Remember to always adapt play and language to your child’s age and abilities. I will try to give tips for both young and older toddlers as well as preschoolers. However, if you are unsure of how to use the toy with your child, feel free to comment or contact me.
We now continue on our toy and play tips journey with a few more of my favorites.
Manipulatives
Manipulatives such as blocks, legos and magnetic tiles are not only great for motor skills but give way to your child’s creativity. Together you can build anything you can think of!
Stacking Blocks
Stacking blocks can be used in a variety of ways. You can stack them vertically, line them up horizontally, disperse them all over, make a tunnel, and build a castle. Here are a few ideas of how to use stacking blocks to help stimulate language and speech development.
You can use the stacking blocks to target pre-linguistic skills such as eye contact, joint attention and intentional pointing. For instance, you can keep control of the blocks by having them out of your child’s reach. Hold a block in your hand and have your child reach for it and say “block, give me block” then give it to them only once they make eye contact with you.
You can also hold a block in each hand and have your child point to the desired block. If your child is unable to point, then have someone take their hand and help point their finger. You can also model what you want your child to do by having mom or dad be the “child” and play with the blocks.
Have your child stack the blocks one by one – you can use target words such as “up, on” or a phrase “put on.” If you are putting the blocks into one another you can use target word “in” or phrase “put in.” You can also have your child request more blocks by signing or saying “more/ block/ more block / gimme / gimme block.”
When the blocks are stacked tell your child to knock them down. If they can’t knock them down, then you can do so. Count 1-2-3 pause and wait for your child to look at you. Once they make eye contact say “down” and knock them down.
You can also work on following different directions by asking your child to knock down the blocks in different ways. For example, knock down the blocks with one hand or two hands, kick the blocks down, knock down the blocks with a ball, knock down only one block, knock down all the blocks, knock down the bottom/middle/top block, knock down the smallest/biggest block. Alternatively, you can have your child follow different directions while stacking the blocks. They can stack them going up or to the side, from biggest to smallest or vice versa.
You can use the blocks with other toys to create a play scheme. For instance, you can build a bridge and have the animals or cars cross the bridge. You can stack the blocks horizontally and pretend it’s a train and push it around. You can use the blocks to hide little objects in them. Then you can ask your child “what’s inside the biggest block?” and have them answer. You can also be the one hiding the objects and ask your child “where should I put the pig?” and work on concepts such as first, middle, last, big, biggest, little, and littlest.
Many blocks have images and themes so you can also talk about the pictures on the blocks and use those as identifiers, for example “give me the giraffe block” or “the red block”. The set of blocks I have are different buildings that you would find in a town so you can use a set like that to build your own little town and model new vocabulary such as library, grocery store, movie theatre, school, and police station. You can then take little people and walk them around the little town you built or you and your child can be the people and decide which place you should visit.
You can use the stack of blocks to compare its height to other things. For instance, if the stack is taller than your child you can have them stand next to it and ask if the stack is taller than them. You can build the stack next to the table and ask “what’s taller, the blocks or the table?”
For the younger children between 6m-12m focus on functional play skills such as stacking the blocks on top of each other. As they grow older and have mastered those skills then use the blocks in more imaginative ways.
Make sure when playing with legos that you use the appropriate size for your child’s age. Young infants and toddlers should play with big block legos or medium sized ones that they cannot swallow as there is always risk of choking. It is preferable that the child is supervised if playing with smaller legos that can be swallowed. Legos are a great addition to your child’s toys. Legos can be used in a multitude of ways to expand language and speech. Here are a few.
Have the legos in a transparent box and have your child request them by pointing, signing or verbalizing. You can ask them what color legos they want and have them practice asking by saying “red, red lego, give me red, I want red, I want red lego” depending on their age and speech/language skills.
Following directions – ask your child to put different colors together and in different ways. For example – put a red lego on top of the blue lego, put a blue and red lego together, put a yellow lego under the blue lego, put a red lego between a blue and yellow lego. Depending on your child’s age and abilities you can increase the complexity of your directions. If they are unable to do what you ask of them, show them first and see if they can imitate you.
You can put legos together in different ways and have your child imitate you. You can also let your child be the boss and tell you which legos to put together and how.
You can use the legos to build a house together and talk about the different parts of a house – windows, doors, rooms, etc. There are all kinds of lego sets and depending on the one you have there are tons of scenarios you can create. For example, if you have lego people, flowers, and animals you can make a garden and plant flowers or you can build a farm.
You can make lego robots and talk about what color you should make the head, body, legs, arms and you can name your robots. You can also create your own lego dinosaurs and name them and talk about what kind of dinosaurs they are – do they swim, walk on land, fly, eat meat/vegetables, etc.
You can make lego cars and boats and race them. The possibilities are endless.
These tubes are so much fun! You can pull them out and push them together again and manipulate them in fun ways. Here are some tips how to use them to stimulate language and speech development with your children.
To keep control of the activity you can put the tubes in a transparent box. Then put the box in front of your child and wait to see if they request you to open the box. If they do not yet speak then say the word “open” and point to the box and see if they can approximate by saying “oh” or point to the box. If not, then help them point to the box, say open, and open the box for them. For children who are speaking have them request by saying “open / open the box”, “give me / give me tube” or “I want tube”. You can also hold two tubes in each hand and ask them which color they want. If your child doesn’t talk have them point to the desired tube. If your child speaks wait for them to say “give me yellow tube, I want yellow tube” depending on their level. If they only say “yellow” then model the entire phrase “give me yellow tube” and hand it to them. Once again we want them to learn to say the color + the noun and not get into the habit of asking for colors only.
Have your child hold one end of the tube while you hold the other. Say “1,2,3” with exaggerated affect and pause until they makes eye contact then say “pull” and pull the tube a little bit. If your child doesn’t make eye contact, then pull the tube a little bit so they understand what the tube does to get them engaged. You can also model playing with the tube and show them how exciting it is. Keep pulling the tube and get your child engaged in it until the tube is completely pulled. Then repeat the same activity but now “push” the tube back together.
You can also give your child the control by asking them if they want to push or pull and work on them saying push/pull. You can also push and pull fast or slow and have your child pick which one.
You can connect the tubes together once they are pulled out by pushing them into each other and making a big line. You can pretend it’s a snake or a giant jump rope. Your child can transform the tubes into anything, let your imagination run wild and model new language. For example, you can transform the tubes into shapes and teach your child vocabulary such as circle, square, triangle.
You can use the tubes as accessories. For instance, you can make a tube into a circle and wear it as a hat, necklace or bracelet. You can practice following directions by asking your child to put the circle (hat, necklace, and bracelet) on head, around neck, on hand, on daddy, on mommy, on baby and so on. You can also have your child tell you what to make and where to put it.
Cars are a classic and must have toy. A push and go car is ideal for young infants and toddlers as it is easier to manipulate. Not to mention it is not a choking hazard like those little race cars, which are better suited for older kids. Here are a few tips of how to play with the push and go car to stimulate language and speech.
You can keep control of the car and say “ready set” with exaggerated facial expression and enthusiasm then pause and wait for your child to make eye contact. Once they make eye contact say “go” and push the car toward them and make the sounds beep beep. This will create an expected routine and your child will learn to anticipate your next move and ideally will attempt to say “go” with time.
Have your child push the car back to you by telling them “your turn, push the car.” If your child is unable to do so then someone can sit behind them and help push the car back. Continue taking turns pushing the car back and forth and saying target phrases such as “push car, go car, beep beep, my turn, your turn” to elicit the same language from your child.
You can have the car go fast or slow. If your child is talking then ask them “go fast or slow?” and see if they attempt to say slow or fast. If they say nothing then you can decide for them and say “ok, go fast” and push the car so that it goes very fast or do the opposite for slow. This will help them learn the concepts of slow or fast. You can also give the car to your child and ask them to push the car fast or slow. Keep in mind your child’s language abilities – if they are combining two words then model “car goes fast” You always want to be modeling a level slightly higher so that they will attempt to say as much as they can.
You can use the car in combination with other toys. For instance you can use the stacking blocks and have your child push the car into the blocks and model “boom, crash, uh oh, fall down” for younger children. You can use the car with baby dolls and sit the baby doll into the car and model “push baby, go baby, baby goes fast/slow, baby is driving” and much more.
A baby set is a great toy to have for both boys and girls as it lets them learn new play routines and expand their language skills and imagination. Here are a few tips of things to do with baby sets.
Have all the baby items and baby in a clear transparent box. Put the box in front of your child and wait for them to request to open the box or an item. They can request by pointing, signing or verbalizing. Once they do so then hand them the desired item.
Model appropriate play – feed the baby, dress the baby, clean the baby, take baby for a walk in the stroller, change the baby’s diaper, put the baby to sleep, give baby a kiss, and hug baby. Talk about the different items. For example, if you are playing feed the baby then you can ask your child what do we need and have them label “bowl, bottle, spoon, food, bib, etc.” and request it from you (e.g. give me bottle, I want spoon, I need water). Remember to talk about the actions by modeling language such as “baby is eating, baby is drinking, and baby is brushing teeth” or “mommy is feeding baby, I am brushing, I am washing baby”. You can ask your child “what is baby doing?” and have them practice using the sentence structurebaby + is + verb-ing (e.g. sleeping, eating, drinking). You can also ask your child “what are you doing?” and have them practice using the sentence structure I am verb-ing (e.g. feeding, brushing, washing).
When cleaning baby you can talk about the different body parts – eyes, nose, mouth, hands, feet, knees, etc. You can work on following directions – “clean baby’s nose, clean baby’s feet, brush baby’s hair” and help your child do the actions if they are unable to.
Come up with the same baby play routine and repeat it. For example, first you feed the baby, then clean baby, dress baby, and put baby to sleep. This will give your child access to the same language over and over, which will allow them to learn the words and practice using the new language in play.
You can put the baby in the stroller and pretend you are going to different places. Have your child decide by asking “where should we go?” You can also help your child decide by giving a choice (e.g. park or store). For example, if you take baby to the park then have baby slide, swing, jump, run, dance, etc. You can pair the baby with a food toy set and pretend you are going grocery shopping with the baby. You can ask your child “what does baby want?” and have your child practice phrases such as “baby wants cookies”,“baby likes milk”, and “baby doesn’t like bananas.”
As always these tips, toys and play schemes can be adapted to any language you use at home. Feel free to comment or email me for more tips regarding any of the toys mentioned in this blog series!
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