Print this article
Have you ever gone into a store or visited a website and just stared aimlessly at all the products, feeling overwhelmed by the vast selection and thought “which one will be best for my kiddo?” I definitely have! When I first started my career, I definitely overdid it and overspent on my toy inventory, I thought “the more, the better.” Well, I was wrong!
Through experimenting and experience, I have discovered the magic sauce when shopping for toys for toddlers and want to share some of my favorite toys with you today! Also included are some of my pro-tips on how to use these toys to develop, expand and support your toddler’s speech, language and communication skills:
1. Melissa & Doug: First Play Pound & Roll Stairs Wooden Hammer & Ball
Speech: Work on early developing consonant and vowel combinations like “buh” for “ball” and “ha” for “hammer”
Language: Work on identifying and labeling colors, counting, and spatial concepts, such as “in” and “out,” as well as “up” and “down”
Communication: Work on eye contact, attention and turn taking
2. Melissa & Doug: Safari Animal Rescue Wooden Play Set
Speech: Work on animal sounds and increasing syllable length
Language: Work on following directions with various linguistic concepts, as well as identifying and labeling shapes, colors, and animals. Also work on commenting, requesting, and narrating play
Communication: Work on eye contact, attention, turn taking and play skills
3. Melissa & Doug: Deluxe Pounding Bench
Speech: Work on early developing consonant-vowel combinations like “puh” for “push” and “ha” for “hammer”
Language: Work on identifying and labeling colors, counting, and spatial concepts, such as “in” and “out,” as well as “up” and “down”
Communication: Work on eye contact, attention and turn taking
4. Battat Toys: Pop-Up-Pals
Speech: Work on vowel-consonant or consonant-vowel combinations like “up”, “pop”, “hi”, and “bye-bye”, also work on animal sounds
Language: Work on 1-2 word combinations by labeling the animal, action and/or color (ex: “dog down”, “blue up”), also work on requesting (i.e. “more pop”)
Communication: Work on eye contact, attention and turn taking
5. Top Bright: Wooden Race Track Car Ramp
Speech: Work on later developing phonemes like /k/ and /g/ for “car” and “go”
Language: Work on identifying and labeling colors and numbers, as well as following directions using more advanced spatial concepts such as “on top” or “bottom.” Work on requesting using 2-4 word phrases (ex: “blue car” or “I want blue car”), as well as commenting using prepositional phrases (ex: “car on top”)
Communication: Work on eye contact and turn taking using “my turn” and “your turn”
Are you interested in discovering more:
- Ways to use these 5 toys to create speech and language opportunities for your toddler?
- Toys that encourage and expand speech and language opportunities for your toddler?
Sholeh Shahinfar, MA, CCC-SLP, RYT
Sholeh Shahinfar is the founder of Valued Voices, and a licensed Speech Language Pathologist, Child Communication Specialist and Certified Oral Motor Therapist. She is passionate about uplifting children’s voices in the world and inspiring self-expression. In her free time, she loves going to the ocean, exploring nature with her pup Kobe, and spending time with her family and friends!
