Friday 10 December 2021

Sensory & autism friendly Christmas gift guide for children

GIFTED

Something Special toys from Golden Bear Toys

Say ‘Hello, Hello’ to Mr Tumble with Golden Bear’s new collection of Something Special toys to inspire wellbeing and sensory development.


Help soothe and calm with the new Mr Tumble sensory toys from Golden Bear Toys. Popular CBeebies show, Something Special, introduces children to Makaton signing to help with learning and communication, as well as lots of slapstick fun. 


Golden Bear’s range of sensory and entertaining toys bring Mr Tumble to life to encourage wellbeing by reducing anxieties and restlessness, while helping little ones learn and play. As recommended by the Good Toy Guide, the following products in this inclusive range have met the strict criteria of being easy to use, developing skills, and most importantly, being FUN!


Golden Bear’s Mr Tumble toys are available at Amazon, Argos, and Smyths.

The Mr Tumble Weighted Calming Companion 

The Mr Tumble Weighted Calming Companion (RRP £19.99) is an innovative and therapeutic weighted companion toy suitable for ages 3+. 


Perfect for any Mr Tumble fan, this calming companion is weighted with solid glass beads in a soft, quilted blanket-like body and helps to aid mindfulness, concentration and mental wellbeing.


Dr. Amanda Gummer, BSc Psychology, PhD Neuropsychology, Founder &; CEO of The Good Toy Guide says: “It is lovely to see an inclusive product that supports relaxation and healthy sleep habits as part of such a popular brand. The weighted toy produces a similar effect to swaddling in very young babies and helps create a feeling of security and comfort. As it is used it will also take on a familiar scent which will provide further comfort to the child and so can help reduce anxiety when children are travelling or moving between households. The familiar character reassures the child and allows them to recall some of Mr Tumble’s stories as they settle into bed.


“Anxieties in young children are normal but can escalate easily if not addressed and using products such as the Mr Tumble weighted Calming Companion will help them learn to comfort themselves and effectively self-soothe. Children benefit from the predictability of a routine and this weighted toy can be a reassuring part of nap time or bedtime, helping them settle more easily.”


Vibrant and colourful, the Mr Tumble Weighted Calming Companion is easily recognisable as fan favourite Mr Tumble. He provides a calming and comforting weight and is super soft to snuggle with.

Super Soft Sensory Mr Tumble

Suitable from birth, Super Soft Sensory Mr Tumble (RRP £12.99) is made from premium mallow fabric to soothe little ones. 


Standing at 24cm tall, with textured hair, and silky bow tie, the satisfying textured filling creates optimum sensory feedback and tactile exploration to calm children and aid focus. This premium soft toy has fine embroidered facial details and is suitable for all fans of Mr Tumble and the hit CBeebies show Something Special.


As noted by Dr. Amanda Gummer, “The soft fabric is soothing and the different textures of the body, hair, bow tie and feet stimulate a child’s sense of touch whilst promoting multisensory perception.” 

Mr Tumble Says Activity Ball

The new Mr Tumble Says Activity Ball (RRP £10.99) is inspired by the familiar Simon Says play pattern and voiced by the fantastic Mr Tumble. 


Throw, kick or catch to activate the soft fabric ball to encourage children’s listening and learning. Perfect for active indoor use and helping to develop hand-eye coordination, the activity ball helps children of all ages stay active and engaged with fun activities to enrich the play. 


Dr. Amanda Gummer goes on to add, “Helping children develop their coordination and arm muscles will mean they are more able to control their limbs and can help children with activities that require a greater degree of control such as colouring or stacking blocks.”

Mr Tumble Touch My Nose Sensory Soft Toy

The Mr Tumble Touch My Nose Sensory Soft Toy (RRP £19.99) is suitable from birth and made from soft and colourful fabrics – perfect for comforting cuddles. 


With lights and sounds to stimulate the senses, this soft toy includes lots of familiar phrases and colour changing lights on Mr Tumble’s iconic waistcoat. Press his nose and watch as Mr Tumble’s nose lights up and listen as he says his favourite phrase: ‘Take your finger, touch your nose, blink three times and off it goes!’ This phrase is featured in every episode of the Something Special show on CBeebies and is familiar to children, parents, and early years carers.

Mr Tumble’s Sensory Seek and Find Spotty Bag with Fun Sounds 

Be just like Mr Tumble with your very own iconic spotty bag. Suitable for children aged 3+, Mr Tumble’s Sensory Seek and Find Spotty Bag with Fun Sounds (RRP £16.99) is perfect for imaginary play, fancy-dress parties and taking on outdoor explorations. 


Recommended by the Good Toy Guide, the bag allows children to replicate the most iconic play pattern from the show – ‘What’s inside Mr Tumble’s Spotty Bag?’. Press Mr Tumble printed on the front of the bag to hear familiar sounds and phrases from the show. Also included is the ‘I’m a Shining Star’ badge which will be familiar to little fans of the show. The badge slots neatly onto the front of the bag and can be removed and awarded to children for added roleplay fun and to aid the development of social skills.


The bag has plenty of room for little ones to carry their favourite things. Look inside to discover a Makaton Find and Play card game which can be played again and again at home or out and about. With 16 activities to complete, each card features a different sense and Makaton sign, and the game helps to aid communication skills and build confidence. Featuring an adjustable strap, the bag will grow with your little one, and includes a simple Velcro fastening little ones will enjoy opening and closing. 

Galaxy Slime Play

Explore multi-sensory play with Zimpli Kids Galaxy Slime Play (RRP £3.99 per pack).


Create a popping, colour changing, multi-sensory experiment with Galaxy Slime Play.


The Galaxy Slime Play packs include clear slime powder, red crackle play colour sachet, blue crackle play colour sachet, and glow-in-the-dark stars for out-of-this-world sensory play.


Gelli Baff and Slime Baff products are the first toys to receive accreditation from one of the UK’s most respected charities, the British Skin Foundation, who are the UK’s leading skin disease research charity. Following an in-depth review, BSF approved Zimpli Kids’ Gelli and Slime as skin safe! Zimpli Kids powder is also certified biodegradable. 

SnoBall Play 

Get ready for Snowball fights all year round? The SnoBall Battle Pack (RRP £2.50) transforms water into realistic snow that allows you to create and mould your very own snowballs! 


Each box makes 30+ SnoBalls! The texture of the SnoBall powder makes it the perfect product for sensory and messy play! Skin Safe - Easy Clean - Stain Free, the SnoBall powder is certified biodegradable!

Crackle Baff Colours 

Create an awesome bath time experience with Crackle Baff Colours (RRP £2.50).


Sprinkle the sachet into your bath water to make it crackle, pop and change colour!


The Crackle Baff Colours pack is a set of 3 colours and contains one sachet of each colour - red, blue, and yellow crackle.


Crackle Baff Colours offers exciting, multi-sensory experiences for children. Due to their unique textures and colours, they are perfect products for messy and multi-sensory play! It helps aid creative, cognitive, social, emotional and physical development. 


Crackle Baff is skin safe, drain safe, easy clean and stain free plus it is biodegradable and vegan friendly.


It is a superb stocking filler and ideal for multi-sensory play.

Zimpli Kids Playtime range

Providing new and multi-sensory experiences for playtime, Zimpli Kids’ Playtime range of products (RRP £14.99) offers a range of unique textures, colours and effects. 

Their playtime range is perfect for messy and multi-sensory play, used widely in educational settings.

Their products are 100% safe on skin, non toxic, drain safe and certified biodegradable. ​There’s also no need to worry about staining skin, carpets, clothes or bowls, as all of their products are stain free!


The Playtime range of products include Gelli Worlds and Sno Worlds.


Gelli Worlds include the Dino pack, Fantasy Pack, and Ryan’s World Pack and Sno Worlds include the Arctic pack. The packs contain an inflatable tray, 5 x gelli powder/white snow powder bags, and an 8 piece figure set of play figures related to the pack theme.


Gelli Worlds and Sno Worlds allow children to create their own fun, imaginary miniature adventure worlds for hours of sensory playtime fun. Perfect for multi-sensory play, they are superb Christmas gifts.

Colormix Sensory Tubes

Designed for children aged 3-7 years, the Colormix Sensory Tubes (RRP £33.00) from Learning Resources is a set of 3 colourmix tubes that are ideal for social emotional learning.


The tubes help children practise managing their emotions, focusing their attention, practise quiet, and calm engagement with this mesmerising set of colourful tubes. 

Shake a tube to mix the colours, and then watch them slowly separate back into their original colours. Tubes are securely sealed, and the easy-grip tubes have square end caps so that children can use them vertically and horizontally.

Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog® Fidget Friend

Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog Fidget Friend (RRP £14.00) from Learning Resources is a fun fidget friend for little ones aged 18m+.


There are 6 ways to fidget and play with Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog® Fidget Friend. Each time your child spins the wheel, turns the crank, presses the button, twists the knob, pushes the plunger, and moves the switch, they’re learning essential fine motor skills through tactile and fun fidget play.


As they play, children won't just build new preschool tactile skills - they'll also boost their coordination, hand strength, and other fine motor skills essentials.


Sized just right for little hands, Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog Fidget Friend is ready for play everywhere you go - take him in the car, or keep him at home for fun playtime activities. Spike is also durable and easy to clean. Just wipe him down with a damp cloth after playtime is done.

Sensory Fidget Toy Kit

Fiddle, fidget, pop, and squish with the toys in this high-quality sensory fidget toys pack (RRP £32.00) for kids aged 3-7 years.


The 8 super satisfying fidget toys have been chosen by learning experts to help children pay attention and focus. Toys in this fun tactile play kit can be used to help children manage anxiety. Use this fidget toy bundle in the classroom or at home to keep little hands busy and playing.


There are so many ways to play with this fidget toy bundle. It includes 2 glow sticks, 1 Sensory Fidget Tube, 1 Playfoam Jumbo Pod, Link n Learn Chain link (100 pieces), 1 rainbow coil spring, PopCubes snap-together cubes (20 pieces), 1 globe stress ball, 2 marbleised jumping poppers.  


Sensory fidget toys such as Playfoam and PopCubes help with the development of hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Playing with the tactile marbleised jumping poppers and squishy stress ball help build hand strength. Use the Sensory Fidget Tube in a calm down corner to help children relax and focus.

Ruff's House Teaching Tactile Set

Ruff's House Teaching Tactile Set (RRP £32.00) is a fun, tactile toy for children aged 3-10 years.


A fetching way to stimulate children's sense of touch! Help the fluffy dog sort through a variety of textured rubber and cloth bones: smooth, silky, scratchy, bumpy, ribbed and more. Hide them in the kennel for a fun "search and find" game. 


The set comes with twenty assorted bones measuring 5cm in length and a plastic kennel, perfect for storing the bones. 

Pablo book

Pablo is a beautiful show by bespoke TV production company Paper Owl Films. The hit CBeebies TV show follows a young autistic boy as he navigates his adventures with the help of his friends.


5½ year old Pablo is on the autism spectrum. Pablo’s drawings take him on fantastic adventures full of colourful characters, which help him face the Real World with confidence. Pablo is actually the first TV show to be completely written and cast by individuals all on the autistic spectrum too. Award-winning and BAFTA-nominated, Pablo airs in over 20 countries worldwide, inspiring audiences everywhere to see the world in different ways. 

 

To raise awareness for autism acceptance and inclusion, and to help children get a better understanding of how the autistic mind works, Pablo also has a range of lovely books (RRP £6.99) suitable for all children.


All Pablo books are written by writers on the autistic spectrum and are grounded in the real-life experiences of autistic children. These books help all children understand the world and face the world with confidence.


Pablo at the zoo

Pablo's friends meet their families at the zoo - but Noasaurus the dinosaur can't find his family.


Pablo and the book animals help Noasaurus realise that even though he might feel lost, family is where you find it.

Pablo’s feelings

Sometimes your face doesn't show how you are feeling. 


Pablo wants to go to his cousin Lorna's house, but his mum sees the expression on his face and thinks that he doesn't want to go!


Pablo is autistic and he sees the world in a different way. Together with his friends, the Book Animals, he comes up with a way to let people know what he is thinking!

Pablo and the noisy party

Pablo thinks differently!


Pablo's mum takes him to his cousin Lorna's birthday party, but Pablo gets scared of the noisy party.


Pablo hides in the car, and soon his friends come to join him. Pablo's friends help him realise that it's OK if he doesn't want to go to the party.


This lovely and heartwarming story will help readers understand that not everybody thinks the same way, and that some people feel differently about parties.


11 comments:

  1. These are the cutest!!! I love Mr. Tumble especially that it is sensory and autism friendly. Amazing...

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  2. What a wonderful gift guide! My youngest would love all the slime and that Arctic snow. Lovely selection, thank you.

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  3. Some brilliant items in this gift guide - you have certainly given me a few different gift ideas!

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  4. My daughter would love the slime products, she loves anything she can move her hands through.

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  5. Some really cute gift ideas, and choosing sensory items sounds like a really good idea. You never know what might work best for some kids x

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  6. These sound like some lovely gift ideas which are autism friendly. I have to admit I would have loved the slime as a child.

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  7. Lots of cute gift ideas here for the little ones especially those with special needs. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Wow lots of really cool gifts here! We tend to get those slimes and bath things from Zimpli Kids, but I had not heard of Mr. Tumble before. Thank you so much for sharing!

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  9. My nephew would just LOVE the Slime Baff products! He is obsessed with any kind of activity you can do in the bath. This is a great list!

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  10. Love these gift ideas! Thanks for bringing them to light as I didn't know about a lot of them. My niece would love these!

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  11. Such a great christmas gift ideas.Thanks for sharing with us.

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