Toys for Toddlers Learning their First Words

Speech therapy is helpful for late talkers who need support to develop their first words. Let's choose toys that will be the most helpful to elicit language.

Note: This post is about the first-word development for Analytic Language Processors. We also talk a lot about Gestalt Language Processors on our blog and recommend reading this post for more information on GLP language development. 

Kids who babble and coo and then eventually start saying their first words are called Analytic Language Processors. When a child isn't developing expressive language as quickly as we might expect and so not meeting language milestones, they may be considered a late talker. A late talker is a child who is developing in all other areas (e.g., motor, cognitive, receptive language) as expected, but not meeting expressive language milestones. A child is considered a late talker if they are about 18 months old and producing less than 30 words. By 24 months, a child should have about 50 words and start to combine those words into short phrases. Read this post to learn what counts as a word.

Speech therapy can be very helpful for late talkers who need support to develop their first words.

Play can happen anywhere and with any materials, but choosing the right toys can be helpful to lead to fruitful speech therapy and language-enriching interactions. Here are the four toys we, as speech therapists recommend to support early language development:

This farm cube has multiple different ways you can play with it! Some doors open to reveal farm animals, shape blocks to short into their respective slot, moveable features and the bottom has a plastic opening to reach in and take out materials that are inside the cube.

The book pictured here is Where is Baby's Belly Button, a favorite in speech therapy sessions. Lift-the-flap books provide exposure to cause and effect and object permanence and can be very engaging for young children.

Stacking blocks like the ones pictured or nesting cups can lead to so many different types of play and activities. Objects can be hidden underneath them, the blocks can be stacked and knocked down, and the process of problem-solving how to put them back inside each other is also quite fun.

There are so many mini-boxes out there! The ones pictured are the Learning Resources Peekaboo Learning Farm.

What do all these toys have in common?! 

In addition to being engaging and fun, these toys are developmentally appropriate for young children, lead to lots of repetition, and allow common first words to be modeled seamlessly. 

Meaningful repetition is so important -

When learning first words, meaningful repetition of a word can be a great strategy to support a child in learning and using a new word. A speech therapist would likely plan the target words for a session with a late-talker and choose materials that would allow them to model those words. Here are some examples using the toys above.

Farm Activity Center:

Target Words: open, bye-bye, hi, cow, moo, chicken, bok bok, sheep, baa, pig, oink, stuck, shake, in, boom, more

Check out our Reel on how to use this toy to target first words

Lift the Flap Books:

Target Words: open, hi, bye-bye, baby, toes, nose, belly, eyes, more, all done

Check out our Reel on how to read lift-the-flap books with young children

Stacking Blocks or Nesting Cups:

Target Words: up, in, big, oh no, boom, down, bang, uh oh, bye-bye, hi, help

Check out our Reel on how to use stacking blocks or nesting cups with young children

Mini Boxes:

Target Words: in, more, bye-bye, hi, animals, animal sounds, shake, open, help

Toys don't have to be store-bought to be fun! Check out this Reel on making a DIY toy that can be just as engaging.

This might be the most important thing to note -

The most important part of enriching play will always be an adult's engagement. These toys are fun on their own, but what might lead to a few minutes of exploring the toy on their own could be a 15-minute activity full of intentionally modeled language if an adult joins a child in play. 

We love play-based learning at Speech Language Play NYC! If you think your child might be a late talker and would benefit from speech therapy, don't hesitate to reach out to us. An initial consultation is free!