Top Christmas Toys and Games to Boost Speech, Language and Communication

The festive season is here, and every child and young person might have ideas for their Christmas list!

Christmas doesn’t have to be all about expensive, digital games or electronics to have lots of fun together! There are also lots of ways you can create communication opportunities over the festive period through simple toys, books, and games.

Lots of toys, books and games will last for months and years to come – and don’t get old! Here’s a few Christmas gift list ideas from our Liverpool Speech Therapy gift list:

For toddlers and young children:

• Click clack track toy – this is great for early turn taking, attention, and ‘ready steady go’ games

• Spinning cogs – this is great for developing attention skills and anticipation! You can use core words, such as: ‘more’ ‘Do it again’ ‘oh wow’ ‘I need help’ ‘It’s my turn’ ‘I like it’

• Books with sound effects – learning to make pretend noises like animals, cars etc is a great step towards real words

• Books e.g. ‘Where’s Spot?’ ‘Dear Zoo’ ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ – the rhythm and rhyme of books help children to develop phonological (sound) awareness skills which is a great foundation to learning to talk.

• Ocean drum – musical instruments are great for developing language e.g. ‘go’ ‘stop’ ‘loud’ ‘quiet’ as well as having fun with rhythm and exploring new sounds together

For primary aged children:

• Pop up pirate – games like this are great for developing turn taking and coping with winning and not winning! If your child has speech sound work to do, you can play this game together by saying the sound/word x5 before taking a sword for your turn – it’s motivating and fun too!

• Books – story books such as ‘The Smartest Giant in Town’ and ‘Monkey Puzzle’ are great story books providing rhythm, rhyme, and vocabulary. You can also prompt questions such as, ‘what do you think happens next?’ or ‘how do they feel?’ ‘what will they do?’ to help develop your child’s critical thinking skills

Pop up pirate game. Available at all major retailers.

For tweens and teens:

• Jenga – games like this are great for taking turns each time you ask or answer a question or give an idea

• Articulate (kids) – this game promotes language learning (developing vocabulary and categories). Top tip: you don’t have to use the 30second timer if your teenager needs more thinking time

• 5 second rule game – this game is based on naming (words/descriptions) and is therefore good for vocabulary learning and categorisation

• Fidget toys – many of our teens enjoy fidget toys to support their listening and engagement. Items such as ‘nee-doh’ ‘tangle toy’ or ‘fidget cubes’

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

From all of us at Liverpool Speech Therapy