Best Toys To Expand Your Toddler’s Speech and Language Development

Toys, books, and games provide opportunities for open ended play and meaningful language learning. Play routines are established when participation in fun activities follows a predictable pattern or sequence. Play routines can facilitate speech and language development. Many children enjoy repetition in their play because they get to recreate an experience and feeling of success. Repeating a highly desired activity and encouraging routine increases motivation and facilitates language acquisition. High Contrast Books: Improve attention span. Develop vocabulary and communication skills. Repetitive Books: Allow young readers to participate and/or read along, further engaging them in the chain of events. Increase vocabulary skills by labeling nouns and actions. Swing: Increases joint engagement. Verbal routine: “ready…set…GO!” Exclamatory words: “wee”. Location words: “down”, “up”. Push & Spin Toys: Encourages functional play skills. Verbal routine: “ready…set…GO!”. Increases joint engagement. Exclamatory words: “wow”, “ooo”. Pop Up Toys: Encourages functional play skills. Increases joint engagement. Action words: “pop”. Location words: “down”. Requesting help. Bubbles: Encourages wait time and turn-taking. Verbal routine: “one…two…three…GO!”. Action words: “go”, “pop”. Location words: “up”, “down”. Textured Stacking Blocks: Encourages relational play skills. Verbal routine: “up… up… DOWN!”. Action words: “crash”, “build”. Exclamatory words: “uh oh”, “oh no”. Farm Animals: Encourages child-lead play. Animal sounds: “moo”, “neigh”, “baa”, “meow”, “woof”.

More toys to consider: water table, wagon, car slide, vehicles, pretend play food, shopping cart, baby dolls, puzzles, potato head, puzzles, Crocodile Dentist, Pop the Pig, Don’t Break the Ice