Skip to main content

12 Days of Christmas Present Ideas with Sisu7

Want to find a Christmas gift that is more than just a ‘toy’?

 

All these gifts have a functioning purpose and help with child development all while bringing fun and creativity. We have chosen gifts that we have all love to use in clinic and have seen children light up when they are interacting with them.

 Connetix Tiles Mega Pack

Our top gift for Christmas 2021 – Connetix Tiles Mega Pack.  Connetix Tiles are the ultimate in helping kids grow their imagination, take the lead in their play, and create incredible rainbow fun.  While blissfully building, kids will be problem solving, develop spatial awareness, improve hand-eye coordination, explore their senses, work on fine motor skills, develop cooperation skills when building with friends and form early math and science skills. An open ended tool, Connectix Tiles are perfect to help kids explore how magnets work, the wonders of light and refraction, literacy, numeracy, force and motion, patterns and symmetry, weight and balance, cause and effect, all while allowing kids to express themselves creatively and work through different feelings and emotions. The sense of pride and accomplishment when they build something is also a fantastic way to build confidence and self-esteem. Connetix tiles grow with your child as they learn, and their play becomes more complex. Connectix tiles are magnetic, reinforced and made from non-toxic food grade plastic and come in rainbow and pastel collections, recommended for ages 3+.

 Tenzi

Our most popular game, Tenzi is a fast game designed to help children with number recognition, counting, adaptive thinking and fine motor skills.  It is easy to play, and can be modified to suit different ages and ability levels but is best suited to ages 5+ . Each player throws 10 dice and whichever number is shown the most is your number! Keep throwing the remaining dice to get all your dice showing that number. The first to get all 10 matching shouts TENZI!  Number recognition, in-hand manipulation skills, and visual scanning combine in this fantastic frenzy of a game. Even better – Tenzi can be played in so many different ways, and combined with the companion pack 77 Ways to Play Tenzi will extend the fast rolling  fun for the whole family.

 

 Camelot Jnr

As kids solve the puzzle to reunite the prince and princess, they develop skills such as flexible thinking, following a plan, problem solving and concentration. Beautiful hardwood towers and stairs are used to create the path for the characters to be reunited, with 48 challenges from easy to expert. A perfect brain teaser for ages 4+.

 Dragomino - Children’s Game of the Year 2021

Board games are excellent gifts for whole family fun and can help children develop their cognitive and fine motor skills in a playful, stress-free environment. They develop skills to last them a lifetime and learn the values of teamwork, patience, how to win and lose gracefully, take turns, share, and strategize. Key things to look for, focus on short playing time, bright and fun characters, simple rules, and high replay value.

Dragomino provides all of this in a fun, dragon filled fantasy package. It is simple to play and has optional rules to add complexity. It challenges visual perception skills, problem solving, patterning and fine motor skills and is perfect for ages 5+.

 Buildzi - Australian Toy Association Specialty product of the Year 2021

This speed building game is therapy in disguise!  Building skills include logic and reasoning combined with fine motor and social skills which increases confidence and encourages imagination. This is a perfect game to connect the whole family with multiple ways to play the game to allow for different age, skill, and competition levels. Buildzi is recommended for ages 7+ and can be combined with the companion pack 99 More Buildzi Towers for hours of speed building family shenanigans.

 Jigsaw Puzzles 

More than just a puzzle, as kids locate, arrange, manipulate, and reposition puzzle pieces they are progressing many skills across a range of developmental domains.

Firstly – social interaction, engaging in completing the puzzle allows for conversation and relationship building, it allows kids to practice these skills in a safe environment. Also encourages them to work in a team, practice taking turns and sharing.

Puzzles are about problem solving – which helps with executive functioning skills like working memory, impulse control, attention, and organization. All of which are vital for independence in daily routines.

Puzzles also promote fine motor development for hand and finger strength and dexterity as kids pick up and manipulate puzzle pieces of different shapes, they are helping with skills required for handwriting and self-care.

Gross motor skills are also supported with floor puzzles as kids are using core stability and balance to sit on the floor, as well as using bilateral coordination, crossing the midline.

It is important to match the difficulty level to the child’s current ability as well, start with an easier option so the kids can have some success with the activity and you can gauge where their level of ability is at, then progress the difficulty gradually by introducing puzzles with more pieces, more complex designs, or unique shapes.

Using puzzles that are letter or number based also help with letter and number recognition for early learners.

 Jump In’

One player puzzle games are excellent for extending our concentration abilities. Jump in’ is a pocket-sized game, great for travel and for building cognitive skills such as logic, planning, spatial insight and problem solving. Players help the rabbits jump to safety across 60 challenges from beginner to expert, with solutions provided in an accompanying booklet. Kids love the forest theme whimsy of this game and testing themselves against the different puzzle levels. Jump in’ is also great for developing persistence, sustained attention and concentration and memory skills. Best for ages 7+.

 Tack Zap Farm

Tack Zap Farm is great way to encourage creativity and problem solving. Kids design their own or follow creation cards to make farm creations by hammering wooden animal shaped pieces into a cork board. This creativity helps develop shape and colour recognition, pattern awareness, spatial awareness, motor planning and fine motor skills. Quality wooden pieces, hammer, and tacks and 10 creation cards all in a nifty carry bag.  Best farm enthusiasts aged 3+.

 Viga Bead Sequence

A clinic favourite for working on fine motor skills, visual perception, hand-eye coordination,  pattern recognition, particularly for primary school kids. The best thing about the Viga Bead Sequence is that the kids don’t realise they are working on these skills, instead focussed on the challenge of the activity and the feel and placement of the beads. The beads can also be used to practice single and group counting, shape and colour recognition. Great for 3+ age group.

 Slapzi

Slapzi is a fast-paced game all about speed matching! Be the first to match the right picture cards to the right clue cards. Each player is dealt 5 double sided picture cards which are laid on the surface in front of you. Clue cards are read out and the players need to match their cards with the clue cards. First person to get rid of all their cards wins. Large, colourful pictures and a range of cards covering simple and complex concepts, Slapzi is a fun, competitive game that encourages development in visual perception and discrimination skills, executive functioning, and social and cognitive skills. Perfect for ages 6+.

 

Rock Crayons

Crayon Rocks encourage correct tripod grip to get children ready for school. Beautiful blendable colours made with soy wax and natural ingredients. 

Crayon rocks:

  • encourage the correct tripod grip from an early age
  • are lightweight reducing the impact of muscle fatigue
  • are beautiful to touch with colours that are enticing
  • are made from soy and coloured with natural pigments and contain no phthalates or nasties
  • would be a great stocking filler
  • come in a pack of 8 or 16 in a handy calico or velvet bag

 

Ninja Slack line

One for the older kids and kids at heart this 7'x 6' cargo net attaches to the Ninja Line to create a variety of obstacles. Great for developing gross motor skills. 

Includes Heavy Duty Cargo Net made of polyester webbing strap with nylon double stitching, 7 Delta carabiners and 36' anchor line. Anchor line adds stability at the base but can be removed for additional difficulty. 

Ninja Line sold separately.

Location

Shop G06 Domain Central
103 - 141 Duckworth Street
Garbutt Qld 4814

Shop hours

Monday-Friday: 8.30am to 4.30pm
Weekend: Closed