My Top 10 Toddler Toy Recommendations as a Pediatric Speech Language Pathologist

Mr. Rogers once said, "Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious

learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood".

And boy was he right!!

Play is essential for toddlers because it’s how they learn about the world and develop critical skills across all areas of development.

Here are my top 10 toddler toy recommendations as a pediatric SLP.

I've linked each toy in blue so you can find it online.

1. Baby Animals and Farm Figurines

Why it's great for language:

• Animal toys are fantastic for teaching animal names, sounds, verbs ("run," "sleep," "eat"), and early concepts like big/small or soft/loud. These are perfect for building vocabulary and encouraging pretend play!

2. Magnetic Tiles

Why it's great for language:

• These adorable and brightly colored tiles can create the perfect opportunity to model how to request, or describe (e.g. "I want more blue tiles.", "I have two red squares").

3. Pretend Food / Kitchen Play

Why it's great for language:

• Pretend food play supports role-playing and functional language (e.g., “I’m cooking,” “More juice?”). These toys are great for teaching categorization, and everyday vocabulary.

4. Toy Cars and Garages (the Melissa & Doug set is my favorite)

Why it's great for language:

• While playing with the cars you can help model core words like “go,” “stop,” “in,” “out,” and action words like “drive,” “crash,” “fix.” Great for toddlers who are learning to imitate sounds (vroom!), and practice turn-taking.

5. Spinning Ring Stacker Toy

Why it's great for language:

• Pairing this toy with some adult language modeling can introduce your little one to some basic concepts like colors, and size. It also creates opportunities for requesting help, making choices, and using descriptive language (e.g., “Big blue one!” “Spin again!”).

6. Play-Doh

Why it's great for language:

• Play-Doh allows for hands-on creativity and is perfect for teaching action words ("roll," "squish," "cut"), following directions, and engaging in pretend scenarios (e.g., making food or animals). It's also great for joint attention and turn-taking!

7. Musical Instruments

Why it's great for language:

• Music promotes rhythm, listening, imitation, and sound awareness—all great key for speech development. Instruments also introduce cause and effect, turn-taking, and action words (e.g., “shake,” “tap,” “loud/quiet”).

8. Bubbles

Why it's great for language:

• Bubbles are amazing for motivating communication. They encourage eye contact, turn-taking, and core vocabulary like “more,” “pop,” “go,” and “big/little.” Bubbles are perfect for toddlers working on requesting and engaging with others.

9. Simple Puzzles

Why it's great for language:

• Puzzles help with problem-solving and labeling (shapes, animals, letters). They give repeated chances to use descriptive words, ask for help, and talk about what’s missing (“Where’s the cow?” “Try the blue one”).

10. Interactive Books (Lift-the-flap, sound books, textures), (Dear Zoo is a favorite of mine! ....I know, I know, books aren't technically toys but they can be just as fun!!!

Why it's great for language:

• Books with interactive parts can help keep toddlers engaged. They support vocabulary growth, following directions, question answering, and early literacy skills.

• Reading out-loud to children is so important because it can expose them to so much language in just a few short pages!

• When reading you can practice modeling language like "open book", "turn page" "the end".

By: Caitlin Haik, MCD, SLP