Parenting

The 10 Best Sensory Toys for Children with Autism

The 10 Best Sensory Toys for Children with Autism

Tangle Set of 3 Jr. Original Fidget Toy

Buy Tangle Set of 3 Jr. Original Fidget Toy

Toys are the perfect way to help and support your child with autism at home. Sensory toys are designed to inspire your child’s creativity and help them calm down while they are having fun. There are plenty of these products out on the market, but here is our list of the absolute best!

First up, this set of Tangles Jr. Tangles are a great and innovative way to keep your child busy and to help them be creative. Your child will be able to mold them into whatever they want, and each tangle’s crazy color scheme will make twisting and tearing them apart fun and exciting. National Autism Resources have even recommended Tangle as their #1 Best Seller!

It’s not uncommon for children with autism to have difficulty sitting still, or exhibit behavior that’s “fidgety.” It’s vital for parents to find ways to have their child focus the fidgeting on something so that they can calm down and avoid a sensory overload. According to a study published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, parents should not stop their child from fidgeting because it can improve how they absorb information and their performance.

Toys like Tangles can help your child reduce their level of stress and process their own emotions, especially because they’re utilizing their creativity!

MarvelBeads Water Beads

Just add water, and these colorful and squishy beads will expand and give your child a colorful display! They can be used for either playtime or decorations around your house, and the best part is, you can reuse them as many times as you want.

It’s almost mesmerizing watching the beads grow before your very eyes. And this is only part of the experience. They are best for sensory play. Parents can fill up a bowl of these and have their child use their hands to touch and squeeze them.

Sensory play refers to any activity that helps a child use their five senses: touch, smell, taste, sight, and hearing. Your child can explore their different senses, while also using these activities to improve their cognitive, linguistic, and social skills.

Products like MarvelBeads offer your child a hands-on experience, while also supports their cognitive development.

Buy Marvel Beads Water Beads

Neliblu Wacky Tracks Snap and Click Fidget Toys

These wacky, plastic snaps come in a bulk set of four and offer children with autism and ADHD stress relief therapy. They are perfect for keeping a child’s fingers busy and their minds focused on the snap and click tracks. Children are able to create their own shapes and design, while also calming them down, reducing their stress and anxiety, and increasing their attention span.

They lock into five positions with a snap and click! And the sound of both can actually be pretty satisfying. These tracks can also help them improve their hand-eye coordination, problem-solving, and deduction skills.

It will also help them bring out their creative side as they can manipulate the links in whatever shapes and designs they want. They may never put it down!

Buy Neliblu Wacky Tracks Snap and Click Fidget Toys

Spiky Sensory Balls

These spiky sensory balls are perfect for parents who are looking for a new toy their child can use to stimulate their senses. They’re firm, but also squeezable and are great for children that fidget.

While these spiky balls can reduce your child’s stress and anxiety, they will also help them focus their attention on something else when they’re experiencing issues with sensory overload. They promote a calming environment, and are perfect for children of all ages.

Sensory toys like these spiky balls can act as a way to stimulate the brain and improve their motor skills. While they could roll them around and bounce them, they can be great to use as teethers and massagers.

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KeNeer Stretchy String

KeNeer Stretchy Strings are stretch fidget toy that are great for relieving feelings of stress and anxiety in children with autism, OCD, and ADHD. Not only will they help calm your child down, they can also focus their attention.

While children can stretch them this way and that, parents can utilize them as a learning tool. These colorful strings can be stretched into different patterns, numbers, letters, and shapes. Your child can learn and organize these bright colors, while also increasing their creativity and using their imagination!

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Chewzy Sensations Chewable Necklace

This item is a safe way to provide your child with both sensory and oral stimulation, and it’s great for children with autism who fidget and chew on their shirts! It is large coil that is comfortable and durable, so it’s the perfect way to keep their attention. This pack comes with four different colors: green, blue, yellow, and red. So, they can either wear whichever color they want or wear different necklaces at one time!

Chewing is considered a self-stimulating behavior, and it’s common among many children with autism. These behaviors can help children relieve stress, reduce anxiety, and combat moments of sensory overload. While self-stimulating behavior (or stimming) can include other senses like visual, auditory, and it commonly comes out through taste as well.

Autistic children will often put different objects in their mouth, or chew on their sleeves, making the ends of them soggy. So, it’s important for parents to find products and toys like these chewable necklaces to stimulate this habit.

Buy Chewzy Sensations Chewable Necklace

Halilit Mini Rainmaker

This mini rainmaker is small and compact, so it’s very easy to carry it with you when you and your child go out. It can help promote motor skills and hand-eye coordination, while also develop their visual and and auditory senses.

The concept is simple: The colorful, falling beads in the prismed walls are supposed to help calm your child as they watch and listen to the relaxing sound. It’s supposed to mimic the sound of rain, which, for many, is soothing because it’s considered a slow-building sound.

Rain is not an abrupt sound like an alarm clock or a scream. Instead, the sound is repetitive, and eventually it becomes easy to tune out. Researchers and psychologists have found that the sound of rain can help children and adults focus and have a therapeutic effect by relaxing their body.

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Toysmith Bubble Motion Tumbler

This Bubble Motion Tumbler is a liquid motion timer that contains water and oil. Any great chef will tell you that water and oil do not mix, so as you watch the marble-shaped colors in the tumbler, you’ll also notice them zigzag away from each other as they travel downward. It’s also a great visual aid to help see how water and oil separate from one another.

When the small marbles stop moving moving, all you have to do is turn the small tumbler over and watch the colors travel again.

For children who are sensitive to visual perception, this is a great tool to help them focus their attention on something that’s colorful and can help improve their skills in visual perception.

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SpringFly Bundle of Sensory Toys

This bundle has 12 different toys, and includes a liquid motion timer bubbler, rainbow ball magic cube, two mesh and marble sensory toys, two squeezable grape balls, and much more. SpringFly is a company that is committed to making toys that are 100% non-toxic and also environmental friendly.

Toys like the mesmerizing liquid timer and the rainbow magic cube can act as ways to help soothe your child and can also improve their skills in visual perception. Some toys that you can stretch, squeeze,and bend at will can also keep your child busy while also improving their motor skills and hand-eye coordination. 

Buy SpringFly’s Bundle of Sensory Toys

Toysmith Pin Art

Toysmith’s Pin Art is a great way for your child to create their own shapes and patterns… using their own small hands and other objects! It is made with metal pins, but this product is created with safe and high-quality materials. So, it’s durable enough to not be taken apart.

This can be great for stimulating your child’s imagination, and it also gives them a chance to make three-dimensional images.

It’s lightweight and small, so it’s perfect to put on top of a table or a desk. But, you must supervise your child while they’re using it in as it does contain small parts.

Buy Toysmith Pin Art

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