colors
- Shapes
- Numbers
- ABC’s
The mat is quick to fold and transport. Plus, it’s super easy to clean while lacking the harsh elements found in plastic such as BPA.
Final Verdict: To promote gross motor activity in an inspirational learning environment.
Ball Drop Tower Activity
For Ages: 1 year and up
Targeted Skills: Fine motor development, Targeted reaching
The Ball Drop Tower is a playful activity that offers both visual and tactile stimulation. This is one of the best toys for cerebral palsy toddlers because it inspires hands-on learning with:
- Vibrant colors
- Rattling sounds
- Movement
The best part?
It’s a fun play experience to enhance grasping skills and it’s therapist-approved!
Have your child drop the ball at the top of the tower to watch it rattle and roll.
Final Verdict: An engaging toy to promote independent play, sensory development, fine motor skills, and early learning.
Brain Flakes 500 Piece Interlocking Plastic Disc Set
For Ages: 3 years and up
Targeted Skills: Fine motor development, STEM Skills
The Brain Flakes set is an excellent STEM activity to let your imagination take over. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math.
The vibrant pieces are a fun way to learn colors too.
This 500-piece set comes with the following:
- Interconnecting discs that snap into place
- Plastic jar for easy storage
- Instructions on how to build your very own Brain Flakes ball
For child safety, all pieces are free of lead, metal, and BPA.
Final Verdict: For the aspiring young builder who loves to design and construct things.
Crayola Ultimate Light Board Drawing Tablet
For Ages: 6 to 15 years
Targeted Skills: Fine motor development, Vision Issues
For the aspiring artist, this toy “lights up” a good ol’ time.
The drawing tablet brightens making it easy to see when you color and draw.
This promotes creativity while encouraging fine motor development.
Final Verdict: An entertaining activity for kids with or without vision difficulties who love to draw.
Elite Bike Walking Ride On Toy
For Ages: 9 months to 3 years
Targeted Skills: Motor development
If you are looking for adaptive toys for cerebral palsy, this award-winning toy is great for easing kids into learning to walk or ride a bike.
Use the supportive chair as a ride-on, push toy, or walker.
The innovative bike helps kids build strength to spur motor functions into action.
Final Verdict: For kids who need additional support while learning to walk or ride with confidence.
Fat Brain Dipl Baby Toy
For Ages: 10 months and up
Targeted Skills: Fine motor development, Sensory needs
Right off the bat, these beautiful vibrant silicone bubbles hold a little one’s attention (even adults)!
Your child’s sensory skills are put into action with five colorful bubbles to play with:
- Poke
- Grab
- Push
- Pop
Final Verdict: A wonderful toy for babies with cerebral palsy to inspire sensory exploration while developing fine motor strength.
Fat Brain pipSquigz
For Ages: 3 months to 2 years
Targeted Skills: Sensory integration
This toy is recommended by my friend, Molly, who is a pediatric physical therapist with Kids PT By The Sea.
Research shows that sensory play builds nerve connections in the brain’s pathways, which leads to a child’s ability to complete more complex learning tasks.
Hence, the importance of sensory integration early on for infants and toddlers! That’s precisely what this toy, pipSquigz, is all about.
Stick it to smooth surfaces, rattle it, or push and suction the shapes together.
Final Verdict: A fun sensory tool to encourage tactile exploration and fine motor development.
Fidget Sensory Toys Set
For Ages: 5 years and up
Eighteen sensory toys come in this portable pack made from durable non-toxic materials.
Squeeze, stretch, or flip while playing with these fidget devices.
Fidget toys are a fantastic outlet for kids with excess energy to help them stay calm and focused.
Final Verdict: For the ultimate sensory experience to soothe anxiety and relieve stress.
Hape Garden Salad Wood Play Kitchen Set
For Ages: 3 years and up
Targeted Skills: Fine motor development, Imaginative play
Enjoy a delicious salad playfully while enhancing fine motor strength!
What’s wonderful about this award-winning playset is it exposes kids to healthy eating habits all while developing fine motor skills.
It’s also a great way to teach about nutritious food items.
The colorful wooden salad piece set includes:
- A mixing bowl
- Salad prongs
- Two dressings
- Food pieces like peppers, lettuce, onions, and more!
The wooden pieces are non-toxic, safe, and made with high-quality materials.
Final Verdict: A fun activity for toddlers and little kids to encourage storytelling, imaginative play, spatial reasoning, and fine motor development.
LeapFrog Learning Friends 100 Words Book
For Ages: 18 months to 4 years
Targeted Skills: Fine motor development, Speech enhancement
The LeapFrog Words Book is a fun way to learn vocabulary through 100 new words.
What’s even better is it promotes early communication.
Categories include animals, food, opposites, colors, cars, clothes, and body parts. Touch the words on the page to play cool sound effects and fun facts.
Final Verdict: For early learners to develop speech skills and word recognition. It’s also a great tool to use during speech therapy to develop oral motor skills.
Learning Resource Spike The Fine Motor Hedgehog
For Ages: 18 months and up
Targeted Skills: Fine motor development, Learning Math and Colors
Spike, the hedgehog, motivates little fingers to move! Grasp and move the chunky, peg-shaped ‘quills’ to put in the holes on the adorable hedgehog’s back.
Learn to play interactive games like:
- Sorting
- Counting
- Color recognition
The plastic covering allows you to easily wipe away the germs too.
Final Verdict: A wonderful hyper-focused fine motor activity to inspire creative learning.
Magnetic Blocks and Tiles
For Ages: 3 to 8 years
Targeted Skills: Fine motor development, Sensory seeking, STEM skills
Building blocks are an incredible sensory tool to teach kids about balance, size, and shape. But when a magnet is added into the mix, it takes imaginary play to a whole new level!
There is no limit to the number of activities your child can create.
The bright vibrant pieces are durable, safe, and recyclable.
Final Verdict: For kids who love to build with their hands, this activity promotes creative thinking, problem-solving, and advancing fine motor functions.
Manhattan Toy Skwish Classic Rattle and Teether
For Ages: 0 to 1 year
Targeted Skills: Color recognition, Fine motor development, Teething
This classic wooden rattle and teether are two engaging activities made in one toy.
The rattle encourages fine motor development to clutch, hold, and squeeze the object.
No need to worry if your sweet pea puts the rattle in their mouth.
It’s made out of sustainable wood with non-toxic paint. Plus, your kiddo learns colors like blue, yellow, red, orange, and green.
Final Verdict: An award-winning grasping activity to develop a baby’s fine motor skills while providing peace of mind during the “teething phase”.
Playskool Sit n Spin Activity Toy
For Ages: 18 months to 6 years
Targeted Skills: Motor development, Balance
If you need a playful activity to encourage your little one to sit up and balance, this toy does the trick.
Sit on the wheel to push and pull the handle. Soon you will start to whirl, twirl, and swirl!
Final Verdict: For toddlers who need an inspiring play tool to develop balance and coordination.
Pop Tubes Sensory Toy
For Ages: 3 years and up
Targeted Skills: Auditory, Fine motor development, Tactile stimulation
This used to be one of my nephew’s FAVORITE toys who has cerebral palsy.
Pull, twirl, and stretch the tubes. Plus, it makes a cool “pop” noise that provides auditory stimulation.
This tube toy inspires grasping skills to strengthen the hand and arm muscles.
Final Verdict: An engaging sensory toy to provide tactile stimulation.
Silicone Bubble Popper Fidget Toy
For Ages: 13 years and up
Targeted Skills: Fine motor development, Sensory needs, Stress relief
Have you ever popped bubble wrap? There’s something so satisfying about it.
The silicone bubbles are soft to the touch making you want to keep popping them over and over.
More importantly, if your little one is on sensory overload or anxious, this popper toy provides a calming outlet and helps to relieve stress.
Final Verdict: For teens who need an effective sensory tool to relieve stress or anxiety, and improve mood.
Soft Building Blocks
For Ages: 6 months to 3 years
Targeted Skills: Visual and Sensory input
Encourage your baby or toddler to explore their building skills. A total of 12 blocks are included for exploring, stacking, and knocking them down.
We purchased this set for our twin girls which they love! They are going through the ever-so-fun “teething phase” so these blocks have turned into the perfect teething toy too.
Each block inspires learning:
- Animals
- Colors
- Letters
- Numbers
- Shapes
- Various textures
Soft blocks are one of the TOP tummy-time activities suggested by occupational therapists at NAPA Center!
Final Verdict: A sensory-seeking tool for babies and toddlers to enhance visual and fine motor skills.
Stickers
For Ages: 2 to 4 years
Targeted Skills: Fine motor, Pinching and Grasping skills
This is one of my FAV fine motor and sensory activities because of the all different things you can do with stickers.
Get creative with this and have fun creating different sticker activities with your kiddo to encourage pinching and fine motor development.
Some things you can do:
- Play a “matching game”
- Make an “I spy” sticker book
- Work on body awareness (place a sticker on the toes to encourage reaching or on the knees to teach about the body part)
Ask your child, “Where is your knee?” and see if they can place a sticker there. Repeat this for their feet, tummy, hands, etc.
Final Verdict: An entertaining activity to heighten your sense of smell and improve fine motor skills.
Wonder Wheel Activity
For Ages: 6 to 24 months
Best For: Auditory, Visual, and Tactile Stimulation
Immediately, this toy captures your attention with the spinning wheel!
There is a suction cup on the bottom of the Wonder Wheel for you to place on multiple surfaces like a high chair or tabletop.
It makes a wonderful fine motor activity for your child to enjoy while in their high chair or during tummy time recommended by NAPA Center Occupational Therapist, Amanda.
It also inspires babies to explore with their fingers.
Final Verdict: An engaging toy to encourage fine motor development and tactile exploration.
Wooden Shape Stack and Sort Geometric Board Blocks
For Ages: 1 year and up
Targeted Skills: Color recognition, Fine motor development, Math skills
Get busy learning while interacting with these colorful wooden shapes.
Sort the shapes into columns to improve hand-eye coordination and develop logical thinking skills.
The toy is safe for little ones as it’s made of non-toxic water-based paint.
Final Verdict: For babies and toddlers who need a beginner tool to learn colors and shapes while boosting fine motor functions.
To Wrap It Up
These cerebral palsy toys offer a range of options to explore and challenge motor skills from infants and up. Each of the recommended toys has great benefits for sensory-seeking kiddos or for those needing to build muscle strength, balance, and control.
Whether you are looking for gifts to give or simply want to help your little one reach their developmental milestones, I hope this guide was helpful for you!
Until the next post, I’m sending you all the positive parenting vibes!
With Gratitude,
Linds
What other cerebral palsy toys do you love or recommend? I’m curious! Let me know in the comments below. Your input means a lot and helps other fellow parents who read this post!
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About The Author
Linds is the proud mom of two little miracles, Mono Mono twin girls, and one AMAZING older bro! She is the founder and content creator of the blog Mono Mono Twins, the blog Intensive Therapy for Kids, and Co-Founder of The LENN Foundation (a 510c3 that helps children with cerebral palsy receive grants for intensive therapies to thrive). ♥
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