Want to encourage your son to draw?

While I’m not big on generalizations, if you’ve been in a preschool class you’ll see girls taking their time when it’s time to draw–selecting their crayons  with a certain amount of care before they start.  Boys tend to go for the big strokes…covering the page seems to be the goal–and as quickly as possible.  There are exceptions on both sides–but over the years this has been my experience with preschoolers and drawing.

Both boys and girls will enjoy Creativity for Kids new Crayon Rubbings.  The set comes with five rubbing plates (each with a different design) that fit into the platform (that also has a place for standing up the eight included crayons). Kids add the paper to the top of the rubbing plates and can explore the different patterns they can make.  For quick drawers this will be satisfying all by itself…it’s almost magical the way the pattern emerges as you add the color.  For more advanced crayon users, you can use their pre-printed coloring sheets (think a coloring book page)…and here you can change out the rubbing plates to achieve different patterns throughout your drawing.

So if you’d like your child (boy or girl) to slow down a bit, explore the process of adding color and pattern–this is a fun toy to explore together.  For 3s and most 4s, this will be something to do together…talk about the process.  We had one tester that only wanted to use one rubbing sheet and fill it up…that’s fine too!  While some purists will not love the pre-printed sheets (we’re not big on coloring books as a rule), for many kids having a starting place gives them more security.  The blank page can be daunting–even when you’re three!

For kids with special needs this is a particular good product. The platform’s frame really holds the paper in place (you can add tape for added stability)…but the emerging patterns that they can achieve are really encouraging and satisfying for kids that can not draw more detailed images on their own.  We’re giving this one an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award and a Special Needs Adaptable Product Award.

Adapting Toys for Kids with Special Needs

Interesting video about the work they’re doing at Ohio State University Medical Center for children with special needs.  They have a toy library where toys have been adapted to better suit the needs of kids that come to their center.  Watch the video

To find out if there is a toy library in your area, visit the USA Toy Library Association website.

For a list of toys that need little or no adapting, see our list of SNAP (Special Needs Adaptable Product) Award winners on our site at www.toyportfolio.com.

For a list of toys for kids with ADHD, read our article. To watch a video discussing the topic, click here.

Top Toys for Kids with Special Needs: SNAP Awards Announced

Check out our Special Needs Adaptable Product (SNAP) Award List.

Since we started the Toy Portfolio, finding toys that could be used or easily adapted for use for kids with special needs has been important to both of us. When we started our company in the late 80s there were catalogs that were marking up products so much because they were for “special needs” kids. Many of these products could be found in regular toy supermarkets–so the added expense really struck us as taking advantage of a community looking for information and solid products to bring home. With that as our starting place, we were also committed to finding products that could be used that were the same as the toys enjoyed by siblings, friends and neighbors. A message of inclusion should also be possible in toyland. You’ll find an adaptation suggestion or activity with each product.