"Therapeutic" holiday gifts!

This is my goal too. I just ordered a real balance board from toys r us

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00003G1U0.01.MZZZZZZZ.gif

I thnk that’s a picture of it. At any rate, its called a balance board and its manufactured by Carrom. I was looking for something non-electronic , but I bet my kids would like the simulation game better. Ah well.

BTW, ds got up on a snow board (the casual kind, not the serious one) while sledding this weekend. I was so proud.!

Hi Karen,
I’ve been thinking of a real balance board. Have you seen Wobble Boards? If you do a search on Google you’ll find lots of them.

BTW, here are more ideas for anyone interested:

Trampoline with safety net (we got one last year and it has been a BIG hit! Tonight my daughter had a friend over and the girls spent quite a bit of time jumping on it then laying down and looking up at the stars).

Pogo Stick (I’d have to watch my son very carefully with this one, but I’m thinking this might be good for him).

Stilts (how fun!!!! I’d want to try them).

Anyone else have any ideas?

Just a note of caution with trampolines - Your home owner’s insurance policy may not cover it or any liability associated with it. I’ve heard of this happening. Better check it out.

Just got the balance board in the mail, and I may not keep it. Its hard to do (for me) and the board and the thing it sits on are 2 separate pieces. I m worried it may be hard to use initially and I don’t want to frustrate him. I’m going to look into wobble boards. Karen

Yes big tramps are dangerous and most people don’t follow the rules for usage. You can drive around sometimes and see tramps in yards and guess who might have an ADHD kid. :-) Bill Gates is said to have a tramp room in his mansion but then I don’t suppose he will need to worry about home owner’s insurance. :-) Those mini-tramps are fun and don’t have the extra costs, and the worst I can imagine is a broken ankle as opposed to a broken neck.

Some other neat toys: Those balls that you sit on with the handle; for real young kids a tunnel, a very large ball, and you know those body suits they sell in OT stores (made of some type of stretchy fabric) and the kid can move around in there; swing sets; bean bag toss or ball baths (they make them now in an inflatable version where you can just blow up and even store when not in use); bubble bath and bath toys; sand boxes and they even have in the house sand boxes with white sand; etc.

Other things: bikes and trikes; what’s the game with the ball on the stick that you hit and it goes around; easels; etc. Also fish tanks (visual training!); pets (though shouldn’t be gotten at the holidays but leave toy or something with promise to get one.) Skies the limit, imo. Sometimes the simplier the better though in this wind up battery age sit on the couch with a joystick times.

Some of the computer games and those virtual games look great.

—des

Des- You really seem to know your toys!
I was wondering about a mini tramp (the big ones make me nervous) but is my almost 10 year old too old? what do you recommend for a big boy?

>Des- You really seem to know your toys!

What do you think I do in my spare time?

>I was wondering about a mini tramp (the big ones make me nervous) but is my almost 10 year old too old? what do you recommend for a big boy?

I don’t know. Depends on if the kid likes repetition or no. I know adults use them but there really isn’t a lot of different things to do with them. If the kid has a lot of energy might like to bounce it off as well. Same can be said for Jump balls (the ones with handles) or wobble boards. There’s also a neat balancing disk with a maze which you can use either to balance or do the maze or do both (called “circular balancing disc” and “maze balancing disc”. Don’t know if they still make them. Depends entirely on kid. For those kids who would be bored by such things something might be said for the virtual snowboards, etc. esp if the kid has no coordination for the usual bikes, scooters (you know the cool ones with colored wheels), skateboards, etc. If your in a snowy area, all sorts of cool new sleds and saucers (won’t work too well here).

Various ball games— ball toys, for example self-pitchers, etc.

Any computer games that deal with figures/objects/ etc sliding down or going accross obstacles are pretty neat. There’s supposedly a new Froggie and there is Mario etc. etc. The Harry Potter games have this element as well.

Also for the older kids, small pets (everything from fish to hamsters and lizards). For the fish you need at least a ten gal tank so the fish actually can move back and forth!

Also I think legos, etc. There is a new thing I saw. You put it together and the balls run down tracks. Different toys like this. One has a roller coaster while another is a refrigerator toy where you make the ball go down the refrigerator. I don’t know the names for all these. But I think there’s a K’nex roller coaster that really works.

If your kid is into Harry Potter there are some cool “board” games (can be played by oneself) that require a certain amt. of skill. One has a ball that is levitated.

—des

It’s probably a good idea to monitor most kids on a trampoline. And small trampolines don’t have safety nets so the chances of falling off them are probably greater. With a large trampoline that has a safety net you have to watch that kids don’t bump their heads. Overall, with any trampoline it’s a good idea to grab a chair and monitor the situation (even if your kid decides to use the bed as a trampoline! Actually that scares me most because I imgaine a child accidentially jumping through a window!!!!

A couple of years ago, I bought a really large ball for my son…actually I really didn’t imagine how large it was until I pumped it up. It’s like a therapy ball but much larger…got it at Toysrus. My son has probably gotten more use out of this ball than anything he has ever had. He has gone through periods of course that he hasn’t bothered with it, but on the most part he has used it alot. He is constantly bouncing his body off of it (he actually throws himself against it and bounces upright again). He balances on it in all sorts of ways. He balances on it when watching t.v. often, too.

For the past couple of months he has had a renewed interest in the ball…he sometimes takes it around the house with him (not great for the paint on the walls, but so what?). I guess he needs the added sensory input now. I must say he gets lots of sensory stimulation from it without even realizing it!

Lori

Those big therapy balls are great! I bought a couple for my kids, just as toys, when they were 2 and 5 years old respectively. At 4, my youngest child was diagnosed with dyspraxia and began OT. We pursued a home OT program as well and used the balls as part of that. Well, now my kids are 13 and 16 and we still have those balls. For years they have bounced, lain, rested, sat on these balls. They have tossed them at eachother and at their friends, they have dribbled them, rolled on them and done just about anything fun you can imagine could be done with a giant blow up ball. Sometimes I see my 13 year old lying suspended over two balls at once, blissfully watching tv.

Another toy that got many years of wear is a good set of big wooden blocks. My kids are very visual-spatial and they build amazing things from the time they were toddlers. They continued using wooden blocks even after they became lego and k’nex fanatics. When other kids came over to play, the blocks were always in use. It is only in the last year or so that my youngest has finally stopped using them. He still likes the legos, but my 16 year old is now too cool for such things.

I’ve posted on this one before, but worth repeating. I learned trampoline at age 7 and used to teach it as an after-school class. It is a great sport, excellent exercise, wonderful for balance and timing and body integration (Linda F, might be great for you guys — helped me a lot.) and cool enough for boys of all ages.

BUT it is an active whole-body sport, and like any such — like bicycle, skateboard, rollerblade, skiing, swimming, and so on — there are safety rules that must be followed. You wouldn’t just hand your little kid a bike and shoo him out onto a busy road, would you? No, you would make him wear a helmet, teach him how to balance off-road, teach him the rules of the road, and supervise him in traffic for several years before letting him off alone. You wouldn’t just send your kid up to the high diving board and tell him to jump in head first, would you? No, you would get him swimming lessons and diving lessons and you would supervise him until you were sure he knew what he was doing.

Same with trampoline. NEVER more than one person (yes, little kids have a ball — and then they get to be big kids and bounce the other one right off), NEVER in socks (too slippery), only barefoot or in proper gymnastics shoes — bare feet are cheap and best traction. ALWAYS with a net or a spotter ot both. NEVER doing flips without both a spotter and some preliminary training.

With proper teaching and safety rules and adult supervision, just as you would do for any other active sport, trampoline is a safe and valuable activity. If people just throw it in the back yard and let the kids go crazy, it’s as dangerous as doing the same thing with a high diving board or a skateboard ramp would be. So yes, do invest in one if you intend to take it as seriously as you would a bicycle.

I bought a 2 person dancing game ala dance dance revoluation at Kaybee toys today. its like 2 dance pads, with a control device in the middle. Since we couldn’t get dance dance (we have gamecube not ps2) I figured this would be as close as I could get. And it was only $29 , so if it doesn’t hold up forever so be it. I just hope my son doesn;’t think its too girly.

We are staying away from conventional video games (seems to make him have tics) for now.

I am going to try to find one of those cheap plastic snowboards everyone had out last weekend. DS actually did pretty well on a borrowed one.

And I am returning the balance board. My husband tried it, and agreed that although it would be a great work out for DS and his vestibular system, it would be too frustrating at first. There is no easy way to get started with it, its kind of all or nothing . We may get a wobble board instead.

I would disagree with someone that a small tramp is more dangerous. This is those mini tramps, jogging tramps, whatever. Some even have a handle built on them. I think the worst that could happen is that you’d break an ankle (i’ve never heard of that). They don’t encourage one to do tricks but only bounce. Maybe the person thought I meant a smaller size but regular tramp. Real tramps have been known to cause really serious injuries. I think mostly that they aren’t used correctly. I think the way they are made and the fact that the family may not really have anyone to do correct spotting, etc. means that they are really not likely to be used correctly.

OTOH, not sure that unless you had a real hyper kid that the mini-tramp would be of much interest. I know of autistic/ Asperger kids that really like them. The repetition and vestibular stim is a great thing for such kids.
I’ve also heard of severely ADHD kids liking them.

—des

If anyone knows what the virtual snowboarding game is called (or who makes it), please post. I looked at Target — in both the toy section and the video games section — and couldn’t find it.

Nancy

Nancy,
Here’s a link for the snowboarding game (and some reviews too!):
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1574656&cat=103120&type=5&dept=4171&path=0%3A4171%3A103120%3A103419%3A107233%3A106550&xsell=1975267
http://sale-depot.net/toys-games/item/B00005LBEV/Play,TV,Snowboarder,Interactive,Game.html

Karen,
Back when we were having an addition built on our house I made my own balance board with left over wood (I just put a small flat board on a good- sized wooden beam!). Also, sometimes he’d use the thin piece of wood as a balance beam to walk across. He had a lot of fun with these scraps!

Victoria makes some great points on the tramp. I gained a lot of confidence on it at summer camp. Hard to get the safety and staff needed to do this one correctly at home though, imo. Parents tend to put the thing in the backyard and then the kids get on it in groups, at least that’s my observation. I’d also check out the home owner’s insurance. Yikes.

—des

Speed City has some balance boards. They are actually circular and balance on a tennis ball. They are on the internet. They have a lot of other coordinatioon etc. things too.

KarenN - Could you tell me what the name of the the dance game you found at Kaybee is? My son has gamecube, also. I went to Kaybee’s site and saw one for $19 which sounds too cheap to be any good. Didn’t see one for $29 which may be better. I can’t believe Gamecube is behind on this one!!

Lori

I saw one for $29 through Amazon. It didn’t have good reviews though. People thought the graphics weren’t good at all.

Here’s the link
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009IM7U/104-7212481-4596701?v=glance&s=toys&me=A3UN6WX5RRO2AG&vi=pictures&img=14#more-pictures

But after reading the reviews I think i am going to return it!! Now I’m stumped on that last gift.

I’m going to get a wobble board, but I’m still one gift shy. How did hannukah get so out of hand?

maybe a mini tramp??

In a panic, ( we leave town next sunday so I have to finish my shopping asap!) I just sent my husband to the local toy store to pick up the snow boarding game. Its so hard to find appropriate gifts for a 10 year old boy that aren’t electronic!

Hi Karen,
Best of luck to you in finding the Snowboarding game. My mother-in-law did have to go to a few stores to get it, but finally got one at Toys-r-us (and it wasn’t on the floor! They had to look in the back room where there were only two left).

One more thing I want to pick up is a pogo stick. I figure that probably won’t be sold out. Although I do worry about my son getting hurt with one. He’s the kind of kid I have to run alongside with when he’s riding a skateboard!

We found the snowboarding game locally but it was $20 more than on line!! I don’t mind spending the money, but I hate being over charged. But I was worried that if I ordered it on line it wouldn’t come by next weekend which is when I need it. Oh well, what’s $20 bucks if it keeps him out of OT? (LOL)

I looked at pogo sticks and decided against them for the same reason the balance board is going back. If its too hard initially I think he’ll just get frustrated and give up.It seems too all or nothing if you know what I mean.

He’s also getting a real snowboard (not the fancy kind, but the kind you use instead of a sled) so for the first time I’m hoping for alot of snow this winter!

DS got Astrojax last night and it was a big hit. Not as therapeutic as some games, but it does require a certain amount of coordination, and at least it isn’t a video game!

I just saw something interesting on TV news tonight, I think the Canadian channel so most of you wouldn’t have caught it:

A very very minimal exercise program, ten minutes at a time three days a week, involving especially jumping exercises of various kinds, caused very noticeable increases of bone density in children of elementary school age — increases which are great enough to prevent osteoporosis and other disabling health problems in later life.

So yes, anything but video games, and go for those giant balls and pogo sticks and well-supervised trampolines!

When my daughter was young, we got a thing that was popular at the time called a Pogo Ball. It was a sturdy plastic ball that you could blow up to various pressures with a pump, like a basketball or volleyball, and around the equator of the ball was a strong round plastic board around 18 inches outer diameter and a hole for the ball around eight inches diameter. You stood on the plastic board with your feet either side of the top part of the ball, and you bounced up and down with the bottom part of the ball rebounding off the ground. Because of the softness and large size of the ball on the ground, it was hard to fly off at a crazy angle as you can on a pogo stick. If you made a mistake, you just slid off, no fall from a height. Twisted ankles are possible but hopefully not much worse. The variable pressure made it adaptable to different sizes of people. We set it for kid size but I tried it anyway (and I am no lightweight). I was able to use it within five minutes, and would have been able to get real motion out of one with the right pressure. My daughter and friends got a fair amount of use from it for a couple of summers. I would recommend this or similar toys if you can get one.

And has anyone mentioned the old classic skipping rope, which is fun and great for fitness?

Pogo ball!!!!!! I think I saw one of those at our visicn therapy clinic.

I have to say getting my son a pogo stick worries me. I was in Toys R Us earlier this evening jumping with the pogo stick, and when I jumped off I skinned the back of my leg. I’m pretty coordinated, so the idea of letting my son do this worries me. And yet, it seems like it would be great for him. I’ll have to look for a pogo ball. That sounds like an excellent alternative!

Well I am at my wits end! We just gave the kids the Radica virtual snow boarding game, and although the game itself is fun, controlling the game (choosing which course, player, difficulty level) is nearly impossible. You are supposed to “toggle” with your feet. My son was in tears.

he wants to keep it, but we may return it. To make them feel better I pulled out the old fashioned wooden balance board and my daughter immediatley asked to keep it. She likes it better. Go figure.

Good luck everyone with your gifts tomorrow!

Hi Karen,
To set the course, player and level, my son just sat on the floor and toggled it with his hand (I think he took off the board and moved the ball to do this).

Then when he plays he just puts the board back on.

I don’t know if that would help your son. I’m sorry to hear about his frustration. My son received a Playstation game that had him throwing the controlls around.

Hey laura,
Yes, that ‘s what we tried to do but even that was hard for my husband! maybe the carpet we had it on made it more difficult. I don’t know… it was very expensive because we bought it locally (and paid a premium) so if isn’t going to work its going to relly bum me out. My gut is to cut my losses and try again next year.

Meanwhile , we took the plain old wooden balance board out and both kids seem to like it. So I may just stick with that.

Puzzles were also a big hit this year, unexpectedly! And the VT doc specifically mentioned having DS do puzzles so I’m pleased.

Laura,

Did you buy the
Dance Dance Revolution program? I did and I thought I’d share a hint that helped my son. I was afraid for awhile that he wasn’t going to get it enough to like it at all!! But then he tried doing it with the regular controllers (he had previously had a Sega Dreamcast system so was good at controllers). That helped a lot. He still gets mad but I see him getting better!! He got a “B” on one of the dances. I haven’t done that yet, although my daughter got an A.

I think the challenge of toys is getting them to the point that they can benefit from toys like other kids. We had a pogo stick and stilts—it took several years of NN before he could do either one!!

Beth

Karen,
How disappointing! I’ll have to ask my son if he has any hints about setting up the game. Maybe I’ll try doing it. We have a low plush berber carpeting. I don’t know if that makes any type of difference. Or setting it on a flat surface…

My daughter got Crazy Taxi for Christmas and although it’s a Teen game (the only one we own!), I played it with my son last night and gosh It was difficult! The hand/eye coordination was a huge challenge. The taxi just careens through streets hitting everything and trying to manuver without hitting things as they fly at you is a true visual challenge. I was horrible at it! My son had to teach me (and he only learned it at the same time as me, but was soooo much better!).

Beth,
We actually got Dance Dance Revolution last year. It seems like most kids have quite a bit of difficulty with it in the beginning, but after they practice they do eventually get better.

Maybe I’ll get some stilts for my son. Beth, you need to tell those people at Neuronet that we need some providers here in California!!!!