Lamaze Play and Grow Logan the Lion’s big eyed face attracts newborns and invites conversation. His ribboned mane, different textures, slippery ribbons, shiny nose, fuzzy cheeks, bumpy rings, smooth tummy, star with ridges and bumps, and crinkly feet provide lots of textures to talk about. With a head as a rattle, crinkly feet, and clanging rings, this zoo attraction will stimulate the senses with its sounds. Check out the contrasting patterns and colors to draw attention to this friend and provide lots to describe.
Manhattan Toy’s Put and Peek Birdhouse is a favorite of mine. What child wouldn’t like a portable playhouse for birds with a handle for safe travel? The many openings to put birds through, in, out, and doors to open and shut, provide the language of position and prepositions. Each little bird is distinct and can be described by its contrasting colors, size and shape. Little hands can easily grip these birds to start the fun.
Alex Jr. Round the Farm is a friendly four-sided ball with plenty of plush for a toddler’s grip. Each side sports the face of a different animal–cat, frog, pig and dog. Four faces combine contrasting patterns, textures and colors to entertain baby and invite exploration. Fuzzy protrusions, for ears, tails, or feet, are easy to grab to rotate the ball to meet a new barnyard friend. A little squeeze on the ear brings on a ribbit, meow, oink or woof, corresponding to the animal’s face. Babies love a squishy ball that they can easily grab, roll or manipulate to hear sounds, feel textures, see faces, or stick their finger in a fuzzy hole. An inherent preference for faces drives baby’s curiosity to explore, and eventually “speak” to a face on this delightful ball of fun.
Baby Cakes is a wonderfully rhythmic, bouncy tale about ones love for their baby, as a toddler expresses his love for his teddy bear. Providing plenty of opportunity to add gestures to the story, this book encourages bouncing on the lap, clapping, playing peek-a-boo, laughing, singing and hugging.
Taggies Big Soft Blocks are for grabbing, turning, tasting and exploring. From a shiny sunshine to a woolly sheep, each object combines a variety of shapes, textures and colors to invite a child to play. Plastic rings allow one to clip them together so they can tag along on a trip or a diaper bag.
Manhattan Toy Dress Up Princess is ready to play pretend beginning at 18 months. Practice with the buttons, snaps, zippers and ties or leave the dress up for later and have a pretend picnic, outing or school lesson with this new pal.
If you follow my blog you know that I contantly talk about having little people available for your child’s pretend play.
Once again, I visited a home of boys where the train set was devoid of people. This well-meaning mom of two boys had a variety to stimulating toys around. When I asked her, “Where are the people for the train set?” she opened the drawer below the track and there they were. I said, “Let them out of the drawer!”
Wooden train sets are common toys for boys, whether they are Thomas the Train or some variation of it. They provide a lot of fun for kids but don’t always encourage a lot of talking, especially if there are no people to have little conversations, buy tickets, build or repair the railroad or work in the forest.
So if you have a train set, check for the people, or else you might have a quiet play time.
Last week I was contacted by News 12 Connecticut to be interviewed on my thoughts about the latest study to come out finding that with each additional hour of TV that infants and toddlers watched, they verbalized less and engaged in fewer conversations with adults–creating an environment detrimental to language development.
I was happy to share my thoughts. The results made sense to me–how many adults or children for that matter, engage in a lot of conversation while watching TV? The problem is that language is learned through engaging with live speakers and is delivered in a social setting. We learn from how people talk as well as what they say.
I enjoyed the experience with host, Gillian Neff, who was very professional and well-prepared on the subject.
If you are interested in viewing the interview it will be airing Saturday and Sunday, June 13 and 14 at the following times:
Saturday: 6:30, 10:00, 1:30, and 5:30
Sunday: 6:30, 10:00, 12:30, 4:00, and 10:30.
Don’t we all want to get the most out of our therapy sessions while having fun?? I find it challenging to find fun activities that don’t monopolize the session, but leave room for plenty of responses by the child. Therefore, games that have quick uncomplicated turns are best.
Lately I have been using puzzles to great advantage with my kids from 2-4 years of age. They provide quick reinforcing turns, and are interesting to the kids. If you pick the right puzzle by ability and interest, the kids can’t wait to give your several attempts at their articulation or language target to get a reinforcing piece. Some of my favorites are:
- Lauri puzzles are made from crepe foam rubber so they are easy to grip and fun to push into the cut-outs. There is a variety of amusing subjects like construction, transportation, nature and castles. With the large assembly piece around the puzzle, and guide beneath, kids can see where the pieces go.
- Melissa and Doug chunky wooden puzzles are winners with preschoolers. I can’t tell you how many kids will attempt to communicate just to get the chunky wooden train or boat cut-out. An advantage of these puzzles is that they become pretend play pieces outside of the puzzle as you stand them up on the table. Duncan made a parade of boats and trains as he said his sounds and collected a puzzle piece. My favorites are “Vehicles” and “Safari.”
- Infantino’s “My First Puzzles” are a first introduction to a multi-piece puzzle. There are 2, 4 and 6 piece puzzles to put together and feel accomplished at completion!
- Frank Schaffer’s “Giant Fire Engine Floor Puzzle“ has 24 jumbo pieces to construct the fire truck which stretches four feet long. Kids hardly know they are practicing their speech and language targets as they’re anxious to receive a piece and make this puzzle.
- Shure’s “Chunky World Magnetic Tow Truck” has thick, easy to grab vehicles with bright engaging pictures on each side. The powerful magnetic tow truck (that even hung on to my clothes dryer!) picks up the cars, trucks, buses and campers to kids’ delight.
When I choose a toy for review, I am often surprised at how kids react to the toy. They show me new dimensions for play or sometimes the lack of exciting potential. They teach me whenever I let them!
I saw the Taggies Rocker by International Playthings at the International Toy Fair in New York City this winter and was drawn in by that adorable giraffe’s goofy smile. I thought it would be fun to ride as well as play with and I was right.
My little toy testers are neighborhood kids, grandchildren and families that I work with. I arrived at the first house with my giraffe and was greeted at the door by the three kids, one, two and-a-half and four years old. They were thrilled to try out my giraffe and wanted to know if he was staying. After a while, Mom had to get out the timer to regulate turns on this popular safari friend. His next stop was at one-year-old Caroline’s to be tried out by her gang of pals. Since the toy is designed for one to three year-olds, it was interesting to see how the different ages related to the giraffe. One-year-olds needed assistance in getting on the animal and loved the ride but also enjoyed exploring the taggies, crinkled ears, and varied patched of texture. Caroline entered the playroom in the morning, pulled herself to a stand, hugged and pet the giraffe and then explored his eyes and cheeks, fascinated with his face. Her two-and-a-half year old pal, Kallie, climbed right up and went for a rockin’ ride.
Don’t we want a toy that has more than one function? This rocker can wear out a toddler in motion or entertain a crawler with the varied sounds, colors, patterns and textures on his plush body.
As speech pathologists, we are always looking for new activities to keep our students engaged and improve their speech and language skills. Sometimes we just need a change of scenery ourselves!
I was reminded of this when we had an uncanny week of summer weather 2 weeks ago. I arrived at a child’s house and he was outside sending matchbox cars down the slide into his plastic pool. Instead of doing our usual routine we just stayed outside and played with the cars, using them as a reinforcement for articulation productions. As the cars got ready to race down the slide, we used it as an opportunity for a language activity as well–predicting who would win, and then naming the first, middle and last cars as they crashed into the water. Somehow I got an entire hour of “work” done on his sounds that usually interest him for a short time.
Preschoolers love the out-of-doors as a backdrop for therapy. I have taken walks and gotten a first word out of a child–”rock” as we pass the same stream and throw rocks in the water. I have used a bale of hay in the backyard (Dad was seeding the lawn) as a home for dinosaurs to talk and move, a slide to send blades of grass and sticks down, a bucket to collect rocks, ants and sticks, all as the child is naming or attempting to name his surroundings.
Parents, keep in mind that the outdoors is a whole new backdrop for vocabulary and interesting things to explore and name.
Last week a mom approached me for my opinion on whether her 2 year 3-month old daughter was on track with her language. I could understand some of what little Charlotte said and she was using 2-3 word sentences. I have seen her play creatively and make her wants and needs known. Mom was asking because Charlotte’s preschool had scheduled a conference to discuss her language. They gave mom a full page chart of when sounds typically developed by age (with check marks next to sounds Charlotte uses) and three “language samples” of what she said, one taken each of the last three months.
Now as a therapist I am thrilled that preschool teachers are tuned into their students’ speech and language development, but this is at one end of the continuum–very detailed and observant of a child’s speech and language skills.
Many parents are choosing preschools right now for next year and are evaluating what is the best fit for their child. Ask the teacher what kind of written feedback you can expect on your child’s activities and learning. Some classes have a note outside the door each day with what activities they did and how the class responded. This gives you a point to start talking to your child about her day and keeps you informed. Other teachers might give you a weekly note, outlining what themes and activities they will be doing. It is always better to know ahead so you can be reinforcing those concepts (talking about spring, buds, flowers etc.) while you child is experiencing it at nursery school.
I am often asked to recommend baby books and admit I am pretty picky as to what I suggest. Here are some of my criteria for a stimulating and enjoyable book to share with your baby into toddlerhood:
- simple subject related to your baby’s experience and world
- lines with lots of rhythm and beat to encourage baby to move
- rhyming lines
- repetition of simple phrases or words that baby hears over and over and can anticipate
- fun vocabulary related to her world, not limited to “easy” words
- simple, bold graphics depicting the subject matter, giving parents lots to describe related to the story
- several beginning concepts embedded in the story form (colors, counting, numbers, prepositions), to carry the story beyond just a baby book into toddlerhood.
Five Little Ducks disappear, one by one, ignoring mom’s call to come back to her Quack! A concise number book of subtraction, interactive touch and feel, rhythmic rhyme and bold graphics leads your baby through the circular cut-outs to reveal remaining ducks and flowers to count. Babies follow the adorable ducks, rocking to the rhythm of the verse, soaking up the rhymes and grabbing the cutouts to turn the pages. Revealing an array of concepts, this baby book takes your little one from her earliest days as a newborn listening to the rhythm of language, through her first year and a half, hearing rhymes, counting ducks and flowers, recognizing numbers, and finishing repeated phrases. This baby book has staying power with plenty of learning for many months.
When Dad was on duty babysitting, it got a little too quiet. He went searching for the boys and found them both next to the bed reading. Older brother, Will, loves books so that is no surprise but little sibling, Ben, hasn’t showed the same attention to the printed word. He was just mimicking his big brother!
How fun to be able to take advantage of this admiration of an older sibling and his love of books! Many parents ask me for books that will hold the interest of siblings in spite of the age difference. Choose books with an interesting storyline, but less print so the younger sibling’s shorter attention span will be accommodated. Also, find books with great illustrations, to keep them both entertained while you read. Reading with lots of expression and engaging the kids as you read, drawing them into the story will keep their attention too.
What books do your kids enjoy that you can read to siblings and they stay seated??! Share your favorites in the comments below.
Ever since companies like Baby Einstein started marketing to parents of babies, claiming that their DVD’s boost brain power, parents and researchers have been discussing what is truth on the subject.
The latest study, appearing in the journal, Pediatrics, was conducted by researchers at the Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. They looked at babies who had viewed TV for about an hour a day for the first 2 years of their life. This is actually less than the average, which is unfortunately two to three hours a day.
This latest research found that children under two who watched around an hour of TV a day were not helped or hurt by the screen time. Once again, contrary to many parents’ contention, screen time doesn’t teach your child and boost his brain power, as many brands would like you to believe. Previous studies have shown that longer periods of time spent watching TV (2-3hours per day), can have detrimental affects on children.
The bottom line is that TV is here to stay and companies continue to market a broad range of programming for young children, many shows of which are high quality. Life is a balance, so be intentional about planning what and how much your young child will watch, keeping in mind that under 2 years of age, this is not “necessary” to help your child learn.
