Speech Therapy Ideas & Toys

	Little People Animal Sounds Farm Concepts: Pretend play, animal sounds, following directions. Our Suggestions: Pretend play is important for the process of language acquisition. It is not structured or goal-oriented and is fun. Parents can “show by example” on how to play. While playing with your child, encourage your child make animal sounds. Have your child pretend the sheep is grazing on grass or taking a nap.  This toy has fun music and animal sounds that encourage your child to talk along.  Your child can learn to follow directions as you tell him/her to "put the sheep next to the chicken", or "Give me the horse."
	Colorforms Dress Up Activity Set Concepts: Pretend play, vocabulary, following directions. Our Suggestions: Pretend play is important for the process of language acquisition. It is not structured or goal-oriented and is fun. Parents can “show by example” on how to play. Have your child pretend the mommy is making dinner, giving the baby a bath or taking a nap.  Have your child pretend daddy is going to work or taking the baby on a walk. Your child can learn to follow directions as you tell him/her to "put the baby in the highchair", or "Give me the mommy."You can encourage talking by having the people “talk” to each other.You can also imitate sounds heard around the house such as water running, food cooking, snoring etc.Label items found in the home to increase vocabulary.
	Cookin' Sounds Kitchen with 15 Accessories Concepts: Pretend play, cooking sounds, vocabulary. Our Suggestions: This toy is durable and will grow with your child. It is a big initial investment but well worth it with all the language development that can be encouraged. Pretend play is important for the process of language acquisition. This skill is so important because children are imitating what they see around them in the adult world, using their imaginations, and using lots of language! They are learning through experience. While playing with your child, encourage your child mimic the cooking sounds (boiling water, water running, bacon frying, and dishes clinking). Use the cordless phone to call grandma and grandpa and practice talking. Put a baby in the attached high chair and work on sounds associated with eating like mmmmm, yummy, gulp.
	Little People A to Z Learning Zoo Concepts: Pretend play, animal sounds, letter sounds, following directions. Our Suggestions: Teaches toddlers the alphabet with 2 modes of play and lots of excitement. Animal Sounds Mode allows toddlers to head out on the Alphabet Trail where they can press any letter to hear the sound that each animal makes. In A-B-C Mode, they are taught the beginning letter of each animal name, the animal's name and the sound that animal makes. They can even press on the music button to hear a fun tune with animal sounds or press on the question mark to answer questions about the animals they meet along the way. Playset includes a tree swing, waterfall, vehicle, food/water barrel, Zookeeper Zach and 26 animals from A to Z - Plus a durable vinyl animal storage bag. Pretend play is important for the process of language acquisition. It is not structured or goal-oriented and is fun. Parents can “show by example” on how to play. While playing with your child, encourage your child make animal sounds. Have your child pretend the lion is grazing on grass or taking a nap.  Your child can learn to follow directions as you tell him/her to "put the lion next to the monkey", or "Give me the zebra."
	Fridge Magnetic Animal Sounds Set Concepts: Animals/sounds recognition, fine motor coordination. Our Suggestions: This toy goes on your refrigerator and the magic reader recognizes which animal was placed inside. Your child will hear the animal sound and then a song. Great toy for first words and if you are trying to make dinner!
	Playdoh Set Concepts: Vocabulary, colors, requesting wants, fine motor. Our Suggestions: This one is a favorite! Children love this -- just make certain your child is not interested in eating the doh! Have your child request items, make choices, and much more. Even the most quiet children seem to become more vocal when the playdoh comes out!
	Learning Drum Concepts: Alphabet, numbers, rhythm, speech sounds. Our Suggestions: Children love to use the drum as they make sounds. This drum counts aloud and says the alphabet as your tap on it. Encourage your child to say different sounds as he/she beats the drum (ie. ba, duh, ta). This drum is a very motivational for children learning to babble and imitate sounds. Children who appear tentative to talk always seem to drop their inhibitions when we get the drum out during therapy.
	Who Loves Baby? Photo Book Concepts: Naming and recognizing family members Our Suggestions: Put pictures of your child and various family members in this book. Ask your child to point to “Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Papa etc.” Ask your child to name who is on each page.
	Melissa and Doug Farm Fuzzy Concepts: Animals, Animal Sounds, Adjectives (furry, soft, fuzzy etc.) Our Suggestions: Practice saying the animals and what they say. Talk about how each piece feels as your child puts it in the spot.
	Large Wooden Farm Jumbo Puzzle Concepts: Animals, Animal Sounds, Choosing Our Suggestions: Help your child match the puzzle piece to the spot. Encourage your child to look for certain puzzle pieces- ex. Find the cow or hold up two pieces and say ‘Pick the Cow”. Practice naming the animals and saying what the animal says.
	Lil' Movers Lead Vehicle – Bus Concepts: Song “Wheels on the Bus”, Vocab (bus, yellow, go, on, off, slow, fast, open, shut) Our Suggestions: Sing “Wheels on the Bus” while you and your child play with the bus. Put the people on the bus and then take them off. Label what the people and bus are doing.
	Baby Farm Friends Bowling Concepts: Animals, Animal sounds, Vocab (up, down, ball, roll, again) Our Suggestions: Have all the animal pins in a bag. Have your child label each animal as you pull it out of the bag and say what the animal says. Have your child tell you to put the pins “up”. Have your child ask for the ball. Label when your child rolls the ball and the pins fall down. Encourage “again”.
	Microphone with Tape Player Concepts: Babbling, imitating, singing, intonation and turn taking. Our Suggestions: Make sounds and words into the microphone and hold it to your child's mouth and let them know if is their turn. Imitate the sounds and words your child says, too.
	Mr. Potato Head Concepts: Receptive language, espressive language, body parts. Our Suggestions: Ask your child to point to their body part while they put the part on the potato. You can also have your child name each body part as they put it on. Lay all of the body parts out and ask the child, "Can you find the ...?" Have a toy idea? Email it to us!
	Baby Doll Concepts: Pretend play. Our Suggestions: Pretend play is important for the process of language acquisition. It is not structured or goal-oriented and is fun. Parents can “show by example” on how to play. While playing with your child, encourage your child to “feed” the baby with a bottle or a spoon. Have your child put the baby to “sleep”. Pick up the baby as if it is “crying”.
	Water Flutes Concepts: Oral motor coordination, blowing/respiration. Our Suggestions: Have your child blow these flutes in the bathtub. These will help with oral-motor control, strength and movement as well as increasing breath support for eating and speech. They come with a fun songbook that is laminated so it can get wet. Now you can teach your child Twinkle Twinkle and the Itsy Bitsy Spider, too.
	Water Drums Concepts: Rhythm and vocalizations. Our Suggestions: This is an all-time favorite that kids love. Encourage them to vocalize ("ba ba ba") as they bang away on the drum during bathtime.
	Stickers for the Tub Concepts: Vocabulary, Expressive, receptive language. Our Suggestions: Learn new words in the bathtub. Line them up, put them in boats, and make a story with all the different words!
	Little People Train Movers Concepts:Pretend play, following directions. Our Suggestions:Pretend play is important for the process of language acquisition. It is not structured or goal-oriented and is fun. Parents can “show by example” on how to play. Have your child pretend the boy is climbing on the train and then being the conductor.  Your child can learn to follow directions as you tell him/her to "put the girl in the station", or "Give me the boy." Have the children “talk” to each other such as “hi/bye”, “would you like to drive the train with me?” etc.
	Mirror (Apraxia) Concepts: Oral motor coordination, imitation. Our Suggestions: Sit with your child in front of the mirror. Have your child try and imitate a variety of “funny faces” in the mirror. For example, give a kiss, smack your lips, stick your tongue out like a snake (pointy), try and touch your nose with your tongue, lick your lips, move your tongue from corner to corner of your mouth, click your tongue etc. All of these help with oral-motor control, strength and movement for eating and speech sound production.
	Bubbles (Apraxia) Concepts: Oral motor coordination, speech. Our Suggestions: Blow bubbles, Have your child ask for “more”, “bubbles”, “more bubbles”, “mine”, “my turn” etc. If your child cannot say the entire word, accept an approximation such as “mo” for “more” or “ba” for “bubbles”. Have your child try and blow the bubbles.
	Animals in the Barn Floor Puzzle Concepts: Animals, Vocabulary, Requesting help Our Suggestions: Help your child match the puzzle pieces together. Encourage your child to look for certain puzzle pieces- ex. a piece with a cow on it. Ask them to help you find the four corners of the puzzle first. Practice naming the animals and the tools you might find in a barn.