My Favorite 4 Toys for Building Language... child tested and approved
Anyone else feel overwhelmed when trying to find your little one toys or games that will help them grow and learn? Honestly, the options are overwhelming and sometimes it’s unclear how to utilize the toy or activity to promote skill development. The truth is that all toys and activities have the potential to help your child foster new skills and promote growth. But… after working with kids for almost 10 years and focusing on building their speech and language through play, I have found that some toys set us up for more success than others! I’m here to spill the secrets on how to use toys to get your child engaged and talking. These are the activities my clients come back to year after year.
It’s not what the toys are, but how you use them, that get our kids communicating!
Pretend Food Shops (Like This One): Kids simply love these. They enjoy using them to pretend to eat, serve the food to you, and pretend they are the owner of the shop. While playing with a toy like this, you can work on concepts such as following simple directions. Trying saying something like “Can I have a red tomato on my sandwich?” You can also work on using words such as “Eat” “More” “Yum” “Drink” and “All Done”.
Busy Books (Like This One): There is just something about velcro that kids love. These books are best for children a bit older (closer to 4), who are able to handle smaller pieces and look through interactive books. These books teach concepts such as playground verbs (run, jump, swing, kick etc), and categories such as animals, sports, colors etc.
Cupcake Party (Get It Here): A wonderful game all kids ADORE. My clients love having fun creating silly and fun cupcakes. We work on skills such as following directions: “Hand me the yellow cake”, sequencing skills (bottom, top), and asking and answering questions “I’ll make the Belle cupcake, which cupcake do you want to make?”
Silly and Simple Toys (Like this Garbage Truck): Why do kids love the garbage truck? Some things I will never understand. This garbage truck is a hit. Get it and watch your child crack up the first time you take out the garbage and say “PEE YEWWW” or “Stinky Garage”. With my clients, we work on skills like early prepositions “put the garage IN the truck” or “go take the garbage OUT”. I use toy people and facilitate a variety play schemas such as “Garbage Day” or “Chore Day”. My little ones love it!
Enjoy and happy playing!
