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Finding Balance With Asperger's: Puzzles for Developing Fine Motor Skills

Part of my son’s diagnosis of Asperger’s requires us to work with him on things that require him use fine motor skills, because his are slightly delayed. Puzzles, small blocks, and anything with small pieces are great to build his hand strength and hand/eye coordination. Guidecraft, a leader in developmental toys for children, was nice enough to send me some of their amazing products, one of which is the Construction Truck Sort and Match.

The Construction Truck Sort and Match is a great way to teach color and shape matching, sequencing, pattern recognition, sorting, and builds fine motor skills in a fun, game-like way. The set features a magnetic matching board that props up into the box to make game play easy, thick cardboard pattern cards, 48 construction truck pieces made from thick plastic, and comes in a durable birch plywood storage box, so you can store it neatly and securely for a long time. You can do this tangram-type activity solo or with a partner. Playing with a partner helps Quinn build the social/emotional connections that many people with Asperger’s struggle with and it teaches about being a gracious winner and loser.



Here is a quick video showing my sons at play . . . 



Of all the products Guidecraft sent us, this one has gotten the most play so far. Quinn has enjoyed using the pattern cards, making his own creations, and “racing” against a partner to recreate a variety of trucks. He’s had so much fun doing it, he hasn’t even realized he’s actually building many skills. The set is simple enough for even the youngest kids in my daycare to play with it, but the pattern matching is hard enough for them all to enjoy it. Doing “races” just adds an extra element of fun to it. I am thrilled with the durability of the set, the premise, the set up of it, and that it’s teaching so much without them realizing it. I also really like that it stores away neatly in its own sturdy box, thus making clean up and storage easy.

(Click any image to enlarge)

You can view all of Guidecraft’s products on their website, www.guidecraft.com. The Guidecraft Construction Truck Sort and Match puzzle toy retails for $45 and can be purchased on Guidecraft.com, Amazon.com, and Walmart.com.


Thank you to Guidecraft for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.