Holiday Gift Guide: Our Favorite Therapeutic Gifts for Kids

We at Kid Matters specialize in helping kids clearly communicate feelings, manage their big emotions and increase their relational capacities. This holiday season we want to share our favorite therapeutic gift ideas for all the kids in your life!

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Keri’s Pick:

Breathe Like a Bear Book | $14

Along with the fun illustrations I love these mindfulness exercises that are designed to teach kids techniques for managing their bodies, breath, and emotions.

Gloria’s Pick:

Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty | $10 – $20

This is a great fidget for kids that stimulates regulation, focus and creativity.

Cheryl’s Pick:

Sootheze™ Comfy Buddies Weighted Stuffed Animals | $19 – $30

These weighted stuffed animals are the perfect gift for comfort and calm.  They come in a variety of styles and sizes. 

In addition to being cute and cuddly, which your kiddo will love, they have multi-sensory therapeutic components to meet a wide range of needs. 

My kids like the calming smell, weighted feel, and removable heat pad to warm-up at bedtime. They are great for helping kiddos relax at bedtime or choose one of their lap pad style animals for your kiddo to use while doing home based learning for school.

Kimber’s Pick:

Wooden Peg People | $15

Rory’s Story Cubes is a fun and easy game that I use therapeutically to help kids engage and work through anxious scenarios in a playful way.  Through imaginative storytelling, problem-solving, and considering other people’s ideas these cubes are a great addition to any personal game shelf. 

Rory’s Story Cubes come in different themed sets, and each set contains 9 cubes with six unique sides.  The rules of the game are simple “Throw the dice and tell your story using the illustrations on the faces of the dice.”

Susan’s Pick:

Rory’s Story Cubes | $12 – $16

These can be a creative way to discuss feelings by letting the child color or paint them to illustrate different emotions.

Fernando’s Pick:

Play-doh | $8

I pick this because it is a versatile play toy. It can be used for sensory regulation, creativity and expression, and be used for more intentional emotional regulation like anxiety and anger.

Molly’s Pick:

Expandable Breathing Ball | $13

This expandable ball can be used as a great visual for deep breathing while engaging in fun, active, and collaborative activities. Families can play a variety of games using the ball while also working on emotional regulation, mindfulness, and awareness of breath.

Carly’s Pick:

Mindful Kids Cards | $20

Here is a gift that I totally love and it is a gift that keeps on giving!

Shana’s Pick:

A Tangle Fidget | $6

A great tool to help focus especially during e-learning!

Leigh’s Pick:

Liquid Motion Bubbler | $8

These are a great tool for cooling down, a helpful transitional object, or just fun to sit and watch! It can provide a nice break for kids and they come in different colors.

Jon’s Pick:

Step 1: Parent gets a tabletop plant, Christmas tree or branch (something you can hang things on with yarn).

Step 2: Parent makes paper decorations and attaches homemade certificates to them. Decorations may be customized for your child’s interests and ages.

Examples include: “Bake cookies with Dad/Mom”, “Play a game of your choice with Mom/Dad”, “Read a story with Dad/Mom”, “Big hug anytime”, “Chore Pass”, “Walk/Run w/ Mom/Dad” etc…

Step 3: Attach decorations to the tree and your child gets to choose one each day for the remainder of the holiday season.

If you are in need of additional resources for support during this (or any) season please reach out to us at Kid Matters Counseling. As always, we are happy to share our best resources with you.  It’s important to stay equipped for the parenting journey, so remember, don’t parent alone!

Have a wonderful holiday season and happy new year!

Kid Matters Counseling Staff

Hinsdale,IL