Top 5 Summer Toys to Enhance Communication

With warm temperatures and long summer days here in Illinois abound, I want to share some of my favorite summer time toys to support communication development for some fun in the sun.  You will find that my recommendations are free of noise, bells, and whistles, so no need to stock up on batteries or worry about recharging something.  Please note that this post contains affiliate links.  

1) This pretend play camping set by Learning Resources is most appropriate for children between 2-5 years old.  Here are some suggestions for building communication:

• Expand your child's pretend play skills while "roasting" a hot dog and marshmallow and then blow on these as they get "hot".  
• Pack up all the goodies in the carry bag and bring it outside the next time you are going to roast marshmallows to help your child build longer play sequences and imitate actions.
• Build comprehension by asking "Get/Give me" for designated objects.  
• Work on answering WH questions such as, "What do you do when you are hungry?"
• Make comments about each item to model expanding speech development.

2) Here is another item from Learning Resources appropriate for children 2 years and older.  Match upper and lower case alphabet letters with this adorable Popsicle stick toy.  Build fine motor and speech/language communication with some of these techniques:

• Pull apart all Popsicle sticks and hide them under dry beans, water beads, or any filling of your choice.  Then, have your child build hand skills by pushing the pieces together as he/she locates matches.  
• Build phonemic awareness by asking your child to find the letters that make the sound "Buh".
• Increase speech skills by modeling sounds.  
• Talk about words that start with the targeted letter. 

3) This toy is suitable for 3 years and older as there are some small parts.  I typically incorporate a pirate-theme sometime in my summer speech and language lessons while we talk about the ocean and the beach.  

• Build sharing and taking turns by having children use a gesture, sound, or word to make a request for "Me", "My turn", or "It's my turn."
• Ask questions with "yes" or "no" answers such as: "Did the pirate pop?" or "Is that a red sword?"
• Increase following directions with "Take two swords" or "Get a yellow sword."
• Practice simple to complex speech by modeling "pop", "more pop", "I want more pop!"

4) This is a new, water play toy that I have been using in my speech and language pool group sessions this summer.  Recommended ages are for 5 years and older, but I have used it with supervision with children as young as 3 years old.  

• Practice turn taking and sharing during pool play.
• Model making appropriate comments when children make and/or miss baskets.
• Build social comprehension by asking a child to throw the ball to another.
• Role play initiating asking to join a game with others.

5) Ocean-colored water beads!  While the recommended age for these is 3 years and older, I have used them with children through 10 years.  These make a great filler for those sensory bins that I mentioned above.  Here are some suggestions for objects that you can hide in a container of these delightful beads:

• miniature ocean animals
• Learning Resources Alphabet Popsicles
• seashells
• colored fish