If you’re looking for last-minute gift ideas for a young child in your life, you may want to consider some basic items that can help encourage their speech and language skills. Many of these gifts are low-to-no-cost, but they offer rich learning opportunities, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
“We asked ASHA member speech-language pathologists who work with children ages birth to 5 years for the toys they recommend to families,” said Tena McNamara, AuD, CCC-A/SLP, 2024 ASHA President. “The tried-and-true classics, such as books, blocks, and baby dolls, still prevail when it comes to children’s communication development.”
Toy Recommendations
These toys rank among the top recommendations provided by speech-language pathologists:
- indestructible board books
- toy food and utensils (plates, cups, spoons, forks, knives, pan)
- toy picnic basket with slots for different shapes
- pretend tea set
- baby doll and accessories (e.g., blanket, bottle, cup, spoon)
- miniature figures and accessories (e.g., car/train, miniature beds)
- a small doll house
- puppets
- barn and farm animals
- doctor or tool kit
- stacking blocks
- puzzles
- a shape sorter that opens and closes
- pop-up toys
- pretend cash register
- magnetic drawing board
- crayons and sidewalk chalk
- bubbles
- basic paint set with brushes and various paint colors
- small cans of Play-Doh® and accessories (e.g., cookie cutters)
When buying toys for young children, ASHA notes that families should pay attention to the age(s) specified by the manufacturer on the packaging related to the prevention of choking and other safety concerns.
Why These Toys?
The toys on the list above offer numerous benefits. They all can help a child learn and practice new words, build conversation and social skills, and support pretend play and imagination. Many toys, such as pop-up ones or bubbles, can teach cause and effect. And others, such as a paint set, let children practice sequencing—which is breaking down the activity into individual steps and then putting those steps into a logical order (e.g., choose paint, brush on paper, dip brush in water, and repeat).
Children get the most benefit when they use toys with adult loved ones. Lynn Viani Sudak, CCC-SLP, a New York-based speech-language pathologist, provides some recommendations for parents and loved ones when interacting with their child: “Rather than asking a question, make a comment about what’s happening as you play (i.e., label your actions and your child’s actions).” She also encourages parents to scaffold their language as they play together by building on the child’s communication attempts: If a child is at the single-word stage (e.g., “car”), use two- or three-word utterances while responding (“yes, blue car.”)
If a child is learning more than one language, ASHA encourages families to consider giving them books and toys in their languages. These products can support children’s multilingual communication skills (see Learning More Than One Language from ASHA).
Everyday Household Items Can Be Even Better
Many experts say no-cost items that are already in your home are just as good—if not better—than any toy you can buy. “I just left the house of a 3.5-year-old who is very into pretend play,” said Jessica Hawkins, CCC-SLP, a speech-language pathologist who works in early intervention in Maryland. “He and his brother created a homemade grocery store with recycled boxes, bags, hand-drawn signs, and a checkout. That was amazing for building language and pre-academic skills all at once! Use your delivery boxes and grocery boxes—and have your child build their store.”
Jennifer Adams Oppenheimer, CCC-SLP, a California-based speech-language pathologist, concurs. “In my experience, the best toys for children under age 5 are NOT toys—at least not in the conventional way we think of them. Children tend to gravitate towards open-ended materials: things like empty boxes, metal spoons, mixing bowls, and measuring cups. These types of materials support the way that children learn—through exploration and experimentation. Open-ended materials can be used in an endless number of ways.”
And Barbara Weber, CCC-SLP, a speech-language pathologist who works in private practice in Pennsylvania, provides these additional suggestions for household items that can be used as toys:
- Empty tissue boxes for oversized blocks for building—these can help with prepositions (e.g., “put on”), pretend play, and turn-taking.
- Junk mail for playing ‘mail carrier’—you can even put letters into a homemade mailbox. This also helps with learning prepositions, numbers, and sequencing when “mailing” letters.
- Sale flyers for “reading” together to learn new vocabulary. You can use takeout menus to pretend to pick meal items for lunch, talk about the foods you see, and point to them.
Adams Oppenheimer recommends that families broaden their thinking about what constitutes a toy. “Instead of feeling frustrated that a child is always getting into the cupboard with the pots, I encourage caregivers to find a set of pots at a thrift store and give this second set to their child to play with. Using household materials as toys not only can lead to better developmental outcomes for children, but they have other benefits, as well:
- They are already found in most homes, so they are inexpensive.
- They can be repurposed from materials that likely would be thrown away, so using them as play materials can be environmentally friendly.
- They are often interesting to kids for longer periods of time as they get older, which leads to wanting and needing fewer toys in your home to store, organize, and maintain.
However, she points to the danger of choking hazards from small parts in household items. “If a parent is unsure if an item is too small, a quick and inexpensive way to check is to put the item in an empty toilet paper tube. If the item fits in the tube, it’s too small to give to your child.”
For more information about children’s communication development, visit www.asha.org/public/developmental-milestones/.