In Part 1 of our series, we provided several of our favorite toys for toddlers in speech therapy. Today, our team of SLPs at Discover Speech Therapy put together a list of our favorite toys for preschoolers in speech therapy. These would be great gift ideas for Christmas or any time of the year!
1. Educational/language-based puzzles, or matching games:
There is a variety of these on the market today. The best ones for preschoolers in speech therapy would be those puzzles that target rhyming, vocabulary, opposites, classifying, and beginning sounds.
Here’s an example from Amazon:
2. Imaginative playsets
Tea sets, play kitchens, veterinarian sets, or doctor sets. These play sets are great for imaginative play, which fosters language development. By playing with your child, you can model new vocabulary, and build your child’s imagination by asking questions while you play.
3. Dress up clothes
Dress up clothes also foster your child’s language development by encouraging pretend play.
4. Sensory/art activities
Glitter slime, homemade playdough, scented kinetic sand, and sensory boxes are great ways to add sensory information during play. If you make something at home, you can target sequencing, and following directions too!
5. Books
Building pre-literacy skills during the preschool years is so important to help your child get a head start on reading. Books with rhyming words are great. You can also build expressive language skills by talking about what’s on the page instead of always reading each word in a book. Try to predict what will happen next when reading a book together. The possibilities are endless, but encouraging your child to develop a love of books is so important when learning to read!