The best toys to improve psychomotor skills 2026

All parents have heard the importance of helping children develop their psychomotor skills, but are we clear about what it means?

First of all, it is important to know that psychomotor skills integrate psychological and motor elements and its main objective is to educate and work on sensitive, perceptive, representative and symbolic capacities. There are two types of psychomotor skills: fine and gross.

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Gross motor skills involve movements of large muscle groups, such as legs, arms, head, abdomen and back. This type of psychomotor skills is what makes it possible to express other skills and is a fundamental part of the development of the cognitive area and language. The integration of the child into his or her environment also depends on this type of psychomotor skills through play, movement, exploration and discovery of his or her own body, etc. On the contrary, fine psychomotor skills are those that integrate actions that involve small muscle groups of the face, hands and feet. Especially the palms of the hands, fingers, muscles of the mouth, eyes, etc. That is, it is responsible for the movements that require the maturity of the central nervous system.

To work on and encourage the development of children's psychomotor abilities, there are specially recommended games, toys and activities that vary depending on age and stages of development. In this gallery we compile a series of toys and instruments more aimed at older children, to help them develop their personality, tastes, creativity and artistic orientations. We must not overlook that children today are digital natives and that opting for games and toys that also rely on this game variant is not necessarily a negative thing, it all depends on the use made of them.

We help you choose the best toy!

When it comes to giving a toy, we have a lot of questions: What was the name of the one we asked for so much? Will it be useful to you? Will it promote positive values? Will your learning ability improve?

It is difficult for a toy to adapt to all these issues, also taking into account that our children's preferences are essential. Depending on their age, there are instruments that are more adapted to their growth. There are creative toys that help develop visual and manual coordination and those that facilitate learning to speak and read.

The skills of a toy are infinite and valuable, so in this gallery you will find a guide to know which games contribute to the psychomotor skills of our little ones.

Source:Álvaro Blein Ibáñez, member of Saluspot, physiotherapist and physical trainer with the Pilates method at the Chamartín Physiotherapy and Pilates Center.

From 0 to 6 months

Our baby needs toys that help him learn colors, textures, different shapes, and even his own body. To facilitate all this plus imagination, eye-hand coordination and the sense of hearing, rattles, teethers, rubber dolls and activity mats are recommended.

From 7 to 12 months

During this time it is appropriate for the child to have fun with balls, rag dolls, colorful and large walkers and rockers and, especially, sound toys.

From 13 to 18 months

At this time the main games are bicycles with wheels, strollers and cubes to stack and fit together, since in these months our children know how to walk and recognize the properties that objects have.

From 19 to 24 months

At this age it is necessary for children to develop the sense of touch, hand-eye coordination, imagination and knowledge of the environment. The games that help with all this are again bicycles, paintings, dolls, musical instruments and strollers.

From 2 to 3 years

To encourage coordination and spatial development, puzzles, shovels, cubes, paints, telephones and tricycles are perfect.

From 3 to 5 years

At this age they begin to play with their friends, learn songs and not stop asking questions about any question. For this time, the best entertainment is puppets, dolls, blackboards, bicycles, trains, yo-yos, stories... These games will make them develop fine motor skills more quickly.

From 6 to 8 years

For these years, the most suitable games are those with which you learn to respect turns, aim, concentration, reasoning, balance and postural control. For this, skateboards, manual games, questions and experiments are recommended. Games like sinking the float are very useful for promoting fine motor skills.

From 9 to 11 years

From the age of 9, children begin to become interested in more complex activities that require more thinking ability. Therefore, strategy, audiovisual, electronic, reflection and experiment games are appropriate for these ages.

More than 12 years

When they reach 12 years old, young people begin to create their own identity. They gravitate toward specific styles of music, books, and video games. At this age we will realize what our children's personalities and tastes are like.

From 3 to 12 years

An eternal dilemma for parents is deciding between physical or virtual toys. Mr. Plintones is real and virtual at the same time and represents a step further in the evolution of fun learning. The recommended age for this toy is from 3 to 12 years old, since it is a blank toy (a funny character from the planet Colorstone) that can be painted and erased as many times as you want. Children can move the doll, draw on it, erase it, put a costume on it... all of this helps promote the development of the little ones' psychomotor skills, but in addition, this toy has been developed under the concepts of creativity, communication, collaboration and criticism, the 4Cs of education.

We say that it is real and virtual because, once the children have painted their doll, they can take it to the virtual world thanks to a free downloadable App. There, the new Mr Plinton-3D will live adventures and games on his tablet; Each child will be able to make Mr Plinton dress, play the guitar, eat or rest, as if he were real. He will become your great friend. And all the fruit of his creativity.

Furthermore, this application has limited playing time and the child assimilates it naturally. No more fighting with the little ones to get them to put down the tablet! Mr Plinton is the mascot of the Neox Kidz channel along with his friends Galaxio, Bimba and Ojó. The price of one of the figures is 15.90 euros. You can also buy a pack of 4 for 39.40 euros.