This year’s ADHD-friendly gift guide features favourites from my client community. This guide focuses on the teens in your life. From sensory fun to movement tools and stocking stuffers there should be something that your teen will be excited to unwrap this year.
This gift guide is aimed towards tweens through late teens. Check out my kid’s list here and my adult guide here. For full transparency the amazon links are commissionable links, but all others are not commissionable. None of these products are sponsored and I am not currently affiliated with any of these companies.
Sensory Fun
Chill Sack Giant Bean Bag: Bean bag chairs are a sensory delight and fun for kids and teens. They provide the feeling of being cuddled and safe. They also allow teens to change position easily without getting up, which can help reduce distractions when a teen is trying to focus on a great book. This is a big ticket item and I always recommend checking out local buy and sell pages before pulling the trigger, because they take up so much space I find that people often purge them if they aren’t being used.
Squishmallow: Ok Squishmallows are not just for kids! They are soft, they are squishy, and they are a sensory huggable delight. In my experience, teens enjoy a nice plush toy years beyond when we think they might be over them.
Loop Earplugs: Loop offers awesome noise filtering and noise reduction earplugs that can be great for teens who struggle with noise sensitivity. They are also minimal and cute!
Lava Lamp: Lava lamps are a wonderful emotional regulation tool that also looks cool. I have heard from several neurodiverse teens, that they are just as awesome as they always have been.
Electronics
Noise Cancelling Earpods or Earphones: I have found that the Beats brand is expensive yes, but their noise cancelation is excellent. For the teen that loves to block out the background noise, but replace with music, here are some options.
Mighty 3: The mighty 3 is a screen-free music player that you can download music and podcasts onto via spotify. It brings me back to my ipod shuffle days. If you are trying to support your teen in accessing their music, but not also being constantly attached to their screen devices this might be a good option. The Canadian version was crazy expensive so I just have the USA link. I will update if I find an alternative.
Kobo: For your avid reader, I love Kobo e-readers. My favourite feature is that you can connect them to your local library so that your teen can sign out all of their favourite books electronically. No more late library fees!
Making Time Tools Fun
Time Timer Watch: For the teen that struggles with time blindness, I love these time timer watches. I also love that they aren’t distracting like smartwatches can be. They have a time timer, a clock, and an alarm. Sometimes simple is easier to manage.
Smart Watch: Yes smart watches can be distracting, but they can also work well if you have a teen that might be interested in gamifying healthy habits like movement and tracking data like sleep. The key here is knowing your teen, is a screen on their wrist too much of a distraction or will it be a support?
Clocky: This alarm clock is a fun way to set an alarm that you can’t press sleep on a million times. He rolls, jumps, hides and only allows you to press sleep once.
Movement
Slackline: Slackline kits are a fun, low-infrastructure way to get some movement going at the park or in the backyard.
Door Pull-Up Bar: Heavy work is one of my favourite tools to support sensory processing and emotional regulation. Any movements that involve pushing or pulling against resistance are great for this. A pull-up bar is a great movement tool that a teen can use throughout the day.
Balance Board: Balance tools can be a wonderful regulating and ADHD support tool. This model is more of a challenge then the options marketed to younger children. These are great indoor movement supports for when the weather isn’t so nice outside.
Busy Hands
Focused busy hands activities are great for teens with ADHD because they help to focus the mind, reduce overwhelm, and can actually feel like a meditation reducing overwhelm through simple focused movements. Here are some fun options.
Fancy Markers: A love for good quality pens that provide a nice smooth sensation is an ADHD thing. This set is very well-reviewed and sets your teen up for any colouring or brush pen creativity they might want to try.
Water Colour Set: For your teen who wants to take up a new creative hobby, here is a great starter set.
Advanced Lego: Building lego can be such a calming focus activity with a clear end point, this is very satisfying to the ADHD mind. As teens get older, Lego has some great advanced sets. Try suggesting your teen building while listening to audiobooks or music.
Whittling Set: My own tween started whittling this fall with her homeschool cohort and she is into it! This spoon-making set looks fun, but a simple whittling knife, some safety gloves, and a pile of sticks works too.
Stocking Stuffers and Other Fun
Mindfulness Colouring Book
Thinking Putty
Fidget Ring
Fidget Pen
Pillow Slippers
Shape Shifting Box
Moon Lamp
Kanoodle
New e-Book:
Supporting ADHD at School
This e-Book is an Introduction to ADHD at School.
We will build understanding of the 3 core areas of impact: Executive Functioning, Motivation, and Overwhelm, followed by targeted strategies to support each area.
I have included my favourite, tried and true, tested by the 100s of families that I have worked with strategies to request on learning plans and IEPS.
There is a step by step break down of how to work with your child’s teacher to set up a plan for your child to take movement breaks.
You will also learn the basics of escalation planning if your child struggles with either external (meltdowns) or internal (anxiety and panic attacks) escalations.
You can learn more here:
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