Building Your Early Childhood Toolkit

Early childhood development sets young learners up for lifelong success! We have a multitude of products that teachers and parents can use to better prepare children from birth to five for the rest of their educational careers. We’ve categorized these tools based on their appropriateness for the following age ranges: 0-3, 0-5, and 3-5.

For Ages 0-3

• On the Way to Literacy Series – This handbook and series of read-aloud storybooks contain vital information and activities to enhance the development of literacy in young children who are blind or have low vision.
• LDQR Series – All storybooks contain richly textured collage-style illustrations with interactive features that are visually attractive and have appeal for all young learners as well as adults sharing the books with a child.
• Lots of Dots Books – An exciting set of three raised-line coloring books designed for future large print and braille readers. The books are designed for sequential use; children develop character recognition, pre-literacy, and pre-math skills, and eventually picture building and daily living skills.
• Hands-on Kit – This kit helps children develop skills such as concentration, hand and visual coordination, ability to complete a cycle of activity, and socialization skills. This product also helps develop a sense of order and a positive self-image.
• Sensing and Learning – This modernization of the Sensory Learning Kit (SLK) is designed to help develop the curiosity of learners with disabilities. Sensing and Learning includes new research since the introduction of the SLK in 2005 and its predecessor the Sensory Stimulation Kit (SSK).
• Joy Player – Enjoy jamming to your favorite music or listening to your favorite audiobook on the easy-to-load, switch-activated Joy Player.
• Giant Textured Beads – These beads introduce a variety of concepts, including shape, color, and texture.
• Giant Textured Beads and Pattern Matching Cards – Identify shapes, colors, and textures, and create your own patterns with the Giant Textured Beads and Pattern Matching Cards.
• Textured Sorting Circles and Shapes – This product contains an assortment of magnetic shapes and sorting circles.
• Tangle Toy and Tangle Book Kit – With its infinite knot shapes and variety of colors and textures, Tangle Toy can be used to encourage a child to explore, move, and play.
• Sound Matching Board I – This board and sound cylinders help students develop fine motor skills and auditory matching and discrimination.
• Holy Moly – Entertain your child with this colorful, tactile book with rhyming text and interactive components.
• What is IT Kit, UEB – An Instruction Booklet for The Why, How and What of IT – helps children develop real images related to descriptive terminology and words.
• Spangle Tangle: Play and Explore Kit – Spangle Tangle provides opportunities for learners to improve visual and tactile attention, communication, and creativity. Through specially designed activities, the learner develops motor, problem-solving, cognitive, self-care, social, and pre-braille skills.

For Ages 0-5

• Alphabet Scramble – This read-aloud storybook exposes children to both braille and large print and encourages development of early literacy skills.
• Building on Patterns (BOP) – BOP is a systematic, comprehensive, and balanced literacy program designed to teach young children (through second grade) with visual impairments to read and write using braille.
• BrailleBuzz – Promote early literacy skills and encourage young learners to practice braille characters and phonics. For this age group, this device would be most useful with adult supervision.
• Textured Matching Blocks – This board and accompanying blocks encourage recognition of textures, identification of textures by name, and tactual matching, while reinforcing directional and positional concepts.
• Reach & Match® Learning Kit – This innovative product helps students with sensory impairment and other exceptionalities learn and engage with their peers through deepening cognitive understanding.
• Hop-A-Dot Mat – With Hop-a-Dot, students can learn braille while being physically involved and active – an exciting alternative to routine, sedentary tasks.
• Small Work-Play Tray – This durable tray holds objects that might roll out of reach. Trays provide an enclosed workspace for sorting, matching, classifying, and counting.
• Jumbo Work-Play Tray – This large-size tray goes on the floor and provides learners who have visual impairments and significant challenges with a space in which they can play, explore, and learn independently.
• All-In-One Board – This multi-platform, easily-adjustable board by APH can be used in the classroom for learning activities with students of all ages.
• STACS: Standardized Tactile Augmentative Communication Symbols Kit – Teach vocabulary to learners who have no means of formal communication with this kit.
• Laptime and Lullabies Storybooks – For parents and teachers of children up to three years of age, these stories are meant to facilitate the skills necessary to build an understanding of language before beginning to read the written word, including evaluating one’s environment; understanding reciprocal communication; developing listening skills; and more.
• Bright Shapes Knob Puzzle – Learn about colors and shapes with this interactive puzzle set.
• CVI Companion Guide – Designed to assist parents and professionals, the CVI Companion Guide provides information on the social and emotional needs of children with CVI.
• Tactile Book Builder Kit – “Build” a book and create a child’s connection to literacy!
• CVI Book Builder Kit – Parents and teachers can build individualized books specific to the needs of their Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) reader with this book-making kit.
• APH Smart Brailler by Perkins – This brailler combines a standard braille keyboard, speech output, and SimBraille and large print on a colorful screen, creating a product that enables users to assist one another in mastering the Braille code. Children birth to three might lack the finger strength to use this product with true independence, but it is good to introduce!

For Ages 3-5

• Animal Recipes: Farm Set – Build and learn about the salient features of barnyard animals with Animal Recipes.
• Peg Kit – This kit helps children develop skills in manipulation; number and language concepts; and color, size, and tactual discrimination.
• All Aboard! The Sight Word Activity Express – This interactive and versatile set of magnetic print/braille labels will get your student excited and on the fast track to learning high-frequency sight words and common nouns.
• Tactile Treasures Kit – Use the Tactile Treasures Kit to teach basic math and language concepts by feeling pictures of real objects on thermoform paper.
• Sound Matching Board II – This board and sound cylinders help students develop concepts of a series, directions, positions, matching, and discrimination.
• Puzzle Form Board: This kit is a supplementary aid for teaching basic concepts such as shape, texture, color, size, and matching.
• Symbols and Meaning Kit (SAM) – Learn about people, objects, actions, and places so that you can understand the symbols related to these concepts.
• ReadWrite Stand – Positioned at one’s preferred angle, this stand helps large print readers to compose and interact with written materials.
• Six Little Dots, Game of Cards UEB – Play by touch! This game offers a fun approach to learning braille numbers. When played among family and friends, rich opportunities for social inclusion and spreading braille awareness are achieved.
• Code & Go Mouse – This kit provides a hands-on introduction to coding concepts and tactile graphics as students program Colby the mouse to race through the maze toward the cheese.
• Expanded Beginner’s Abacus Kit – Students with low vision will be introduced to early math concepts and number operations, as well as abacus terminology.

Check out these products and more at aph.org/shop!