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Simple toys that encourage language development: Birth to 18 months
Simple toys that encourage language development: 18 months to 3 years
Simple toys that encourage language development: 3 to 5 years
Simple toys that encourage language development: Birth to 18 months
Bubbles:
 Encourage joint attention by pointing to bubbles and getting your baby to look at
bubbles with you.
 Wait for baby to ask for more bubbles using eye contact, gestures or words
 Model early words (e.g., “bubble”, “more”, “blow”, “pop”).
Blocks:
 Imitate babies actions with blocks (e.g., banging, stacking).
 Hold blocks and wait for baby to ask for more using facial expression, gestures, or
words.
 Model early words (e.g., “block”, “on”, “bang”, “fall down”, “uh oh”).
Play Farm:
 Model animal sounds and wait to see if baby will repeat.
 Model first words (e.g., “pig”, “cow”, “barn”, “in”).
 Sing animal songs (e.g., Old MacDonald).
Dolls/Stuffed Animals:
 Have two dolls, one for you and one for baby. Model simple pretend play (e.g.,
rocking, feeding, dressing).
 Model first words (e.g., “baby”, “eat”, “sleep”).
Play Food/Dishes:
 Label items (e.g., “fork”, “apple”, milk”).
 Model simple pretending (e.g., stirring, eating).
 Use sounds during simple pretending (e.g., “mmm”, “glug glug”) and give baby a
chance to repeat.
Cars/Trucks:
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Imitate baby’s actions with vehicles of your own.
Use sound effects during play (e.g., “vroom”, “beep”).
Model early words (e.g., “go”, “stop”, “fast”, “car”, “truck”).
Balls:
 Follow baby’s lead. Watch to see if baby wants to throw, roll, or hold the ball.
 Model action words (e.g., “throw”, “roll”, “catch”).
Puzzles:
 Use age-appropriate puzzles (e.g., animals, vehicles).
 Label the pictures.
Simple toys that encourage language development: 18 months to 3 years
Bubbles:
 Encourage turn taking.
 Model and encourage your child to use longer word combinations (e.g., “I want
more”).
 Have your child follow directions (e.g., “Blow the bubble softly).
Blocks:
 Imitate and add new actions, sounds, and words.
 Model prepositions (e.g., “in,” “on,” “off”).
 Encourage imaginative play (e.g., “Let’s build a castle!”).
Potato Heads:
 Model vocabulary (e.g., “eyes,” “nose”).
 Model pronouns (e.g., “I,” “he,” “she”).
Play Farm:
 Imitate the animal sounds and add animal names.
 Play with the animals too!
Dolls/Stuffed Animals:
 Model vocabulary (e.g., “rock the baby”, “the baby eats”).
 Create simple problems (e.g., “Uh oh, the baby is crying”).
Play-doh:
 Model new action words (e.g. “roll,” “pat,” “fold”).
 Talk about textures (e.g., “smooth,” “cold,” “squishy”).
Play Food/Dishes:
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Add new steps to pretend play (e.g., go shopping for food, then cook, then eat, and
then clean).
Use short sentence to talk about the play.
Cars/Trucks:
 Talk about opposites (e.g., “big car/little car”, “fast/slow”).
 Have races and let your child fill in the words (e.g., “ready, set, ___”).
Balls:
 Take turns and model, “my turn”.
 Wait for them to ask for their turn.
Puzzles:
 Be the “keeper” of the pieces to encourage requesting.
 Avoid asking “what is it?” too often. Instead, label the picture and wait for the child
to respond.
 Avoid shape, color, letter, and number puzzles at this age!
Art Material:
 Give choices of material (e.g., “Do you want paint for glue”).
 Model new words (e.g., “sticky,” “rub,” “draw”).
Puzzles:
 Be the “keeper” of the pieces to encourage requesting.
 Avoid asking “what is it?” too often. Instead, label the picture and wait for the child
to respond.
 Avoid shape, color, letter, and number puzzles at this age!
Simple toys that encourage language development: 3 to 5 years
Bubbles:
 Introduce new concepts (e.g., “The bubbles pop if they land on the carpet”).
 Model new words (e.g., That bubble burst).
Blocks:
 Introduce new words during pretend activities (e.g., “Watch out for the crocodile in
the moat”).
 Model describing words (e.g., “next to”, “behind”, “beside”).
Potato Heads:
 Model higher level vocabulary (e.g., “chin,” “elbow”).
 Model pronouns (e.g., “they,” “we,” “our”).
Play Farm:
 Ask complex questions about play (e.g., “What would happen if the wheel broke off
the wagon?”).
 Add new scenarios to play (e.g., “Oh no! The horse escaped”).
Dolls/Stuffed Animals:
 Play out new situations (e.g., “The baby is sick. What should we do now?”).
 Use paper/pencil as props to play (e.g., Write a prescription for baby).
Play-doh:
 Make ‘characters’ to act out a story.
Play Food/Dishes:
 Let your child pick the situations and roles (e.g., “I’ll be the mommy, and you be the
baby, and we need to go shopping”).
 Introduce new words (e.g., “avocado”, “dice the vegetables”).
Cars/Trucks:
 Act out familiar routines and new situations (e.g., “We need to fill up the gas tank”).
 Allow your child to direct the play (e.g., “Mommy that big car crashed into the little
one).
Puzzles:
 Try using puzzles with actions on them to encourage sentence building (e.g., “Look,
the policeman is riding the motorbike!”).
 Model correct verb forms (e.g., “The bear is eating”).
Art Material:
 Model good grammar (e.g., “You colored your bear green, but my bear is red”).
 Give your child a chance to use different materials for marking (e.g., pencils, crayons,
markers, paint, chalk, etc.).
 Have your child ‘sign’ their name on their artwork.
Board Games:
 Talk about the rules of the game.
 Review concepts needed for the game (e.g., first, next, numbers, colors).