We're officially counting down to Christmas and boy did this year go by fast! If you are still looking for those last minute gifts for the little ones in your life, never fear... Speckles is here to help. We have compiled a list of present ideas that the kids (and their eyes) will love 🎄🎁

Building Blocks

Did you know providing your child with colourful toys to play with is great for stimulating their visual development?

By playing with vibrant, contrasting building blocks like Lego, kids spark their curiosity and enhance their visual acuity (the ability of the eye to distinguish shapes and details of objects). Your child can build castles, ships, monsters or anything else their creative minds can think of, all the while building spatial awareness and organisation, hand-eye coordination and visualisation skills.

Thinking Games 

Playing with puzzles, memory and board games helps your child recognise patterns and develop problem-solving skills that are integral to their development. These games can even help your child learn new social skills and behaviours simply by playing, laughing and having fun with friends and family.

As your child must focus on the objects at hand, like cards or puzzle pieces, they are strengthening the muscles in their eyes, all while having FUN! These games are also great to play while your child is patching as they keep them entertained while encouraging their curious eye to work that little bit harder. 

Outdoor Toys

Remember the days when you would spend hours outdoors shooting hoops or kicking a soccer ball around the backyard? Why not bring those cherished memories into your child's life this Christmas?

Toys like pole tennis, basketball hoops, hockey kits and T-ball are fantastic for visual tracking and developing spatial awareness, which helps kids gain an understanding of where people and objects are positioned in relation to themselves. Additionally, by spending time outdoors, your child's eyes are exposed to natural light which regulates the growth of their eyes, preventing the development of conditions like Myopia. Learn more in this blog.

Musical Instruments

Learning to play the guitar, drums, piano or even the xylophone is great for hand-eye coordination as the eyes must learn how to accurately guide the hands to make those magical melodies.

Musical toys can also help kids regulate their sensory processing through the release of pent-up energy and by playing a song, their neural pathways are stimulated, allowing the brain to become more efficient at transmitting information. This is great for critical thinking and problem-solving.

Arts and Crafts Kits

Experimenting with colours, textures, shapes and patterns through art is great for helping your little one stimulate their visual acuity and creative thinking skills. Activities like drawing, painting and crafting help your child learn about different perspectives as they can experiment with creating a birds-eye view or front-on artwork. 

Additionally, arts and crafts are great for the development of hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and executive functioning, which helps with processes of decision making, problem-solving and time management.

SPECKLES SHADES!

We couldn't put a gift guide together without mentioning our favourite Christmas present of all, a pair of Speckles shades! Our kid-proof sunglasses are designed for any adventure, with 100% UVA and UVB protection that blocks harmful rays from the sun. You can learn more about why this is important in this blog.

They're the perfect gift for summer so stock up during your next order and keep your child's eyes protected in style. Shop now on our website.