What Do you Get a Child with Special Needs for Christmas?

Finding the perfect Christmas gift for a child with special needs can feel overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be. With careful consideration, you can choose gifts that acknowledge individual abilities and interests while being fun and inclusive.

Many gifts in this guide can work for children with different types of disabilities. Ideas are grouped by type of gift rather than by type of disability. This approach makes it easier to find options that fit a child’s interests and preferences.

Considerations when Buying Gifts for a Special Needs Child

Before purchasing a gift for a disabled child, it's important to consider:

1. Type of Disability: Think about how the child interacts with toys. A sound-based toy may not suit a child who is deaf or hard of hearing unless they enjoy the feeling of vibration from sound. Similarly, a ride-on toy may not be ideal for a child with a mobility disability, unless they are eager to learn to use it.
2. Age Appropriateness: Some children with disabilities may not enjoy trending toys or may need items suited to their developmental stage rather than their current age.
3. Safety & Accessibility: Ensure the toy is safe and easy to use. Look for features like large buttons, tactile elements, or adaptive designs to prevent frustration and promote independence.

Stocking Stuffers for Kids with Disabilities

Some stocking stuffers may be perfect for kids with disabilities, and you can make them more personal by incorporating favorite colors or characters. Consider stocking stuffers like:

• Fidget Toys: Pop It!®, Fidget Cube™, Tangle®
• Moldable Compounds: Putty, Play-Doh®, slime
• Socks: Fuzzy socks, knee-high socks, ankle socks
• Stickers: Traditional stickers, puffy stickers, scratch-and-sniff stickers.
• Candy: Gummy candy, hard candy, chocolate, sour candy.
• Reusable Straws: Metal straws glass straws, silicone straws, plastic straws

Pretend Play Toys for Disabled Children

The following toys encourage pretend play:

• Lego®: A timeless favorite, Lego offers sets for every interest—from simple building blocks to themed kits featuring racecars, animals, buildings, and popular franchises like Disney, Ninjago, and Super Mario. Some sets even feature wheelchair users or minifigures with cochlear implants and hearing aids, and people with skin conditions, like vitiligo. For younger children or those who benefit from larger, easier-to-handle pieces, consider Lego® Duplo®.
• MAGNA-TILES®: These magnetic building tiles, known as MAGNA-TILES require less fine motor skill than Legos. The vibrant colors and varied shapes offer multiple building possibilities. 
• Fisher Price® Little People®: This beloved toy line includes various playsets and figurines. A favorite of BraunAbility is the wheelchair accessible school bus, complete with a ramp and a wheelchair user figurine. Other inclusive sets are available on the Mattel website.
• American Girl®: These popular dolls can be purchased with separately sold accessory kits. Disability inclusive accessories for dolls include a wheelchair, crutches, diabetes care kit, asthma and allergy kit, and a service dog vest.
• Barbie®: A Mattel owned company, Barbie sells multiple disability-inclusive fashion dolls. Dolls represent various aids that people with disabilities use including wheelchairs, prosthetics, service dogs, hearing aids, and canes for visual impairments. Additionally, conditions like Vitiligo and down syndrome are represented in Barbie dolls.

When looking for pretend play gifts, be aware that some items like building sets, figurines, and dolls, can retire, and may need to be purchased from resale websites.

Sensory Play Toys for Kids with Special Needs

The following gifts engage various senses. These gifts can be ideal for kids with disabilities impacting sight and hearing.

• Lego Braille Bricks: Intended to help blind and low vision people learn Braille, Lego Braille Bricks come in three language alphabets: English, Spanish, and French. Having raised bumps to signify letters, these bricks can be placed side-by-side or stacked vertically.
• Toniebox®: This kids speaker uses figurines, called Tonies®, which magnetically attach to the Toniebox to play songs and stories from kids' TV shows and movies. Each figurine represents a specific show or movie. With tactile volume buttons and auditory cues, it allows blind or visually impaired children to listen independently once they are familiar with its features.
• Build-A-Bear®: These soft, squishy stuffed animals can be customized with scent and sound disks to create a multi-sensory experience for children with disabilities. Scents like birthday cake or gingerbread add a sweet smell while sound options like personalized messages or songs and voices bring beloved TV and movie characters to life. Plus, a variety of inclusive bear accessories such as wheelchairs, medical helmets, port kits, and hearing aids, ensure every child can see themselves reflected in their stuffed animal.
• Lite-Brite®: A Lite Brite, allows kids to insert colored pegs into a light box. When lit, the pegs glow, creating vibrant images. Children can use pre-drawn designs, which come with the set, or make their own.
• Kinetic Sand™: This sand feels like wet sand but remains dry to the touch. Kinetic Sand flows smoothly but can also be molded into shapes, for tactile play. Available in multiple colors, some sets are scented, while others feature hidden objects to discover. Additional bags of sand can be purchased separately.

Games for Children with Disabilities

The following games may be suitable for children with certain disabilities and can even be played by the whole family

• Uno®: A classic card game, Uno comes in several accessible versions to meet different needs: Braille Uno for players who read Braille, Giant Uno for those with low vision, and Uno ColorADD with symbols denoting each color for those who are color blind. Each accessible set retains the classic card colors and numbers so everyone can enjoy the game.
• Bop It!®: The handheld game Bop It! relies on sound and touch, making it ideal for players who are blind or visually impaired, as well as people without disabilities. It features three tactile controls—a pull lever, twisting knob, and center button, and gives audio prompts like “bop it,” “twist it,” or “pull it.” As the game speeds up, it offers an exciting challenge for solo or group play. Because it depends on audio cues, it may not be suitable for deaf or hard of hearing players.
• Simon®: A memory-based electronic game, Simon features four colored buttons that light up and produce unique sounds. Players replicate sequences of lights and sounds that grow longer and are more challenging as they progress. The combination of visual and auditory cues makes the game accessible to deaf or hard of hearing players, blind or visually impaired players, and those without disabilities.
• Perplexus™ Maze Ball: Inside this maze ball, a metal ball navigates through a complex 3D maze. The person must tilt, twist, and turn the sphere to guide the ball from the starting point to the end point. Each maze varies in level of difficulty.

Adaptive Art Supplies

If you’re shopping for a child who enjoys art, consider:

• Crayola® Art supplies: Crayola offers triangular, large, jumbo, and palm-grasp crayons and markers designed for easier gripping. These shapes not only help children with limited dexterity hold art tools comfortably but also prevent them from rolling away.

Adaptive Clothing & Accessories

• Adaptive Clothing: Target's Cat & Jack™ adaptive Kids clothing line has clothes with easy-access snaps and zippers, and hidden openings for feeding tubes.
• Billy Footwear®: Zippers make Billy Footwear shoes easy to put on and take off. Ideal for children with braces or limited mobility, these shoes are available in several styles, such as high tops and snow boots, with removable insoles and options to order a single shoe or different sizes for each foot.

Inclusive Holiday Gifts and Hosting

From thoughtful gifts to inclusive gatherings celebrate the season with our holiday gift guide for adults with disabilities and our article on inclusive holiday hosting ideas that spread holiday cheer to all.