I am a total toy junkie. I admit it. When I see a toy, my mind immediately goes to all the ways you could use that toy to build all sorts of skills in the areas of listening, language, cognition, literacy…the list goes on. Because I love toys so much, I wanted to put together a brief list of some of my favorites that I use in my speech/auditory verbal therapy sessions and at home with my own kiddos. Before you read any further though, I want to be clear about one thing: you do not need to spend money on toys in order to teach language. What’s most important is the way you play with your child, not what you give your child to play with. Do you follow me? Some of my most fun and productive therapy session with children with hearing loss have been with the box the toy comes in, not the toy that’s in the box! I want to be clear about that. Still, this is the time of year when families are always asking me what types of toys they should consider purchasing for the holidays. So, just in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, here are a few of my tried and true toys for building language and learning.
Disclaimer: the links below are Amazon affiliate links. I may receive a very small commission for items purchased. However, these are all items that I own and love! I would never recommend anything I don’t enjoy using myself.
These are a Few of My Favorite Things…
1. Window markers: These have been a hit with my own kids during quarantine. We’ve used them on the windows, sliding doors, and mirrors…great for keeping kids occupied. If you’re looking to use them for language or learning, there are so many possibilities. Here are a few: following directions (tell your child what you’d like him to draw), giving directions (have your child be the “teacher” and tell you what to do), auditory memory (name three colors and see if your child can recall all three before he starts drawing), prepositions (does your child use and understand words like “above, below, next to,” etc), solving riddles (describe an object you’re going to draw and see if your child can guess it), etc.
Check them out here: https://amzn.to/3lsC1rW
2. Melissa and Doug reusable sticker pads: These are fun because they have endless types of scenes and items inside. There are so many vocabulary words to target with these! You can put the stickers on the scenes, or you can put the stickers on windows. You can target many of the same concepts listed above with this activity.
Check them out here: https://amzn.to/3npoaTw
3. Flap books (especially Little People): The Little People flap books have SO many vocabulary concepts within them. They’re also great to use when you’re focused on a certain theme, since they have books like Let’s Go to the Farm, All Aboard the Bus, What Do People Do?, Halloween is Here, etc.
Check them out here: https://amzn.to/3lyJqpy
4. Scribble Stuffie Pet: This toy is always a hit with the kids The kit linked here includes four jungle animals, six markers, a washing brush, and a little “pool” and slide for the animals to play in. Your kiddos can take turns coloring the animals different colors, play with them in the mini pool, and bathe them. Great for targeting body parts and bathtime language, among other things!
Check them out here: https://amzn.to/32HvbY0
5. Pretend sink: another great activity to target bathtime language, but this can also be used for cooking/restaurant pretend play. The kids love how this sink squirts real water. We’ve used it to give a baby a bath, do a makeshift car wash, clean their toys, and do kitchen play. Turns out they love washing dishes!
Check out this toy here: https://amzn.to/2GXHYOo
6. Color wonder markers/books: I don’t use these in my speech sessions all that often (though I could!), but these are just too simple that they have to be included. They are mess free, which is always a win in my book. Any type of coloring activity is great for barrier games.
Check them out here: https://amzn.to/3krvOew
7. Counters: I have so. Many. Counters. Animals, foods, vehicles—you name it, I have them. I just find that there is SO much you can do with these!! Sort by color, size, category, etc. You can hide them in things (plastic eggs, little containers or boxes, etc), you can use them in homemade sensory bins (e.g. fill a bucket with beans and hide different counters inside), you can play with them in a dollhouse or barn, you can use them for conditioned play audiometry (also known as “Listen and Drop”) – there are endless possibilities!
I love my bear counters for sorting by size and color: https://amzn.to/3kvxmE2. I love these transportation counters: https://amzn.to/3nqIHaB. And I recently purchased these insect counters as well: https://amzn.to/3eUVTkS.
8. Wind-up toys: For some reason, kids really love wind-up toys! These seem to be especially beneficial for targeting cause-and-effect as well as encouraging children to vocalize with intent. For example, one way I use these is I wind them up and then practice saying “1, 2, 3, goooo!” before every turn. After a few trials, I turn it over to the child and wait for the child to vocalize before letting the toy go. Wind-up toys are also a great way to highlight verbs, which are often overlooked in therapy sessions. I can highlight words like “twist, turn, walk, run, crawl, jump,” etc with a variety of wind-up toys. This set that I have seems to be especially motivating for little ones, probably because it includes toys that do lots of different actions: https://amzn.to/3psrcbt
9. Alphabet Acorns activity set: I originally purchased these when I was doing a fall theme during my therapy sessions, but they quickly became a year-round favorite. These are great for targeting print awareness and early phonemic awareness, but they can be used for so much more! Similar to the counters, I often use these in homemade sensory bins. Kids love digging through and finding the acorn that goes with the correct object. These are also great for color sorting. At the time this blog post was written, they are currently on sale for $10 off…a steal, if you ask me! https://amzn.to/2IwSpJu
10. Learning Resources ABC Cookies: This is another great toy that can span a wide age range. While these are designed to target phonemic awareness and early literacy skills (think reading, spelling, letter recognition, etc), they are also really useful for pretend kitchen play. I’ve owned this game for five years and never once played it the way it’s designed to be played, not because it’s not a great game, but because there’s just so much you can do with it! https://amzn.to/2H1V0uo