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125 optometrist-approved toys and games for kids
November 30, 2025
Vision therapist Kellye Knueppel, O.D., shares beloved classics and new favorites on her annual holiday list.
Tag(s): Clinical Eye Care, Public Health
Key Takeaways
- With children spending more time on screens—and myopia on the rise—it’s more important than ever to provide children with leisure activities that are both fun and functional.
- AOA member and vision therapist Kellye Knueppel, O.D., publishes a yearly holiday gift list recommending more than 100 vision-friendly children’s toys and games.
- The list includes developmental ages next to each suggestion, though most toys are fun for all ages.
- New to the list this year are the Pikler Triangle and Whack Attack Galaxy Battle.
Parents have always wanted developmentally appropriate toys and games for their kids. Now, with myopia on the rise and children spending more time on screens, parents are even more intentional about providing their children with leisure activities that are both fun and functional.
That’s why vision therapist Kellye Knueppel, O.D., publishes a yearly holiday gift list recommending more than 100 vision-friendly children’s toys and games.
Dr. Knueppel has two main criteria for the toys that make her list: they must build visual skills and be fun for children. “The main purpose of the list is to provide suggestions for parents—and grandparents and aunts and uncles!—for toys and games that are excellent for vision development,” she says.
When Dr. Knueppel started the vision-friendly gift list years ago, she included tried-and-true favorites, such as balls, bean bag games, and hula hoops. Now, she says, the list has expanded to feature a mix of new toys and remakes of old classics. And while a few toys on the list require batteries, Dr. Knueppel largely avoids computer games and toys with screens. “We want kids to be interacting with the toy or game in real space,” she says.
What’s new this year? Dr. Knueppel asked staff and family members for their top suggestions. “One of our optometric vision therapists has young children who love to climb all over their Pikler Triangle,” she says. “My niece’s young children can play Whack Attack Galaxy Battle for hours if she lets them.”
Dr. Knueppel’s list includes developmental ages next to each suggestion, though most toys are fun for all ages, she says. She also includes many toys that can be played individually, even when they’re also meant to be group games.
The list is included below, courtesy of Dr. Knueppel. A PDF can be downloaded here.
Dr. Knueppel's 2025 Christmas Toy List
Building toys
These develop eye-hand coordination and visualization/imagination: Mega Bloks (1+), Melissa & Doug Building Blocks (2+), Lakeshore Play Stix (3+), Tetra Tower Balance Stacking Blocks Game (3+), Magna-Tiles (3+), Lincoln Logs (3+), Tinker Toys (3+), K’NEX (3+), Legos/Duplos (4+), Clixo (4+), ThinkFun Roller Coaster Challenge (8+), ThinkFun Gravity Maze (8+), VEX Robotics (PreK to 12+).
Balance and coordination toys and games
These develop gross motor skills, laterality, and bilateral coordination: Pikler Triangle (1.5+), Sit and Spin (1.5+), Hoppity Hop (3+), B.Toys Balance Beams (3+), Battat Education Step & Feel Solar System (3+), Pogo Jumper for Kids (3+), Hula Hoop (4+), Jump Rope (5+), Razor GogoPogo stick (5+), Twister Game (6+), Balance Board, bicycle.
Memory games
These develop visualization and visual memory: Ravensburger Junior Memory (3+), The Learning Journey: Match It! (3+), Matching Game-Memory Games (3+), Wooden Memory Chess Matching Game (3+), Think Fun Zingo (4+), Briarpatch I Spy Memory Game (4+), Memory Game (5+), Melissa & Doug Flip to Win (5+), i Match Memory Game (6+), Loopz (7+), Match Madness (7+), Simon Classic Game (8+).
Space perception toys
These develop depth perception and eye-hand coordination:
(Within arm’s length) Don’t Break the Ice (3+), Egg and Spoon Race (4+), Let’s Go Fishing (4+), Jumpin’ Monkeys (5+), KerPlunk (5+), Operation (6+), Reflex Drop Sticks Challenge (6+), Door Pong (7+), Jenga (8+), Pindaloo (9+).
(Beyond arm’s length) Little Tikes Toy Sports T Ball Set (1.5 +), Playskool Elefun (3+), Dart Games (Velcro) (3+), Nerf Basketball (4+), B. Toys Rocket Disc Launcher with Pedal Flying Disc (4+), Fat Brain Toys Box & Balls (5+), Frisbee (5+), Ring Toss (5+), Cornhole Bean Bags (5+), Oball (6+), Bowling Zombies Toys (8+), Pitchback, Cuponk (9+).
Visual thinking toys and games
These develop visual perceptual skills, including visual memory, visual discrimination, pattern recognition and sequencing, which are important for mathematics, reading and spelling: Wooden form board puzzles (2+), Varbertos Face Changing Game (3+), Jigsaw puzzles (3+), Gears!Gears!Gears! (3), Ravensburger Disney Lotti Karotti (4+), Go Fish Card Game (4+), Parquetry Blocks (4+), Tangoes Jr. (4+), Whack Attack Galaxy Battle (5+), Tumble Trax (5+), STEM Explorers Brainometry (5+), Rope Untying Game (5+), Smart Games Color Code (5+), Attribute Blocks (5+), Make N Break Jr. (5+), Checkers (5+), Blokus (5+), Rush Hour Jr. (5+), Perfection Game (5+), Mathlink Cubes (5+), Smart Games IQ Puzzler Pro (6+), Guess Who (6+), Mancala (6+), Set Card Game (6+), Math Dice, Math Dice Jr. (6+), Qwirkle (6+), Connect Four Game (6+), UNO (7+), Spot It! (7+), Battleship Game (7+), Smart Games Horse Academy (7+), Bop It (8+), ThinkFun Laser Chess (8+), ThinkFun Cat Crimes (8+), Blink Card Game (8+), Racko (8+), Q-bitz Pattern Matching (8+), Rubik’s Cube (8+), Color Cube Sudoku (8+), Kanoodle (8+), Rory’s Story Cubes (8+), Amaze (8+), Bejeweled Board Game (8+), Labyrinth Game (8+), Connect Four Shots (8+), Perplexus (8+), Sort it Out (12+).
Fine motor skill toys
These develop visual-motor integration and fine motor skills: Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Count & Rumble Piggybank (6 months+), Coogam Wooden Geoboard (1+ with adult), Finger Paints, Learning Resources Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog (2+), Esjay Toddler Busy Board Montessori Toys (3+), Pegboard and Pegs (3+), Dot-to-Dot Activity Books (3+), Play-Doh/Modeling Clay (3+), Chalkboard Easel (3+), Large Bead Stringing (3+), Lacing Cards (3+), Lakeshore I can Build It! (4+), Noodle Knockout! (4+), Lite-Brite (4+), Silly Putty (4+), Rainbow Loom (5+), Tetra Tower Stack Game (6+), Paint or Color by Numbers (6+).