Wooden Inset Puzzles

My favorites are the puzzles made by Melissa and Doug. The pictures are nice and bright, and the puzzles are handmade. Some of the puzzles make sounds when you put the pieces in. This can be good if your child needs positive reinforcement to stay on task. When choosing a puzzle you may want to take note of whether or not there are pictures in the bottom. Puzzles with the cut-outs but no pictures to match up with can be more difficult for beginners. Also, try to keep your child's attention span in mind. Melissa and Doug makes puzzles with as few as three pieces, which is great for children who can't sit for long to feel like they were able to complete something from start to finish!

Age Level: Varies depending on which puzzle you choose, but age recommendations are clearly laid out by the manufacturer.

Skills/Talents:
~Vocabulary: This can be addressed on several different levels, depending on where your child is.

• Picture naming: Hold the pieces in your lap and have the child ask for the pieces they want one at a time. 
• Picture Identification: This is a pre-cursor to picture naming. Hold all the pieces in your lap and tell your child "show me the_____" (on the puzzle). When she points to the picture, give her the piece. If your child does not point, take her hand and gently assist her in pointing to the right picture, then give her the piece. 
• Picture Matching: This is a pre-cursor to picture identification. It can only be addressed when there are pictures in the bottom of the puzzle. Hold up a puzzle piece and tell your child, for example, "Here is a cat. Find the other cat.", and help them find the corresponding picture on the puzzle before putting it in. 
• Following simple directions (receptive vocabulary): After all the pieces are in, tell your child, "Please give me the_____." Do this for each piece until they are all put away. 

~Turn-taking: Take turns putting the pieces into the puzzle. This is a great activity for young children who are just learning to take turns, because each turn is very quick (i.e., there is not too much waiting between turns).

~Fine-motor: Wooden puzzles with pegs on the pieces are great for working on your child's pinscer grasp.

~Staying on task: With an inset puzzle, the child can see how many pieces they have left to do. It is easier to stay on task when the child has the visual showing them that the task is finite.

Rating: Four out of five stars

Where to purchase this toy

Play-Doh Scare Chair Play Set

Grow and cut hair with Play-Doh

Disclaimer: I don't own this exact set. I have this one, which I love, but nobody seems to sell it anymore. However, any toy that can grow Play-Doh hair that you can cut is a winner! This girly one looks adorable also.

A second note: If you are here looking for a gift for someone else's child, you may not necessarily want to go with Play-Doh! I never give Play-Doh as a gift unless I know that the parent either won't mind supervising its use or won't mind vacuuming it out of their carpet.

Age Level: 3-6 with minimal supervision, or ages 1 and up if you're planning on playing this with your child and he or she is not a major mouther of non-food objects. I do Play-Doh with my one-year-olds for short periods and I sit close enough so that I can snatch it before it makes it into anyone's mouth.

Skills/Talents:
~Identifying and labeling colors: Any Play-Doh toy is great for this. If your child is at the stage where she is just beginning to recognize colors, you can ask her, "where is the purple Play-Doh?". If he is starting to label colors ask, "which color do you want?", or, "do you want blue or purple?".

~Language: There's a lot of fun vocabulary that goes along with Play-Doh, especially since you can pair the words with the actions, such as "squeeeeeze!" and "roll". When we are pushing the head on and the hair is coming out, I can usually get even the most early emergent talkers to say "puuuuuuuush!". Often if a child has played with the toy before, I will hide the scissors before we start so that they have to ask for them. If something is motivating enough, and this toy certainly is, kids will find a way to let you know that they want it!

~Fine motor: A fun way to practice cutting with scissors! It requires a little more strength than cutting paper.

Rating: Four out of five stars. It's an extremely popular toy- many of the kids I work with ask for the one I have week after week. However, I took one star off for the mess factor!

Where to purchase this toy

Zimbbos!

Wooden Stacking Game

This is a beautiful, colorful wooden set, and the company that makes it (Blue Orange) plants two trees for every tree used to produce their games. The box that it comes in is incredibly sturdy, and has held up to being tossed around in my car and my bag, not to mention the hands of small children, for a few years now.
Take turns rolling the die and stacking the elephants in number order, but don't knock it down! The person to put the tenth elephant on top wins.

Age Level: 3-6 (although my one-year-olds do love stacking the pretty blocks!)

Skills/Talents:

~Turn-taking: When children are first learning to take turns, games with quick turns are best. It also helps that in this game, it's exciting to watch the other person take their turn!

~Counting: To set up the game, I always have the children help me set up the elephants in number order. For children with early emerging counting skills, I set up the elephants and have them count with me. Kids with stronger counting skills and better number recognition set up the elephants themselves. 

Rating: Five out of five stars. This game has it all. It's environmentally friendly, pretty to look at, reasonably priced, and kids love it!

Where to purchase this toy

Stacking Cups

Green Sprouts Stacking Cups

Stacking cups are so simple but babies just love them! They are fun for play in and out of the tub. These cups keep my girls busy for a long time. They have tiny, different shaped holes in the bottom so that when filled with water in the tub it pours out the bottom in a fun little stream. 

Age Level: 0-2

Skills/Talents:

~Fine Motor: Being able to stack requires hand-eye coordination and depth perception. Because these are round they require a little more grading to stack than square blocks.

~Speech/Language: When the girls were teeny babies they loved to take turns yelling into the cups to hear the echo. This is a great way for babies to learn to "use their voice" and to imitate non-speech sounds. 

Some vocabulary that I have taught with this toy both at home and at work includes:

• saying "up" each time I stack another cup on top and then "down!" when the babies knock it down
• "in" and "out" 
• "shake shake shake" when we put a tiny cup inside a big cup and shake it

Rating: Four out of five stars

Where to purchase this toy

Folding Dollhouse

Fisher-Price Little People Happy Sounds Home

Plastic Folding Dollhouse

These houses are portable, easy to carry and store, and are great for both boys and girls! It can be very difficult these days to find these types of toys without batteries. Toys without batteries are great because they encourage creativity. They are powered by the child. The dollhouse pictured here does require batteries, but I would encourage you to leave the batteries out and let your child use his imagination!

Age Level: 1-5 As long as there are no small parts in your folding dollhouse (this one is considered safe by the manufacturer), this is a toy that your children can use in different ways as they grow and develop new play skills. Right now, my one-year-old twins like to put the baby in and out of the bed and play peek-a-boo through the tiny windows. As they get older, I know that their play themes while using this toy will become more complex, involve more steps, and be more language oriented. 

Skills/Talents: 
~Pretend Play: The possibilities with this toy are endless! Depending on your child's age and skill level, it can be as simple as giving the figures a bath and putting them to bed, or something more complex involving several of the characters and their activities together. Pretend play is an important component in the development of language, social skills, problem solving and cognitive skills. 

~Language: This toy is particularly language-rich so I have a lot to say in this area!

Some key words that I use both with clients and my daughters while playing with this toy are:

• "night night", "shhh", and "wake up!" while putting the figures to bed
• "stinky!", "wash-wash", and "all clean!" while bathing the figures
• "eat" and "yummy" while feeding the dolls
• "I see you!" while looking at eachother through the windows

Some simple one-step directions that I practice with this toys are:

• put the baby in the bed
• put the daddy on the potty
• put the mommy in the chair
• open the refrigerator

Examples of two-step directions are:

• give the baby a kiss and put her in the bed
• let the daddy go potty and then wash his hands
• put the mommy in the chair and [pretend to] give her some food
• open the refrigerator and [pretend to] take out some milk

If your child has some words already, and you would like them to learn to respond to "wh" questions, some examples of these include:

• What is mommy/baby/daddy doing (as you are making the figure, eat, go potty, etc.)?
• Who is in the bath/eating dinner/sleeping/looking out the window?

Whether practicing direction following or responding to questions, always present the question/direction and then model the answer/carry out the command yourself if your child is unsuccessful and always do so with an encouraging attitude!

Rating: Five out of five stars!

Where can I purchase this toy?

Wooden Wind-Up Train

House of Marbles Wooden Clockwork Train

wind-up toy

It’s appropriate that this is the first toy on my blog, because this is the first toy I bring when I start working with a child. This is because every young child of any skill level that I have worked with enjoys this toy.

Age Level: With supervision, this train can be enjoyed by little ones 0 and up (my girls love this toy!). If you will be letting the child play on his or her own, it is more appropriate from ages 3 to 5, due to small parts and the difficulty of winding it up.

Skills/Talents:

~Joint attention: This is for the pre-talking little ones. Joint attention is the shared focus of two individuals on one object. Does your child look at an object, look at you to see if you’re looking at it too, and then look back at the object? That’s joint attention! It is a necessary pre-cursor to language development. Something simple like this that does something “so cool”, like move on its own, is a great way to practice joint attention. Children typically develop joint attention between 8-11 months, but if your child is developmentally delayed you can work on this at any age.

~Language: For children that are just learning to use words, some great vocabulary to work on while play with this train is, of course, “go” and “stop”! Wind up the train, hold it, and say, “ready, set, gooooo!” while you let the train go. Repeat this several times and then say, “Ready, set…..” and wait. See if your child will say, “Go!” on their own. If they do, let the train go immediately!

Once we have done “go” several times, I will abruptly place my hand on top of the train as it’s moving and yell, “Stop!”. This always gets a giggle, and the children will often imitate both the action and the word “stop”.

~Fine motor: This is more for the 3-5 set. Being able to wind up this tiny device is a great way to practice that pincer grasp!

~Turn-taking: This can be incorporated no matter what skill you are trying to work on. Take turns letting the train go. This is also a great way to practice those pronouns (“my turn”, “your turn”)!

Rating: Four out of five stars. This toy would get five stars, due to the fact that it is so universally LOVED. However, it got the four star rating because many of the children in the age group that will play with this train need adult assistance to make it go.

Where to purchase this toy

About Amanda

About Amanda:

I am a licensed speech-language pathologist with over 8 years of experience. I have a Masters of Science in Communication Disorders from the State University of New York at New Paltz.  Although I have worked with school-age kids as well, my main area of expertise (and my passion!) is in the birth to five age range. I have worked with hundreds of children with varying levels of need. I spend my time outside of work with my awesome husband, our one-year-old twin girls, and our large, black mutt.

So many times, parents have asked me where I got a certain toy that they see their child really enjoying, or have commented, “You always have the best toys!”. I have also often had parents ask for my suggestions for toys and games around birthdays and holidays. It can be so hard to pick through all the stuff that’s out there for something that your child can actually use to learn and explore.

I started this blog as a place to direct parents who are looking for a toy that their child will actually play with. A toy that can be used to teach a skill, such as language development, fine motor skills, imaginary play, turn-taking, or all of the above! And since I “play” with kids for a living, I'm an expert about what young children like. Any toy that I have purchased has probably been tested out on at least 100 kids. I’m here to share with you what works.

Enjoy!

Amanda Watson
1/29/14