Occupational Therapist approved!

Here at Eat Play Say, we want to take the guesswork out the equation and help you help your little one thrive. This guide contains Occupational Therapist approved toys that help reach fine motor milestones - all organized by age!

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Winkel Rattle & Teether: This rattle is perfect because it’s easy to grasp and transitions to a great teether. Place one of the rattle bands in baby’s palm to stimulate the grasping reflex (~3 months). Transition to having baby grasp the rattle and bring it to mouth as they get older (~6 months).
Lalo Play Gym: Hang high contrast items from play gym so your baby can easily see them as they begin to bat and swing their arms at the dangling items (~3 months). Then, hang more colorful and longer items as baby learns to reach, grasp, and bring to mouth with intention (~6 months). “EATPLAYSAY” saves 10%.
High Contrast Rattles: These high contrast rattles are easy for your baby to see and focus on. Practice moving the rattle side to side, or holding the rattle out in front of baby in tummy time. Watch their eyes focus on the black and white animals (~3 months). Assist baby into sitting, and lay the rattle in front of them on the floor, then wait for them to reach out, grasp rattle, and bring it to their mouth to explore (~6 months).
Montessori Spinning Drum: While baby is lying on their back, spin the toy near an outstretched arm and watch their head turn to look at their hand and then the spinning toy (~3 months). Transition to batting practice by supporting your baby in sitting, then watch them start batting at the spinning drum (~6 months).
Hedgehog Rattle & Teether: Move the rattle slowly from left to right and watch your baby’s eye follow it as it moves (~3 months). Then practice grasping and shaking/moving arm up and down while holding toys as they get a little older (~6 months).
Visual Contrast Book: The best first book! Practice focusing on objects. This is also a great motivator for lifting the head to bear weight on the arms during tummy time and in side-lying (~3 months). Continue using during tummy time as your little one starts to reach out a grab the book as they shift their weight from left to right (~6 months).
Maracas: Shake the rattle on the left side of baby and wait for them to turn their head and focus their eyes on the rattle (repeat with right side) (~3 months). Then, hold the rattle directly in front of baby as they get older as wait for them to grab the rattle with both hands and bring it to their mouth (~6 months).
Hello, Baby! Day & Night: Place the book handle in baby’s palm to stimulate grasping reflex and watch their head turn to look at the book in their hand (~3 months). Transition to reaching and grasping different textures and bringing different textures to their mouth as they explore the soft pages and the hard handle (~6 months).
Hollow Teethers: These. Are. The. BEST! These soft teething sticks fit perfectly into baby’s palm as you use them to stimulate the grasping reflex or dangling them overhead as baby looks up and bats at them (~3 months). Use them to work on grasping and bringing to mouth as your baby explores this multi-textured teether (~6 months).
Sensory Toy: Hold sensory toy above your baby, then move it side to side and watch your baby move their eyes & head to follow along (~3 months). Transition to holding it out in front of baby (on back and during tummy time) and wait for baby to grab the toy with both hands and bring it to their mouth (~6 months).
Wrist Rattles & Foot Finder Socks: Place high contrast socks over YOUR fingers, then slowly move your hand from side to side and watch your baby focus on your hand and follow it as it moves (~3 months). Place socks on feet OR wrist rattles on hands (doing all at the same time can be over stimulating) and watch baby explore finding their hands and feet. If they seem uninterested, bring a hand or foot into their line of vision, then gently let go. Look to see if they continue to watch the rattle/sock and their hand/foot move away from their face (~6 months).
Soft Hanging Crinkle Toys: These musical and textured toys are perfect to hang on your Lalo play gym as baby begins to bat at the toys to hear them make different sounds (~3 months). Then watch them grasp the teething ends and bring them to their mouth as they get older and more exploratory (~6 months).

Baby Einstein Musical Toy: Practice grasping the handle or using fingers to press the large button to hear the music (pressing button closer to 8-9 months).
Montessori Mirror Puzzle: Take puzzle shapes off the board, lean over to look in the mirror, then place the puzzle piece back on. PAUSE and wait for your little one to grasp the puzzle piece and pull it off the puzzle.
OBall Rattle: This rattle is great because it’s so easy to grab! Practice shaking rattle up and down, as well as passing rattle back and forth between right and left hand.
Press & Glow Spinner: Model pushing down on the spinner toy, then PAUSE and wait for baby to imitate you as they try to push down the lever. They might not be able to push down on the lever all of the way and that’s okay!
Ring Links: These links are so versatile! They are great teethers, perfect for working on passing back and forth between hands, and work well for pulling apart. Hang and dangle from a play gym, car seat, or stroller.
Ring Stacker: I love this ring stack because it's small and textured rings are great for your baby to grab on to. Work on taking the rings off the stacker by letting your little one dump the stacker upside down so the rings fall off. Don’t forget to hold the stacker to the ground so your baby has to grab and pull the rings UP to get them off the stacker.
Tissue Box Toy: Great activity for your new sitter! Work on grasping the tissues and pulling them out of the box. You can encourage your baby by starting to pull one of the tissue pieces out, then PAUSE and wait and see if your baby grabs on to pull it completely out.
B. Toys Soft Blocks: These soft blocks are great for knocking over block towers! Stack the blocks up and wait for your little one to knock the tower over. The silicone inserts double as teethers!
Surprise Barn: Practice grasping and pulling out as your little one reaches into the soft barn to pull out different farm animals.
OBall Rattle: This easy to grab ball is perfect for work on passing back and forth between hands. You can also hold the ball out in front of baby and wait for them to grab it with one hand and shake it up and down.
Pop & Sing Animal Train: Have your little one close the pop-up flaps after you open them. You can also practice grabbing and pulling on the string to make the train move.
Melissa & Doug Jumbo Knob Puzzle: Model grasping each puzzle piece and slamming it on the ground to make a sound. PAUSE and wait for your baby to imitate you as they work on grasping.

Pop-Up Toy: Encourage your little one to explore this pop-up toy by turning, sliding, pulling, and pushing the knobs to open the flaps. Increase motivation by placing smaller toys or cotton balls on flaps so that they “fly off” when each flap opens.
**Pro Tip: Start with the button, then work on the up/down and side-to-side levers, then move to the twisting knob.
Brown Bear Slide & See: We love this book! Have your little one open the book by themselves and start the story on the page they open to. Practice using their pointer finger as they slide the small flaps on each page back and forth.
Laugh & Learn Fishbowl: Practice releasing objects into a container as you drop the sea creatures back into their fish bowl. Increase motivation for your little one by dropping the sea creatures from a high distance so they make a BANG! When they drop into the fishbowl.
Hide-N-Go Moo: Work on pulling out and pushing in as your little one finds different animals inside the barn. Practice their animal sound, then send them to bed as you put them back in the barn.
Pincer Grasp & Egg Cup Puzzles: These simple puzzles are perfect for building fine motor skills. Use the egg to work on purposefully releasing the egg back into the cup, then practice using pincer grasp to pick up the cylinder puzzle and pull it out of the cube.
Press & Go Cars: Work on pushing as you and your little one push the cars to make them go across the room. Great toys for language development, cause & effect, and a good motivator for crawling!
Coin Box: Use this toy to work on releasing the ball into the hole, as well as pulling the drawer open to find the ball again. Transition to using the coin slot after your little one turns 1.
Press & Stay Sensory Blocks: These blocks are great because as your little one starts banging one block on top of another block, they will actually catch each other to complete the stack. Your little one will be encouraged to keep banging blocks on top of the tower to make it taller.
Fidget Sensory Ball: Work on using pincer grasp to push, pull, and manipulate the different tabs on this sensory fidget toy. Great for car rides!
Melissa & Doug Poke-a-Dot: Have your little practice opening a book as well as using pointer finger to poke the different poke-a-dots throughout the book.
Melissa & Doug Sound Puzzle (Farm): This puzzle is very motivating with all of the different animal sounds. Have your little one practice using their pincer grasp to pull the pieces off of the puzzle. You can put them back on, listen and imitate all of the animal sounds, then pull them off again!
Press & Pop Bus: This toy is so much fun! Practice putting in and pushing down. As your little one pushes down on each animal, they will shoot into the air and out of the bus! Repeat again and again for endless fun!

Honeysticks: These short, safe, and chunky crayons are great for first coloring activities. Work on holding the crayons with thumb towards the paper and making 1-2 scribbles on the paper.
Stacking Shape Sorter Toy: Work on sorting 1-2 shapes in the shape sorter. The circle and star are the easiest to start with because there is not a lot of wrist rotation involved to get the shape to align just right with the lid.
**Pro Tip: Take the lid off and place it on the floor to complete the shape sorter like a puzzle. This will help your little one see how the shapes fit into the sorter.
Ring Stacker: First start by practicing banging rings on top of stacker (~12 months), then transition to aligning and stacking all rings onto stacker as your little one approaches 15 months.
Push & Pop Bulldozer: This toy is great for working on grasping, aligning, and pushing the ball into the bulldozer to make it pop out of the other end.
Montessori Shape Puzzle: Work on grasping with pincer grasp, pulling off, and simple matching as your little one tries to match the shapes to the puzzle board. They may not align the shape perfectly into the puzzle and that’s okay!
Hoppity Frog: This is a great interactive, fine motor book. Use pointer finger to maneuver the different interactive prompts throughout the book.
Laugh & Learn Farm Animal Puzzle: Increase grip strength as your little one uses their whole hand to grasp and pull puzzle pieces out and push them in again as they interact with this puzzle.
Soft Squeeze Building Blocks: These silicone blocks are great for working on stacking because they do not have to be lined up perfectly to complete a stack. They will motivate your little one to continue trying to stack more and more!
Melissa & Doug Rollables Ocean Slide: Increase motor strength and coordination as your little one grabs the different ocean creatures, lifts them up, and drops them into the funnel to make them go down the track.
Spinning Stacker Toy: Work on reaching and aligning as your little one places the different gears on the skinny pole.
Cows on the Bus: Increase pincer grasp strength as your little one uses their two fingers to grab the tabs and pull them up or to the side throughout the story.
Piggy Bank: Work on increasing wrist rotation as your little one turns their wrist to align the coin to the slit and push it down. Begin increasing interest in this toy by placing the coin half way into the piggy bank, then having your little one push the coin in by themselves.

See & Say: The perfect toy for using two hands! Encourage your little one to hold the handle with one hand, then use the other to pull the lever down to make the wheel spin and hear the animal sound!
Melissa & Doug Sound Puzzle (Nursery Rhymes): Work on using pincer grasp to pull puzzle piece out, then practice matching and aligning puzzle pieces with these simple, circular shapes.
Mega Bloks: Large legos are perfect for increasing fine motor strength and coordination as your little one pushes to stack pieces together, and pulls to break them apart again.
Snap-n-Learn Dinos: Practice using two hands to pull apart and push together as your little one looks for the matching colored dinosaur halves.
All Better!: Have your little one peel bandaid stickers off with their pincer grasp, then push them down on the appropriate animals as you read through the story.
Melissa & Doug Block Cart: Practice motor control as your little one stacks these wooden blocks up as high as they can to make a tall tower. Motivate them to build by having a great time crashing the tower down each time.
Nuts & Bolts: Increase wrist rotation and color matching skills by matching and twisting these nuts and bolts together.
Woodpecker Worm Toy: Use pincer grasp to slide colored worms into their holes. Increase coordination skills by aligning magnetic hammer to the worms then bringing them to the birds mouth to “feed the bird”.
Peekaboo Learning Farm: Practice using two hands together by taking barns apart to reveal the animal inside. Push them together again to make the animal ‘go to sleep’ for the night.
Turn, Crank, Zoom!: Use this interactive book to work on turning the gears to increase wrist rotation as you engage your little one in the story.
Melissa & Doug Pounding Bench: Use the hammer to pound the pegs down to work on increasing hand-eye coordination.
Circle Puzzle Board: Work on completing puzzles by matching colored circles and aligning them into their appropriate spot on the puzzle board.

Melissa & Doug Cutting Fruit: This cutting set is a great, functional toy that works on bilateral coordination skills (using two hands working together) as your little one holds the food steady with one hand while they use the knife with the other hand to ‘cut’ the wooden food.
Melissa & Doug Tool Set: Practice using functional tools as your little one increases hand eye coordination, twisting and turning wrist, and using fingertips to manipulate and align nails into the toolbox.
Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog: This toy is great for working on pencil and coloring skills without even lifting a writing utensil! As your little one picks up and aligns the colored spikes, they are working on using their functional writing/coloring grasp and strengthening their finger and hand muscles.
Duplo Classic Set: Increase fine motor strength and coordination as your little one pushes, pulls, and stacks the lego blocks together to make a tower.
Don’t Mix Up My Farm!: Work on increasing bilateral coordination skills as your little one holds the book steady with one hand, and turns the wheel to find the matching animal tail with the other hand.
Matching Eggs: While working on shape identification and color matching, your little one is also practicing bilateral coordination skills, hand-eye coordination, and increasing functional wrist rotation as they turn the egg halves to fit them together.
*Pro Tip: Place half of each egg into the carton so your little one can practice turning their wrist from side to side (like they would to open a jar) and they fit the other halves of the eggs on top.
Melissa & Doug Pattern Blocks: Work on increasing fine motor manipulation skills by matching, turning, and aligning shapes into their appropriate places on the different puzzle board.
Water WOW!: A great, mess-free option for working on practicing using writing/coloring grasp to hold the water marker and reveal the hidden image on each page. It also helps practice using 2 hands together as they hold the pad steady with one hand and color with their water pen with the other hand.
Heads & Tails 2-piece Puzzles: Increase functional puzzle skills as your little one works on using two hands together to fit the matching animal halves together.
Pancakes: An Interactive Recipe Book: This book is so fun and offers opportunities to engage in different fine motor activities. Your little one can use their fingertips to peel out different cooking items, align and turn spatula, and pull, push, and slide different components throughout the book.
Reusable Stickers: This on-the-go activity is perfect for increasing fine motor strength and coordination as your little one uses their fingertips to grasp, peel, and place stickers on the different pages.
Squigz: Push together and pull apart these fun suction toys to increase fine motor strength and coordination. Take them to the bathtub and work on pushing and pulling them off of the tub during bath time!

Counting Dinosaurs Toy: Manipulate tongs to work on increasing fine motor strength and coordination as your little one picks up different colored dinosaurs, and drops them into their corresponding colored cup.
Busy Board: A great on-the-go activity for working on functional fine motor skills needed to complete dressing and household tasks.
Scissor Skills Activity Book: Complete different cutting tasks to work on increasing functional scissor skills and using two hands together as one hand holds and moves the paper, while the other hand uses the scissors to cut.
*Pro Tip: If your little one is having trouble keeping their elbow tucked in while they are cutting, have them use their cutting arm to squeeze a piece of paper to their body as they are trying to cut.
Melissa & Doug Lacing Beads: Work on using 2 hands together and increasing fine motor control by holding the bead steady in one hand while the other hand manipulates, pushes, and pulls string through the bead.
LCD Writing Tablet: A great mess-free option for practicing holding a pencil and other writing skills (making lines, circles, and plus signs!)
*Pro Tip: Before your little one can write their name, they must first be able to copy a horizontal line, vertical line, circle, plus sign, and diagonal line.
Melissa & Doug 4-piece Puzzles: These wooden jigsaw puzzles are perfect for working on increasing motor control as your little one aligns and slides the pieces together, as well as using two hands together to move and stabilize the puzzle pieces.
Melissa & Doug Magnetic Fishing Game: Practice increasing motor control as your little one controls their arm to make the fishing pole hover over the puzzle pieces to attract the magnetic fish.
Montessori Locks: Work on using two hands together, increasing pincer grasp, and increasing functional wrist rotation as your little one uses the key to lock and unlock the different locks.
Melissa & Doug Blocks: Wooden blocks are great for practicing stacking and building. Making tall towers is a great way to work on increasing motor control as your little one has to work hard to GENTLY place each block on the tower.
Shape Puzzle: This puzzle is great for practicing using pincer grasp to pick up, align, rotate, and place puzzle pieces into the puzzle board.
Montessori Stick Sorting Toy: This toy is great for increasing fine motor manipulation skills as your little one maneuvers, aligns, and slides the colored sticks into their corresponding colored hole on the mushroom.
Mr. Potato Head: While working on identifying facial features, increase fine motor strength and coordination by stabilizing Potato Head with one hand, while the other hand aligns, slides, and pushes different features into the small holes.