Winter 2020

Toys for Special Needs Children By Jess Schmidt

Specialty retailers can help capture sales by offering toys geared towards children and even the young with special needs. Offer well-placed offerings in shops to capture consumers interest and provide a “try me” section. Toys have the opportunity to provide entertainment as well as educational appeal to all children.

>>ALSO SEE: Captivate & Educate.

Toys aren’t just entertainment, they are an experience. It is a product that keeps parents and children coming back into stores.

Children’s toys geared towards neurotypical kids can also work well for those with special needs, especially when they are from the following categories:

• Toys that work on fine motor skills, dexterity and creativity.
• Building toys to create a love of engineering, but also to work on fine motor skills.
• Puzzles for problem solving, including some with knobs that young or special needs children can play with.
• Coloring books and drawing prompts to foster creativity, a love of color and art, and fine motor skills.
• Games to promote memory and cognition.

Jess Schmidt

Jess brings a creative writing degree and over 16 years of professional writing experience to her role as content marketer for the Great American Media Services and SmartSolutions teams. With her additional background in the design world, she works with clients to make their brand stories stand out. Her specialties are thought leadership, compelling descriptive language and marketing strategy. She moonlights as a contributing writer with Gift Shop Plus from time to time.