Speech Therapy Toys For Toddlers
Play is crucial for toddlers between the ages of 1-3 years old who are learning to talk.
Many parents come to us looking for activities to help their child with speech development. And lots of Toddler Talk Moms ask about which toys they should buy to help with speech development.
Here is a list of our favorite speech therapy toys for toddlers.
If I could only have 10 toys in my house, these are it! These are 10 the toys that a child grows with and you can get a ton of use out of. Not only will these toys will last through years of wear and tear, but as your child grows, their play will evolve to use these toys in new ways.
I have every one of these toys in our house, and have given many of them as gifts--and later told they were some of the child’s favorites.
Quick note: I don’t believe that there are “gender-specific toys”. All the kids can (and should) play with all the things! Let’s jump into my list!
Speech Therapy Toys For Toddlers List - Keep reading for ideas about how to play with each!
Little People bus and a few characters
Dump truck/trash truck
Tupperware or pots/pans
Ball tower or car racer
Mouthable animals or dinosaurs
Baby doll
Water table
Shopping cart
Book (s)
Post-it notes
*Bonus Toy - Blocks
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1. Little People School Bus, with a few characters:
Young toddlers go through a phase of playing with containers like it’s the best thing EVER.
We call this “container play” or “fill and dump play” stage--you’ve seen it--they fill up a bucket with random items, dump it out, and fill it back up again. Over and over and over.
Fisher Price Little People are one of my all time favorite kid toy brands! Their school bus is large enough for great container play! Fill it up with the Little People characters/animals, or more likely at first with random other items around the house. Dump it out and fill it again, so fun! Later, this bus can be used as an actual pretend-play bus to drive characters around. I’ve also seen quite a few kids sit on the bus and scoot around- so not what it was made for, but points for creativity!
2. Dump truck or Trash Truck
To start, it’s great for container play again. Filling up that truck, dumping it out, it’s a blast! As they get older, it will transition to purposeful pretending that it’s the truck. The truck can go on adventures to collect items and drive them to another location. It can be used as a great hide-and-seek spot for other toys. Children love what they see in daily lives, and many children enjoy watching real life construction trucks or trash trucks, and pulling that love into play is ideal.
3. Tupperware or pots/pans
Literally the cheapest “toy” you can have at home-that does everything! Tupperware boxes or pots/pans can be used for container play, for silly dress up, for sorting/organizing, for building a block tower, for musical instruments and for kitchen play. As instruments, you can use these as drums when placed upside-down, or fill with some uncooked beans or rice or lentils and make shakers out of them. Our tupperware “shaker” was made for storing to-go salad dressing-- we filled it with a few beans, glued the lid on tight for safety, and it has been used as a shaker from age 1-4! You can also use these containers for sensory bins, which have a million uses!
4. Ball tower or car ramp racer
A ball tower or car ramp racer have the same function--teaching the idea of cause and effect. Cause and effect toys are ones in which you do something--and something happens. In this case, you push down a ball or a car, and it zooms through the tower or racer. It seems simple to adults but is a crucial learning stage for toddlers and the repetitive play lasts a long time! It is also a great way to learn how to use their body, learning to push hard to make that ball fit into the hole! As they get older, the kids can get creative using tools to activate the toy--a hammer, a mallet, a book, a stick etc. You can also use the balls or cars for play outside of the tower or racer for expanded play.
5. Mouthable animals or dinosaurs
As much as us parents hate the germs our kids get from mouthing objects, let alone the droolfest mess that ensues, it is a very important learning stage. Our mouths have a LOT of sensory input receptors, meaning that we learn a lot from our mouths. This is why kids mouth things, to learn about the world! And this learning helps with feeding and with speech production, as their brain is activated by all of these feelings and movements. If you are nervous about your child mouthing things, try to find a set of something that you feel safe with them orally exploring, such as a set of animals or dinosaurs that aren’t a choking hazard. Do you know the toilet paper roll trick? Try to slide the toy through a toilet paper roll, if it doesn’t slide through a toilet paper roll, then it’s not considered a choking hazard. These animals or dinosaurs can then later be used in pretend play, or as bath toys!
6. Baby doll
I firmly believe that all kids should have at least one baby doll toy. Learning and expanding pretend play actions is so so important in the world of play. And acting out caring for a baby is often a first step--feeding the baby, patting it, giving it hugs. Then over time those play actions can expand to caring for the baby, taking it for walks, having a picnic, acting out going to school, giving it a checkup, using it as a construction worker to build a hotel--you name it, and the baby doll can act it out!
If your family is welcoming a new baby, make sure you get a baby doll or two beforehand! This is a wonderful way for your toddler or preschooler to act out what the new baby will do and to act out what they see you doing after baby arrives--this helps them process a new part of their lives. My 3 year old has taken to going on walks with her baby doll in her stroller and even trying to breastfeed her baby doll like she sees me doing. It is her way of processing what she sees in our new everyday life. It also gives her a way to feel involved.
7. Water table
A water table is an amazing way to give kids some sensory experiences, to practice some body awareness, to learn about fine motor skills like pouring/dumping and even to distract and “reset” from a bad day. A water table can be something purchased, or as simple as a large plastic bin on the ground or set on a patio table. For young toddlers, they may just splash in the water, maybe using bath toys, bubble bath soap, or tupperware bins and spoons. As they get older, I like to offer a combination of some small manipulative toys (animals, dinosaurs, bugs, plastic plants etc), materials (rocks, gravel, plants, flowers) and tools (spoons, scoops, bucket, paintbrush) when we use our water table. We vary it frequently as what we have in it gets boring. You can also fill the water table with other sensory items (sand, rocks, uncooked or even cooked pasta, rice etc) for more variety. As your child gets older, a water table is a great way to practice independence as they creatively interact with what’s in the water table, for longer periods of time by themselves. Water is magic for many kids, and it is so easy to set up! It can be a lifesaver on a bad day, create an opportunity to play with/in water… and I almost promise your day will turn around!
8. Shopping cart
A sturdy shopping cart toy is so fun and useful! It can be used as a push-toy for younger toddlers as they are learning to walk. As they get older, it becomes a great way to do container play. And as they continue to grow, think pretend play shopping trips! At first just putting items in the cart and walking around, then later asking for a shopping list to fill up the cart, then later adding in extra characters of store clerks using “money” to buy things. I highly recommend a sturdier one to extend it’s play life!
9. Book (s)
I could tell you a million reasons why I love books, and a million ways to play with them. And I can’t imagine any Top 10 Lists without them! Of course reading the actual words is good, but so is using the book pictures as a backdrop for pretend play. So is acting out what you see happening in the books. And for younger kids, interacting with the book pictures as characters, giving them high-fives, kisses, tickles, or feeding them food. You can also use books for silly play, things like balancing them then dropping off your head, (exaggerate your reaction and the kids will think it’s sooo funny!) or as “bowling pins” to knock down.
10. Post-it Notes
Yes, post it notes for play. Trust me, I promise! Post it notes can transform into anything!! For little ones, it’s fun to just pull them off of a paper, or the floor or up high on the wall where they really have to reach to get them. Use them to play peek-a-boo by putting them on a mirror to cover up your face or toddler’s face, then when they pull them off to call “peek-a-boo!” They can be used to go on a scavenger hunt around the house, or on the ground as stepping/jumping stones for older kids. You can draw on them to make “food” for dolls or animals or play a memory-matching game if you make duplicates. I literally keep post it notes in my purse or diaper bag because there’s nothing easier to pull out when waiting at the doctor’s office or restaurant.
If you’re looking for toys that help toddlers talk, or a new toy for an upcoming birthday or holiday, I highly suggest these Top 10!! Have fun!
Bonus!!
11. Blocks
Blocks are one of those toys that help toddlers talk and your little one can enjoy for years and years. Early on you have fun stacking them up and watching your toddler knock them over. You can build towers, houses, fences, and roads with your blocks. Following your child’s imagination, you can pretend your blocks are food, cars, cell phones, or money; you can pretend your blocks are just about anything!
I wanted to include a video where I talk about some of the ways I use blocks in speech therapy to help toddlers learn to talk!
Here are some other common questions parents have asked about toys
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The great thing about play is that any toy can encourage language development! It’s less about what toy you have and more about how you play with it.
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You can encourage your toddler to talk by creating a reason for them to talk. Often this also means pausing to create an opportunity for them to say something new. It can be hard at first, but waiting a few seconds to give them a chance to fill the silence can be a really powerful speech therapy strategy to encourage your little one to talk.
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I’ve got good news; any toy can help kids learn to talk! Kids will learn to talk when they are playing with other people. You don’t need to buy new or special toys. Talking to your child as you play with the things they are interested in will help them learn to talk.
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If your 2 year old is in speech therapy, the best thing you can do to help them learn new communication skills is to play together at home. Practicing speech therapy at home for just 15 minutes a day can increase the amount of practice your 2 year old is getting significantly! And the more fun practice you have together, the faster your little one will learn new skills!
Written By:
Melissa Sartori, MS, CCC-SLP
© 2020-2023. Stephanie Keffer, MS CCC-SLP. All Rights Reserved.
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