Finding Balance With Asperger's: 'Color Pegs, Color Pictures' is a Fun & Creative Fine Motor Skills Toy

Thank you to Fun and Function for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon. All opinions expressed are my own.

Color Pegs, Color Pictures from Fun and Function help children unleash their creative sides with this fun, wooden toy. This set contains 100 wooden pegs (25 each in red, yellow, blue, and green) and a wooden board to put the pegs into. They are thick, sturdy wood and are sure to last a long time. However, because of the size of the pegs, this is not recommended for children under 3 or any others to whom they would present a choking hazard.

When we opened this toy, my kids were both pretty excited to play with it. I have found that peg boards are usually a favorite of most children, and mine are included in that. They’ve had fun making letters, words, bugs, Pokemon creatures, Christmas images, and more. When they are done, they put all the pegs into the box along with the board and close it up, so it’s a really simple clean up job too.

We are really happy with our Color Pegs, Color Pictures toy. It is also great for fine motor skills and makes for a good, quiet activity for them to do when I have a meeting or other (as they say) “grown up stuff” to do.

You can purchase Color Pegs, Color Pictures on Fun and Function’s website, www.funandfunction.com. This toy retails for $20.99.

The Unique Brilliant Sky Toys & Books Toy Store Experience

In a society where technology is typical and "service with a smile" is something rarely seen, Brilliant Sky Toys & Books is trying to bring focus back to people. Where most places use computerized telephone voices and where it's hard to even find a cashier in the store, much less get kindness and helpfulness from them, Brilliant Sky Toys & Books is making sure that their business is different. Both a brick and mortar and online toy store, this is truly a business worth exploring.

Brilliant Sky Toys sent me Suspend, a game of stability that can be played singularly or with up to four players. Each time you add a piece to the metal frame, the balance and security of the structure is compromised. On your turn, you try to place a piece onto the frame and keep from knocking the whole thing down. From Melissa & Doug, which is known for making high quality toys, this game has 24 notched metal pieces with rubber tipped ends, 4 metal frame rods, a wooden base, colored dice, and wooden connector pieces. This game was extremely fun and simple, but difficult and used a lot of patience along with building fine motor skills. From my 5 year old up, we all loved playing this entertaining game and it's very reasonably priced at $16.99.

Brilliant Sky Toys was founded in 2002 in Lansing, Michigan with the goal of becoming the finest upscale specialty toy store in the United States. They believe that the right toys give children a gateway to cognitive, physical, and emotional development so they provide the highest quality products in an environment that is both interactive and active. Its unique atmosphere is vibrant, warm, comforting, exploratory, and completely safe. From rich colors and woodtones and textures to low sightlines for younger children along with custom fixtures, the Brilliant Sky sensory experience is unlike any other for both kids and adults alike.

With toys, art supplies, and books on display to sample, children are engaged while parents shop and it's easy to know whether you'll like a product because of the interactive nature of the store. Unfortunately, I don't have one near me, but if you do, you should definitely take time to visit one. To see if you have a Brilliant Sky Toys & Books in your area, see their store locator. The inviting nature of the store combined with the kindness of their staff is sure to have you coming back frequently. This is exactly the type of place that the world needs more of and I hope someday to have one in my city so I can experience this unique and wonderful store in person.

To learn more about Brilliant Sky Toys & Books, find a location, or shop online, visit their website at www.brilliantskytoys.com.


Thank you to Brilliant Sky Toys & Books for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.

Finding Balance With Asperger's: A Sensory Gel Pad Self-Calming Tool

The Therapy Shoppe is one of my all-time favorite sites for Autism therapy and school supplies, and they’ve made me happy again with their Bahama Blue Sensory Gel Pad. I homeschool my 5 ½ year old Aspie, Quinn, so I know firsthand his struggles with being patient and quiet in school. This 7”x16” squishy gel pad is filled with “bahama blue” colored gel that calms my fidgety child while tons of glittery stars mesmerize him. The 2 flat marbles and 3 black rings inside provide sensory input and keep his restless hands busy while he does his lessons. This versatile, self-calming tool is great for working on fine motor skills along with strengthening and helping with visual motor skills as well.


Quinn and I both love this gel pad. We’ve been wanting one for awhile and it’s proven most useful. The light amount of pressure it puts on him along with the cooling sensation it provides also give him much-needed proprioceptive input while keeping his hands busy. This item has quickly become a vital part of our school day and, because it’s well made, I know it will be around for a long time.

The Therapy Shoppe has tons of great products for all children, but their specialty is sensory-lacking children. You can visit their website to see this and all their amazing products at www.therapyshoppe.com. This Bahama Blue Sensory Gel Pad retails for $24.99.

Thank you to The Therapy Shoppe for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.

Finding Balance With Asperger's: Button Up Betsy . . . a Fun Fine Motor Skills Toy

Anything that helps build fine motor skills is a plus for my son, Quinn. But, when that thing makes fine motor building fun, that’s all the better. Button Up Betsy from the Therapy Shoppe is a playful way to work on those skills as well as teaching body awareness and dramatic play skills.

Betsy is a 14” fabric doll with 13 double-sided pieces of colorful clothing and accessories. These pieces button to her body on her head, torso, hands, and feet. Kids have tons of fun creating outfits and even changing her hairstyle with pigtails that button on and off! She has dresses, different facial expressions, purses, a guitar, roller skates, and more to give kids hours of playtime with a unique twist. As an added bonus, the entire set it machine washable.

Button Up Betsy is imaginative, entertaining, and completely unique as well as very well made. Quinn really loves this doll, even though it is technically marketed for girls. He’s had a blast playing with her different clothes and creating scenarios in which she’d wear each one. He also likes doing silly things like placing her face pieces onto her hand buttons or putting pigtails on her feet. She’s literally provided hours of fun for him and I doubt he’ll be losing interest any time soon. His friends (boys and girls alike) have commented on how much the like the doll as well.


Button Up Betsy can be purchased at www.therapyshoppe.com. She retails for $23.99.

Thank you to The Therapy Shoppe for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.

Finding Balance With Asperger's: Getting Our Hands Ready Kit

Getting any child ready for kindergarten is a vital right of passage in their early years, but because motor delays often go hand-in-hand with Autism Spectrum Disorders, anything that helps develop those essential fine motor skills is extremely important. The Getting Our Hands Ready Kit from The Therapy Shoppe is a wonderful kit designed by Occupational Therapists to help children with such delays. Packed with fun games and engaging activities that help develop finger strength, fine motor skills, pre-writing skills, and help teach proper grasping skills, kids are sure to have a blast while using this amazing set. It even comes with an activity guide so there is no guessing what to use the items for and what each activity helps with.

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Quinn loved playing with dough and putting fun stamps into it then rolling out his creations and starting over, feeding foam bugs to “Mr. Crunch”, the plastic frog, and coloring sheets. He also got to place reusable stickers to create a variety of fun scenes, which fostered his imagination as well as using his pincer grasp. This set really is fun, entertaining, and helps with so many motor skills that it’s truly a well-rounded set. The teacher’s guide is also tremendously helpful.  The entire set is well made, so your child is sure to outgrow it long before it becomes tattered and worn.

You can purchase the Getting Your Hands Ready Kit from www.TheTherapyShoppe.com, where it retails for $19.99.

Thank you to The Therapy Shoppe for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.

Finding Balance With Asperger's: Developmental & Learning Games from Bananagrams

I have known about Bananagrams for a long time because my local educational supply store carries them, and I’ve even played the game with a friends’ set before, but I’ve never owned any of my own. When they were kind enough to offer me their games to try out, I was thrilled to finally own my own Bananagrams game. For Quinn, we chose Fruitominoes and Zip-It because they are the most simple for his age level and abilities.

Fruitominoes is just like traditional dominoes, but with a fruity twist. It’s simple to master, but fun for all ages. As an added, much-loved, bonus, they are smaller sized and store away neatly and compactly in their carrying bag. This little feature has made the Fruitominoes priceless for us. Because Quinn has Asperger’s and a fine motor delay, small things are always great for developing and strengthening his pincer grasp and Fruitominoes are great for that.

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Fruitominoes have also been especially helpful in situations with a lot of waiting, such as in restaurants, for keeping Quinn’s idle hands busy and thus lowering or eliminating any meltdowns he might have. For example, recently in a restaurant, we waited for 45 minutes to get our food and typically Quinn would have been melting down completely due to hunger and the large restaurant crowd, but Fruitominoes kept him so entertained, he wasn’t even aware we had waited as long as we had. Our whole family had fun passing the time playing the game and it eliminated a very stressful situation for us all by keeping Quinn’s focus elsewhere.

Zip-It is a more complicated, but still equally fun game for children and adults alike. For me, Zip-It is a fun, fast-paced game of wordplay that resembles Scrabble but with dice. Like Fruitominoes, Zip-It is compact and easily portable with its 24 lettered cubes and colored zipper bag that doubles as the scoreboard. Zip-It is also great for Quinn, my emerging reader, because he is forced to think about how to use his letters wisely, but it isn’t too frustrating because he can always re-roll his dice if he can’t find anything that works. It forces his brain to think in a way he wouldn’t normally, to put together words that he knows, and make them intersect each other all while competing against someone else. Games like this are so good for his cognitive development and the competitive portion of it adds a social aspect that is always good for children on the spectrum.

Fruitominoes and  Zip-It  are available at many major retailers nationwide and on their website, www.bananagrams.com. Each retails for approximately $15.99, which is well worth it in my opinion. You will have hours and hours of fun with the Bananagrams games and, because they are durable, they are sure to last a long time.


Thank you to Bananagrams for providing complimentary product samples for us to base this review upon.

New Squinkies Zinkies Playsets

Around our house, Squinkies are a much-played-with toy. So, when Squinkies offered to let us try their newest toy, Zinkies, we were more than willing to try out these tiny Squinkies counterparts. Zinkies are half the size of Squinkies; about the size of your pinky tip! They come in a huge assortment of colors and animals and have six different play sets. We were fortunate to get three of the six sets currently available to try out . . . the Zinkies Tweetings! Birdhouse, the Zinkies Peek a Boo! Mushrooms set, and the Tiny Tea Party Teacups set.

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Each Zinkies set comes with 12 Zinkies, bubbles for each Zinkie, tweezers, a magnifying glass, and the “home” for the Zinkies to live in. Zinkies are just as fun and durable as Squinkies are and actually had an added fine motor building aspect because of their size that we weren’t expecting. From my ten year old down to my five year old and every child in my care in between, they’ve all had a blast with these toys. Of course because of their size, they are not recommended for children under four.

Squinkies Zinkies are available at Toys "R" Us, Amazon.com, and most major toy retailers nationwide and the sets retails for approximately $12.99.  They would make great Easter basket fillers, stocking stuffers, and any day rewards for good behavior.

Thank you to Squinkies for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.

Finding Balance With Asperger's: Kneadable Fidget Erasers & Bead Activity

Since my 5 year old son, Quinn, has a fine motor delay relating to his Asperger’s diagnosis, I am always looking for fun, unique activities for him to do to strengthen his hands and fingers and develop that lacking pincer grasp. He, like many kids on the spectrum, also utilizes fidget toys to keep his hands occupied while his brain is working. Quinn uses fidgets frequently because he is much more able to concentrate when his hands are busy. Kneadable erasers are a great tool for these things.

We were sent a set of 4 Scented Kneadable Fidget Erasers from The Therapy Shoppe. These are fun and different because they come in a variety of scents and they each come with their own little “suitcase” to store them in.

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These erasers are a perfect consistency for squeezing and kneading and, even though they are thick and dense, they are not so much so that my son cannot manipulate them. He loves to be absentmindedly playing with them while he watches TV, does his lessons, listens to books, and more. We have also created a fun activity with these that he loves doing . . .

ACTIVITY:  We take some small plastic beads that we had around the house and we “hide” them inside the erasers and Quinn kneads and manipulates the eraser to remove the beads. The beads are small, so it’s a tricky activity. We even do timed races to make it more fun and challenging.

Kneadable erasers would be fun for any school-aged child and can be used as a great fidget toy, a sensory input activity, and a tool to help develop fine motor skills. You can purchase these Scented Kneadable Fidget Erasers at the Therapy Shoppe for $0.99 each or $22.99 for a 25 pack.


Thank you to the Therapy Shoppe for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.

Finding Balance With Asperger's: Super Sorting Pie

Learning Resources is a leader in educational toys and supplies for children and they have been kind enough to allow me to review another of their amazing products. The Super Sorting Pie is an award-winning toy that teaches early math skills and helps children learn valuable sorting skills. This set comes with a plastic pie crust (both top and bottom crusts), 60 counting fruits, 2 plastic tweezers, 3 double-sided sorting cards, and an activity guide. All pieces are plastic, except the cards and guide, and are extremely durable and well-made. Just as with all Learning Resources products, these are made to last.

This set is amazing. We love the realistic looking fruits and the many different ways the set can be sorted. As an added bonus, the bottom crust removes from the attached “plate” and the activity cards slide in place, giving children various ways of sorting the fruits by color, type, quantity and more. This makes it easier to remember what children are doing and keep them on task, especially for younger children. Due to its bowl shape, the top crust makes a useful holder for the pieces as they’re being sorted, making this set to be even more convenient and well thought out.

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Quinn has had a blast using this set. He really loves sorting activities and loves the pie theme of this one. The tweezers are amazing for strengthening his grasp and developing his lacking fine motor skills and they are the perfect size for his hands. Because Quinn has Asperger’s and a fine motor delay, such fine motor-strengthening activities are so important. He really struggles with thin plastic tweezers because of their “give” when squeezing and ones that are too small for his hands cause him to be frustrated, causing him to give up. The tweezers in this set are perfect. They are very thick, strong plastic so they are not easily bent and their large size and indented sides are ideal for small hands and fingers. They also have ridges on the tips, so the items don’t fall out easily and they are not too tough to squeeze. Of all the child’s tweezers we’ve used in the past, these are by far the best for him. The fruit pieces are also a great size because they fit into the tweezers perfectly, but are not too small which would cause them to fall out. They are also very vividly colored and easy to distinguish between them. This sorting pie is also great for introducing simple fractions and has even proven useful in practicing fractions with my 10 year old son.

The Super Sorting Pie is a really fantastic set that I would recommend to anyone with preschoolers or early elementary school children. It is reasonably priced at $27.99 and will last for many, many years of fun and learning. This would also be great for teachers. You can purchase this and all Learning Resources’ wonderful products on their website, www.learningresources.com.

Thank you to Learning Resources for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon and for providing an additional product for our contest prize.





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Finding Balance With Asperger's: Develop Fine Motor Skills with Sorting and Puzzle Activities

One of my son, Quinn’s, delays is in fine motor, a problem many children on the spectrum struggle with. Because of this delay, any activity that exercises his pincer grasp is great for him, such as small puzzles, lacing cards, or any kind of manipulative, like a sorting set.

We were sent the Super Sorting Set from Learning Resources to try out and review. This set comes with over 600 pieces that help to teach children to differentiate colors, start simple math skills, and improve fine motor skills. It contains animals, dinosaurs, links, circles, vehicles, fruits, tangram-type pieces, sorting bowls, a large sorting tray, and a set of activity cards to enhance play. It even came with strong, zippered bags to store the stuff in and a large, sturdy box to hold the entire set. I labeled all the bags with the words and pictures to make putting it all away easy for Quinn and the daycare kids who’ve also played with it, so there’s no confusion as to what goes where.

We’ve had hours of fun with this set already. There are so many options that the possibilities are nearly endless. Certain parts of it, like the small circles and links, have really helped to improve Quinn’s hand strength along with his hand/eye coordination. He has loved making patterns, sorting by color or type, and doing simple addition with it, and he hasn’t even realized how much he’s truly learning from it all.

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I love that the set is very well made from good quality plastic and rubber, and the options with it are amazing. My only complaint is that the orange and red are a little too similar in color, therefore sometimes it confuses the children, but that’s the only thing I dislike. Everything else about it is great and would be wonderful for any child, whether they are on the Autism spectrum or not.

You can purchase this and all Learning Resources products on their website, www.learningresources.com. This set retails for $74.99.


Thank you to Learning Resources for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.