Companies that sell toys for special needs kids do much more than provide a plaything for a child. They bring smiles and joy to a cross-section of exceptional children in a world where standard toys don’t assist like they otherwise would.

Finding the best toy stores for children with special needs can be difficult for parents and educators. According to the 2021–2022 National Survey of Children’s Health, 20% of US children have special health care needs, with many requiring targeted treatment to assist in their learning and personal growth. Specially designed toys are essential tools in aiding this progression.

Key features that special needs toys include 

Kids with special needs all face unique challenges. These include delays in psychological and emotional growth, sensory processing development demands and physical disabilities. The best toy stores for children with special needs supply inclusive toys with the following key features: 

• Multisensory stimulation. Kids with sensory processing concerns find joy and comfort in toys promoting sensory perception and stimulation. Designs with touch, hearing, and visual elements assist in calming the child while promoting education.
• Durability. Inclusive toys should be strong enough to handle all manner of play, displaying resistance to knocks they may receive during more energetic learning processes.
• Safety. Children with special needs can be prone to emotional outbursts during their personal development, especially in social scenarios. Specialist toy shops are aware of these and stock inclusive toys made from safe materials with fewer sharp edges.
• Adaptability. Toy ranges with appeal and uses for kids across broad sections of special needs categories provide significantly wider choices for parents and educators.
• Educational value. A special needs child’s educational growth is at the forefront of every inclusive carer’s mind. Stores that provide more toy options that enhance educational efforts are among the best.
• User-friendliness. Kids with fine motor skill challenges or physical disabilities could find using more complex toys problematic. Designs that are simple to use are prevalent in the top toy stores for children with special needs.
• Age-specific. Toys everywhere include age recommendations. Inclusive toy stores have specialised shop assistants who can offer age-related guidance to adults depending on their children’s unique challenges. 

The Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Blueprint for Change states that you can help every child with special health care needs enjoy a full life from childhood to adulthood by advocating, informing, sharing, training, planning, and educating others by setting aside resources and coordinating activities. 

Inclusive toy stores support this initiative by including vital key features in the toys they sell. In so doing, they provide resources that encourage learning and growth in children with various unique needs. Some of the top toy stores for kids with special needs are:

1. Enabling Devices

Family-run company Enabling Devices has been creating products for people with special needs and disability communities for nearly half a century. The Kanor family works with educators, therapists, and parents to develop tools and devices for all ages, including toys for children. 

Enabling Devices’ mission includes what comes after the manufacture, with the ultimate goal being “to enable possibility, to unlock potential, to bring joy.” The company is reaching its goal with its new toy section by including products that aid the fun and development of children across the special needs spectrum.

• The LumiPet Night Lamp Companion is a little bear with lights that change colour within its pliable silicone exterior. This portable toy also plays your chosen music via an embedded Bluetooth speaker. This adorable daytime or nighttime product is an affordable and valuable addition for a child with a sensory condition.
• In an exciting evolution to the classic shape matcher, the Shape Talker + Switch allows you to add a recorded voice message to your child’s shape-sorting endeavours. Hence, a correct shape match includes a personalised congratulatory reward from mom, dad, or teacher when the child matches each colour and shape correctly. This educational toy is perfect for kids with fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination challenges.
• Tangled Tabby is a perfect holiday gift. The adorable fluffy cat spins to “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” when your child presses the switch or Tabby’s paw. The toy cat’s exploits will bring untold joy to children on the autism spectrum and many others with special needs.

With another 325 items on Enabling Devices’ product list, there are toys, devices, and tools that will suit your child and many others. Sensory products, adaptive occupational therapy tools, switch-adapted toys, special education classroom kits, communicators, and electronics are among the offerings, and something will suit your child’s development and learning capacity. 

There are also several wheelchair-adapted tools for people with physical disabilities of all ages. The Kanor family has brought its experience and drive to ensure Enabling Devices keeps bringing joy and providing possibilities to children and adults with special health needs.

2. Fat Brain Toys

Fat Brain Toys started out of a basement in 2002 when a father started creating toys for his young son. Six years later, after previously selling online, the business went retail and now boasts a multitude of toys, games, and gifts catering to children with 23 advertised specific special needs conditions.

Whether your child experiences developmental or speech and language delays, hearing or visual impairments, autism, multiple sclerosis, or Down syndrome, Fat Brain Toys has products available to suit their specific needs. 

• Simple Dimple is a popular seller that is made from durable plastic with brightly coloured silicon buttons. The small fidget toy encourages concentration and tactile stimulation in kids, and you might also struggle to put it down if you start playing with it.
• The premise behind Walking Wheels is to encourage work on gross motor skill development, coordination, balance, and activity among children. The toy is a set of rolling platforms made from durable materials with robust rubber wheels and foam-covered handles.
• A wooden pegboard, over 200 pegs, and a variety of pattern cards make up Peg-A-Pattern, a novel coordination game that encourages fine motor skill development, spatial definition, and creativity, especially for preteen children with autism. Your kids can take their time copying the pattern cards by popping the pegs into the board in the right places.

With a vast range, Fat Brain Toys is a toy store where you’ll find something that caters to your child’s specific needs.

3. Fun and Function

Fun and Function is a group of educators and paediatric therapists who are building their collective dream of enhancing the lives of children with special needs. The company members pledge only ever to supply products they would use in their professions and believe in.

Fun and Function mentions 11 different special needs diagnoses relating to the toys it supplies, with sensory processing disorders, ADHD, and speech and communication delays among these. As a group of professionals dealing with inclusive kids, their toys and clothing are tested and verified as reliable and safe.

• The first Fun and Function product was the Weighted Compression Vest, trademarked to fit kids with autism, ADHD and sensory processing disorders. It fits its wearer like a reassuring hug, providing a snug, soothing, and breathable fit. After its ongoing success, it’s also available in teen and adult sizes.
• The 4-Way Play Tunnel provides hours of outdoor fun for children with ADHD and motor and coordination difficulties. While long tunnels might cause anxiety among some kids, this one opens in four directions, meaning you can predict a highly anticipated and encouraged meeting in the center. With an opening in the middle, there’s never any need for childhood angst.
• Monster Bean Bag Toss is one of many sensory games that Fun and Function designed predominantly for classroom use. The teacher encourages children to toss weighted beanbags into the monster’s open mouth, encouraging motor and sensory skills and hand-eye coordination. You can also throw the bags at home with your child, but it’s likely more fun in a crowd.

Like the other top toy stores, Fun and Function ticks all the boxes regarding product hardiness and safety. This award-winning company is doing its bit to provide enjoyment, education, and personal advancement to its customers’ youngsters.

4. Thinking Toys

Thinking Toys is another toy store built from humble beginnings. It originated through the actions and innovation of Irish parents with a young daughter diagnosed with Sturge-Weber syndrome. Their mission was to devise an extensive product range to assist children with fine and gross motor skills, learning disabilities, and special needs. 

With thousands of toys and related products, Thinking Toys specifies if anything is specifically “adult appropriate,” meaning there’s no confusion if you’re looking for something for your child. The store owners constantly communicate with therapists and other professionals to ensure their products’ suitability while also gathering feedback from parents and kids.

• Trucky 3 is an inventive game that encourages critical thinking, visual perception, and spatial concept skills in preschool or learning-impaired children. Your child has to fit the blocks into the truck. There are 48 different challenges, ranging from starter to master levels, that will keep your child occupied and developing for hours on end.
• Developed initially as a crash pit for tykes, Cloud Nine is just as suited for children to lie quietly and read until they doze off. The comfortable velour-covered flexible foam blocks are perfect for active kids with sensory conditions to work off their energy before relaxing and regaining it for later activity. The 72-by-48-inch crash pit is 12 inches thick for guaranteed safety and comfort.
• Emotional Faces Inflatable Balls come in a set of six brightly colored balls, each depicting a different imprinted emotion. They require inflating with Thinking Toys, promoting their use as aids with facial expression to assist young children in recognizing and expressing their feelings better and aiding in their personal development.

Such a range of toys and educational products makes Thinking Toys a leading toy store for children with special needs, and the company is firmly fulfilling its mission.

5. eSpecial Needs

The owner of eSpecial Needs formed the online inclusive toy store in 2002 after identifying that many parents of special needs children were struggling to find educational and therapeutic toys and tools to aid their kids’ development. As the parent of an autistic child, the founder understood this need firsthand and set about improving things for parents and children alike. 

Parents back then mainly relied on education departments for assistance. Hence, the toy store grew fast as it sourced innovative products from across the globe before stringently testing them for value, reliability, and performance. eSpecial Needs is one of the companies that sells toys to special needs kids without designing or manufacturing them. This fact doesn’t detract from their first-class job promoting awareness and fulfilling demand in the special needs sector.

• Twiddles are soft, plushy aids that provide therapeutic assistance to calm and regulate special needs children with autism and other sensory conditions. With four attached fidget appendages, these toys occupy and engage children across the broader autism spectrum. An internal orbit ball provides an additional therapy option for parents and teachers.
• Photo Conversion Cards educate on crucial communication and social interaction skills for children with Asperger’s syndrome or autism. With 89 cards in the set, kids receive plentiful opportunities to discuss different events and situations they’ll experience throughout their lives.
• The Developmental Youth Trike is a freewheel pedal tricycle with a front calliper brake designed for children with physical disabilities who need assistance with balance. It has an adjustable seat and a design that allows pedals to rotate backward without affecting braking and is one of a range of tricycles and bicycles. It is a perfect learning tool for kids needing additional guidance.

eSpecial Needs also offers sensory rooms, wheelchairs, strollers, and several other product categories that go above and beyond your usual toy store for special needs children. The store has invested much time and effort in identifying valuable educational and other necessary products for its catalogue.

Why inclusive toy stores are essential

The top toy stores for special needs children are all founded on personal experiences. The founders of these stores provide toys for parents and children going through circumstances they’ve personally experienced or been close to. 

As a result, you’ll find the amount of investigation, research, and perseverance they’ve invested to launch and make successes of their brands comes from somewhere other than a drive to benefit financially. The true success they’re experiencing is in seeing the growth and enjoyment that every special needs child gets from using their products. 

These companies that sell special needs toys to kids are making a difference in their lives, and that’s what matters most.

Adam Mulligan, a psychology graduate from the University of Hertfordshire, has a keen interest in the fields of mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.