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