It’s that time of year again when parents ask me about what toys would be fun for their child to open but also useful for speech therapy and skill development. As always I tell parents just about anything can be useful for speech therapy. When you use the right techniques, even a cardboard box can become a therapy tool (see our blog here on parent coaching tips). However, if you are looking for some fun and engaging toys this year, I have compiled a list of some of my favorites to use in therapy and some that I think would be great but haven’t yet tried out. The bonus is they are all from amazon and have Prime Shipping available. *As with all toys you should monitor your child as they play to ensure safety.*
Ages: 18+ months
Therapy uses: fine motor control and plenty of speech opportunities. I like to target numbers and colors with this toy. You could label the colors and count as the child either puts the spikes in the toy or pulls them out. You can also practice facial features with eyes and nose. If your child is talking more you could have them request what color spikes they want and how many. You can incorporate social skills like turn taking and joint attention.
2.
Ages: 4+ years.
Therapy uses: I’ve used this toy with preschool through elementary age children. This toy is similar to the last one. The main difference is after you put the spikes in the back, you press the nose down and the spikes pop out. I use it to have the children make requests (such as forming questions to request more spikes or asking for a turn), make statements (such as telling me whose turn it is, tell me what color spike they want, or how many times they want to push the nose), and also work on turn taking and social skills. This is also a great cause and effect toy to explore with your child.
3.
Ages: 3+ years
Therapy uses: Kids absolutely LOVE this toy! This toy does contain balloons so be sure to monitor your child as with all toys. This toy is great for counting (I have the kids count while I pump the balloon up). I also target making choices by allowing them to choose what car or flyer they want to use. Turn taking, joint attention, and following directions are also skills I target with this activity.
4.
Ages: 1+ years
Therapy uses: I use toy barns in therapy often. Kids really love playing with the animals and I love the skills you can target with toys like these. Animal sounds are easily targeted as are animal names and vocabulary such as open/close, in/out, up/down, etc. joint attention, colors, and facial features are also easily targeted.
5.
Ages: 2+ years
Therapy uses: There are tons of these toys with all different magnets. They have ones with animals, people, numbers, and letters. I love using kits like this because the kids are engaged and enjoy making their own creations. I target requesting, turn taking, following directions, body parts, animal names and sounds, and much more. You’re only limited by your own imagination with activities like these. The board is also a white board so you are able to practice tracing and writing skills.
6.
Ages: 3+ years
Therapy uses: I use this toy by writing letters and numbers on the paper and having the child find the requested letter or number. I also target vocabulary of in, out, open, close, up, down, write, more, all done. Kids love to put the letters and envelopes together and put them in the mailbox for the postal worker. This is an activity that I use with my elementary age kids as well around Christmas time and they practice writing letters to Santa.
7.
Ages: 18+ months
Therapy uses: This is a great activity for learning names of foods so your child will be able to request foods during snack and meals times. I also target sharing, teach cutting skills (with a pretend knife), and incorporate imaginative play. I also target colors and exclamatory sounds such as yum, mmm, yummy. Vocabulary such as ‘more’ and ‘all done’ can easily be targeted with this activity.
8.
Ages: 1+ years
Therapy uses: Kids absolutely love windup toys! I get them from the dollar store and they hold up pretty well but I linked a group from amazon. This toy encourages joint attention, explores cause and effect, and provides plenty of speech and language opportunities. I like to target vocabulary like ‘more’ ‘all done’ ‘my turn’ ‘your turn’ ‘hop’ ‘ready set go’ ‘1 2 3’ ‘go’ ‘stop’ etc. I also target the names of the toys (e.g. tiger, rabbit), colors, numbers, and use preparatory sets.
9.
Ages: 0+ months
Therapy uses: Bubbles are a go to for me during sessions. They are a great distractor item if the child has a hard time attending to activities. Bubbles are also great for enticing speech. I like to target early vocabulary such as ‘more’, ‘bubbles’, ‘pop’, ‘stomp’, ‘blow’. For children with more vocabulary skills, I like to target turn taking, requesting, and making choices. For younger children, I work on joint attention and triadic gaze skills.
10.
Ages: 2+ years
Therapy Targets: I cut a hole in the top of the blue lid to these magnets and have the kids fill up the bucket as they name the objects. I also lay out 2-4 pieces and have the child find requested objects. Kids love to fill up the bucket and since these are magnets you can also use your fridge or any other magnetic surface while playing with the pieces.
11.
Ages: 18+ months
Therapy uses: Books in general are something I recommend to my families. This book remains one of the most popular with my birth to three children and families. Lift-And-Flap books are highly engaging for children. One of the first things kids start imitating is knocking on each of the flaps before lifting them. I like to use a familiar game like peek-a-boo with Where’s Spot. After knocking on the flaps, parents can model “Peek-a-boo” or “Boo!” The sillier, the better. Other targets for emerging talkers include animal sounds, greetings/farewells (hi, bye-bye), spatial terms (in, on, under), yes/no questions, and simple where questions. I always encourage my families to check out books at the local library. It’s a great community resource and your child will have fun helping you find new books.
12.
Ages: 2+ years
Therapy uses: Wooden block puzzles are a wonderful and sometimes underrated toy. Despite this, wooden block puzzles remain one of my go-to toys in therapy and in play. Puzzles help develop your child’s visual scanning and matching skills. It is also a wonderful way to target vocabulary including action words (e.g. go, stop, fly, fast, slow, loud) and environmental sounds. Children also enjoy using the wooden block pieces as toys, placing them upright and racing the different vehicles. Children love the prompt, “Ready, set,... GO!”
13.
Ages: 3+ years
Therapy uses: Play-doh is one of my favorite activities for children ranging from preschool to elementary schools. Play-doh is a wonderful medium to foster creativity and imagination in children. The possibilities are endless. One of my favorite activities is to pretend to cook with the play-doh and make their favorite foods (e.g. spaghetti, waffles, chocolate chip cookies, tacos, pizza, burgers, french fries). If you are working on following directions, you might focus on descriptive words (e.g. colors, textures, sizes) and positional words (in, out, on, under), such as, “Let’s get the green play-doh out, and put it on the table.” Action words are also easily incorporated into this activity. For instance, let’s roll/smash/cook/open/close the play-doh. You might even incorporate your child’s other favorite toys into the mix. For example, cooking for his/her dinosaurs.
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Happy Holidays from our team here at Interactive Therapy Services, PLLC.
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