5 Toys to Increase Communication This Summer
Summer break is here! We cannot believe that we are already through another school year. Summertime is the break we all need but we’ve seen how this can be a tricky time for parents to keep consistently working on speech and language skills at home. Between vacations, summer camps, reunions and holidays, our kids get off their routines which means the skills we are working on in therapy may get a little less attention.
We all need breaks! This happens, especially over the summer. Here’s the great thing about working on speech and language skills at home: it doesn’t have to be sit down at the table work. As therapists, it’s part of our job to ensure that the skills we are working on in therapy can be easily incorporated into play or functional daily situations. This is a great way to encourage generalization of skills outside of the therapy room and get your child to use those skills in a variety of different settings.
If you happen to be wondering what easy summer toys you could invest in to help encourage your child’s speech and language skills this summer, we’ve got you covered! Read on for simple ways to increase communication this summer with summer staples you can find just about anywhere.
First up - bubbles! Bubbles are so versatile. Use them to work on modeling first words and core vocabulary such as “more, go, up”, and expanding language in late talkers. For example – if your child says “bubbles,” add on one word to increase their utterance length such as “pop bubbles!” Work on encouraging your child to initiate communication by blowing and popping bubbles, then close and hand them the bubble tube or give them a pause before automatically blowing more. Look at what they do when they are given a pause. Do they point or gesture? Do they use a sound or word to request for more? Take whatever communication they give and affirm it by repeating back to them, then expand on their language by saying “more,” or “more bubbles.”
Is your child an AAC user? Model those core vocab words over and over while engaging in play. Core vocab words like “more, go, up, down” are great and can often be found on the home page of different programs.
If your child is a gestalt language processor – model different gestalts during play! Phrases like “I like bubbles, this is fun, let’s do more” are great.
Model verbs during play and have your child imitate different actions to pop the bubbles! Pop, stomp, and jump are some fun ones to model.
Model and practice using early developing sounds while playing with bubbles. Words and phrases such as “pop, bubbles, my turn, more” are great ways to get a lot of natural practice with those early bilabial sounds.
Buckets are another versatile toy that can give you lots of opportunities for speech and language practice. First words and core vocabulary like “in, out” are so easy to model with buckets. If your child will imitate “in” or “out,” increase their phrase length by using phrases like “put in, take out,” etc. Go on a “nature hunt” and model describing different items that your child chooses to put in their bucket. For articulation kiddos who are working on specific speech sounds, use this as an opportunity to practice any sounds that might be in items they find on a walk. If you are a planner, you could even print and hide simple pictures inside or outside that have their sound for a scavenger hunt. Have them find their pictures and practice while they collect in their bucket!
Sidewalk chalk is truly one of the greatest spring/summer toys. This is an easy opportunity to practice counting and labeling colors. To work on requesting or initiating communication, have some chalk put in a box or container with a lid that is difficult to open to encourage requesting for help or communicating to open. If your child is working on specific sounds, draw pictures that start with that sound for some good practice! If your child uses a device for communication, model verbs like “draw, color,” or use exclamations like “wow,” or “awesome” to practice using language for different functions beyond labeling and requesting.
A ball - the easiest way to target lots of early vocabulary! “Go, up, down, my/your turn, stop” are great to address along with some functional verbs. You can talk about rolling, hitting, kicking, or throwing the ball. After they pass to you, (you guessed it) wait and hold onto it for a minute to see if they initiate wanting a turn. For speech sounds, pick one short word to model/practice for every pass.
Okay we said it before, but we really mean it this time. One of the easiest “toys” you can use this summer to incorporate and use speech/language skills through play? Water! Add water to any activity for a new twist and opportunities for language. Water is a great way to model some basic descriptive or spatial concepts like pouring water in and dumping water out of a bucket or use a water blaster to shoot water up and down. Fill a big bin with water and let them scoop out toys with buckets or plastic spoons while you describe what they are doing and label toys. Use toys that have their speech sounds in them for extra practice! You could even make your own big puddle outside to model and label actions like “splash, jump, stomp, run,” as they are playing in the water (we are all about the easy!)
The bottom line? There are so many ways you can model and incorporate good language strategies and speech sound practice by creating natural opportunities through some fun summer play. Stuck on how to make this work for your child? Ask your therapist for specific ideas this summer - we’re here to help!
