Does your child love their farm set or dinosaurs?
Do they refuse to leave the house without their stuffed dog?
Well, it’s time to take advantage of that love and start practicing speech! And don’t worry, your kiddo doesn’t even need to know that’s what you’re doing. They can go on thinking you’re just having a great time playing with their favorite toys.
Here are 5 ways you can work on speech skills with toy animals:
1. Understanding Words
Understanding words is a foundational receptive language skill that kids need to develop before they’ll start talking. If they don’t understand what words mean, they won’t be able use them on their own.
Practicing words throughout their normal routines and activities is one of the best ways to work on this, for two main reasons:
First, it allows for lots of repetition because it’s something you do a lot. And repetition is super important for kids learning to talk.
Second, it helps you focus on functional words. The words that will be most useful when your child starts talking are probably the ones they need to use most often. And those are going to be words related to everyday routines and their favorite toys or activities.
So when you’re your child is playing with their animals, use simple words and phrases to describe what they’re doing.
Things like “Dinosaur… big dinosaur… dinosaur runs… dinosaur says ROARRRR… hungry dinosaur… dinosaur eats… mmmm yummy cookie!”
Notice all the repetition? It may feel funny at first to say the same thing over and over, but it’s a good thing, and your kid won’t mind.
One other thing to keep in mind… To try to use a variety of words. It’s easy to get into a pattern of naming “dinosaur… lion… doggy…” especially when kids keep switching back and forth with what they’re playing with.
But it’s really important to focus on things like action words too. If your kid doesn’t want to focus on just one animal, see if you can create a common theme for what they’re doing, with phrases like “dinosaur eats… lion eats… doggy eats”.
2. Early Developing Sounds
Animals are fantastic for practicing early developing sounds, because those are the sounds a lot of animals make.
Some of the earliest developing sounds are M, N, B, W, K, G (most kids have started developing these between 18 months and 2 years old, although they may not be making them perfectly yet).
Even if they haven’t started making many sounds yet, the early developing ones are usually the best ones to start practicing first.
So pull out the animals, and practice your best sounds like Moooo, Neighhh, Baaa, Woof, oinK, and Grrrr.
Don’t forget to BE SILLY and HAVE FUN.
Yes, the goal is to make the right sound… But it’s going to be a process, and your little one will probably be willing to keep practicing longer if it doesn’t feel like work.
Pro Tip: try to draw extra attention to your face so your kiddo can see what your mouth is doing when you’re making the sounds (silly faces and exaggerated sounds can really with this).
If you practice the names of animals while you play, you can also target on early sounds like P for pig and H for horse.
3. Imaginative Play
Imaginative play is one of the easiest ones to work on, because you really are just playing.
If your kiddo struggles with imaginative play, the best way to teach it is by modeling. In other words, you do the imaginative things you want to see them doing. That way they can see what pretend play looks like and how much fun it is.
Get creative, get silly, and let your inner child have some fun.
Take doggy on an adventure to find hidden treasure…
Turn the blanket into a lake and let the farm animals go swimming…
Put dino into the cardboard box (I mean rocket ship), and travel around the universe…
Start a conversation between lion and his new best friend zebra. Make them talk about their favorite ice cream flavor and what they want to do at the park.
If your kiddo isn’t using any imaginative play on their own yet, you’ll want to start by incorporating simpler things into what they’re already doing, like pretending the blanket is water or the couch is a bed.
When they’re ready to practice more advanced pretend play, start including the longer, more complex scenes and adventures.
You know your child best, so don’t be afraid to try something and adjust based on what they’re most engaged with.
4. Following Directions
Following directions is another important prerequisite to using words to communicate. It’s also a skill that continues to develop and become more advanced long after your child is talking.
However, it can be a little trickier to practice. As you may have noticed… kids don’t always like to do what they’re told.
But if you incorporate simple directions into activities they’re already doing, you can probably create some opportunities to follow instructions without your child realizing that’s what you’re doing.
So as you’re playing, look for chances to guide what they’re doing, like “get the cow”, or “put cow in the barn”.
If your kiddo is working on more advanced skills or just isn’t in the mood to listen, you can try using the animals for a Simon Says style game.
Have an animal be “Simon” and let it give the directions. Horse says ‘say mooo’… Horse says ‘jump!’ … Horse says ‘spin!’ … Horse says ‘get doggy’… Horse says ‘put doggy under the table’…”
You’ll want to adjust the complexity of your instructions based on your child’s comprehension level, but you have lots of possibilities this way. You can also practice a lot more directions in a short time with this type of game.
5. Using Phrases
Once your child starts using single words, you’ll want to practice putting words together to make short phrases.
One of the best ways to do this is with a technique called Expansion. And it’s pretty easy. When your child says something, repeat what they said and add 1-2 words.
So if they say “moo”, you could say “Cow says moo”.
If they say “lion”, you could say… “Lion roarrrrs”, “Lion runs”, “Nice lion”, “Scary lion”.
If they say “dog”, you could say… “It’s a dog!”, “Doggy plays”, “Big dog”, “Brown dog”, “Dog eats”, “Pet the dog”… You get the idea.
Just 1 or 2 more words. Nice and simple.
This technique is very low pressure for your kiddo (since you’re not asking them to do anything), but it’s very functional and lets them hear what they could say at a level just slightly more advanced than what they’re already doing.
These are just a few of the possibilities for how to use toy animals for therapy. Let’s keep the list going!
Have you used animals to practice speech? What did you work on? Let me know in the comments!
