Engage Through Play
Engaging with your child through carefully selected games and toys can significantly enhance their speech and language development.
By incorporating interactive play into daily routines, parents and caregivers can create a rich learning environment that promotes clear communication, expands vocabulary, and builds essential language skills.
It’s important to refresh the selection of educational toys and activities periodically to maintain your child’s interest and introduce new linguistic challenges.
Age 2 and Up
At this stage, play is about exploring sounds, words, and simple sentences through imaginative and sensory play. Toys that encourage mimicry and interaction foster foundational language skills.
Example Toys/Games:
- Animal Sound Puzzles: Enhances vocabulary with animal names and sounds.
- Simple Board Books: Encourages pointing, naming, and simple phrase formation.
- Bubble Blower: Promotes use of words like “pop,” “more,” and “big” during playful interaction.
- Building Blocks: Facilitates early word construction and prepositions while stacking.
- Role-Play Toys (e.g., Toy Phones): Encourages imitative play and simple conversational skills.
Age 3 and Up
Children refine their understanding of language rules and expand their vocabulary through interactive and role-playing games, fostering narrative skills and complex sentence formation.
Example Toys/Games:
- Memory Games: Boosts vocabulary and memory through matching activities.
- Simple Puzzles: Encourages problem-solving language and descriptive terms.
- Pretend Play Sets (e.g., Kitchen Sets): Supports role-play and sequencing (first, next, last).
- Rhyming and Sing-Along Books: Enhances phonological awareness and rhythm.
- Magnetic Letters and Boards: Promotes letter recognition and simple word formation.
Age 5 and Up
At this age, children benefit from games that challenge their language use in social contexts and support literacy, such as storytelling, reading, and following complex instructions.
Example Toys/Games:
- “Guess Who?”: Encourages descriptive language and question formation.
- Story Cubes: Aids in creative storytelling and narrative coherence.
- Simple Card Games (e.g., “Go Fish”): Practices turn-taking and specific language requests.
- Chalk and Blackboard: Encourages writing and drawing as forms of expression.
- Interactive Reading Apps: Supports reading comprehension and vocabulary development.
Age 7 and Up
Children at this age refine their critical thinking and problem-solving skills through complex games, enhancing their ability to use and understand sophisticated language and abstract concepts.
Example Toys/Games:
- “Uno”: Reinforces strategic thinking and specific language use.
- Board Games (e.g., “Pictionary”): Encourages expressive language and quick thinking.
- Science Kits: Promotes the use of technical vocabulary and explanatory language.
- Creative Writing Sets: Supports narrative skills, grammar, and vocabulary expansion.
- Strategy-Based Video Games: Can enhance problem-solving language and teamwork.
Age 10 and Up
For older children, focusing on advanced language use, abstract thinking, and social language skills becomes crucial. Games and activities that require strategy, in-depth conversation, and complex rule-following are beneficial.
Example Toys/Games:
- Complex Board Games (e.g., “Settlers of Catan”): Develops advanced strategic language and negotiation skills.
- Debate Cards: Encourages articulation of opinions and persuasive language.
- Creative Writing Prompts: Enhances detailed storytelling and complex sentence structure.
- “Scrabble” or “Bananagrams”: Expands vocabulary and spelling skills in a competitive format.
- Role-Playing Games (e.g., Dungeons & Dragons): Supports imaginative storytelling, character development, and group communication.
Explore More at ASHA
Reach more about activities to encourage speech language development from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.