Growing Strong Visual Skills: A Screen-Free Play/Gift Guide for Kids of All Ages

Pediatric Vision-Friendly Fun!

This holiday season, and all year long, you can help the kids in your life maintain healthy visual systems and skills with screen-free engagement! Follow our age-guide below:

Newborn to 2 years old

Infants benefit from high-contrast patterns, moving toys, and tactile experiences, all of which support early visual development and focus. These visuals, motions, and textures help them practice tracking and begin coordinating hand-eye movements.

Examples:

• Baby Einstein Learning Lens Toy Camera

• Sassy Brand Drive n’ Drool Keys, Light- Up Rainbow Reel Tray Toy, or Sensory Surprise Tissue Box

• Lovevery Looker Play Kit or Play Gym

3 to 5 years old

Preschoolers' visual systems focus on growing their hand-eye coordination, visual sorting skills, tracking abilities, and sense of space with activities that focus on visual discrimination, focusing at different distances, and smooth tracking. Think large print stickers and maze books!

Examples:

• PicassoTiles Magnetic Tiles

• Snap-n-Learn Alphabet Alligators by Learning Resources

• Melissa & Doug: Match & Push Spin Tops, Flip & Fry Grill Set, Shape Sorting Clock

6 to 8 years old

School-aged children are growing their tracking skills, fine motor abilities, spatial thinking, and attention span. Look for games that help them shift focus between near and mid-ranges, involve hand-eye coordination, and sharpen visual sorting and tracking skills.

Examples:

• Lite Brite Touch Board

• LEGO Disney 101 Dalmatians Building Toys

• Spot It! Card Game

• Melissa & Dog Vroom & Zoom Dashboard Driving Toy

9 to 11 years old:

For kids this age, focus on games that boost complex spatial thinking, tracking skills, attention to detail, and planning. They encourage kids to follow movement, shift their gaze between distances, and sort visual details.

Examples:

• LEGO Disney Moana 2 Building Toy

• LEGO Minecraft Gift Set

• Spot It! Card Game 

• Mindware Qwirkle Game

12 to 15 years old:

Older kids gain sharpened visual skills with activities that focus on sustained visual attention, planning, advanced spatial construction, and tracking moving objects. These help boost visual stamina, near-to-far focusing, spatial reasoning, motion tracking, and fine-motor accuracy.

Examples:

• Thames & Kosmos Roller Coaster Engineering Kit

• LEGO Hogwarts Castle and Grounds

• BBC Earth Science of Crystal Growing Kit

Remember, for all age groups: 

• Build in daily screen-free time and promote outdoor play

• Switch out toys often to keep their minds curious and visually stimulated