toys for a child with visual imparement

[mymatemax]

Hi I'm trying to get my xmas shopping started & my friends ds is 18mths with severe vi & a degree of physical disability.
I wan't to get him something that he will enjoy playing with.
any ideas please?

Things wot light up when you press bits - if he has any hand function. DD has VI and CP and we found her a keyboard (argos i think) that the keys light up as they are pressed.

Agree with keyboard things, also anything that is very heavily textured (ds1 loved just bits of cloth with different feels- hsi vision is improving now but was poor until about 3 or so), when thinking about textures etc remember also remperature- eg metal objects might seem smootha nd boring but actually are cool to the touch which is a very different sensation to, say, one of those bears with a lavender bag in.

Scented items also good- DIY it with essential oils, eg lavender / pepermint.

Dangling chime toys. dd loves those although she has no hand/arm function so we have to bing them for her.

Wind chimes in the window breeze might be a nice extension of that then?

Any toy with clicky buttons as well- my eysiht isnt nearlya s severely damaged but I am borderline for DVLA atm, and I cant abide things where the buttons dont click (eg mobile phones) as I need the dual feedback from that.

thank you both, he has loads of musical type things so I think i'll try & find something textured & with lights??
I'm an hour from our nearest shops i'll have a look at argos internet but do you know of any other specialist toy websites please?

I bet he'd like one of those annoying football rattle things

How about some touchy-feely books? His parents could read them whilst he feels the textures.

My DD2 isn't VI but is severely short sighted and loves the "That's not my..." books. You can buy them online all over the place - Amazon, Ebay, various online bookstores.

thanks again & i'll give those websites a try

most toys around these days are much better for VI children as so many come with sound.

ELC do lots of different light and sound toys - fire engines/police cars/thing there's a car transporter if I remember rightly.

Shape sorters are good as one has to physically feel the shapes and the holes to get it right.

As long as you're not buying him picture books though it's unlikely you'll get it wrong. Whatever 18 month olds are playing with these days should be perfectly fine .

The RNIB in Liverpool seems to have a shop selling suitable toys for kids with VI. So possibly they may also sell toys via their website.