One Year Old Toy Gift Guide 2020
Halloween is over, Daylight Savings Time has ended, and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. In my household, that can only mean one thing: tis the season for Christmas gift shopping! As a parent to two little ones, I know how chaotic December can be. So my yearly goal is to try and get all my Christmas shopping done before December hits so that I can enjoy the Christmas season without the stress of last minute gift-getting. This is also the time of year that I often have other moms ask me what toys they should buy their children to promote good speech and language skills. Because of this, I thought I would create gift guides with my top toy recommendations for speech and language development to help guide your Christmas shopping! This particular post will focus on gifts for one-year-olds. Last week, we shared our infant gift guide, and you can view that here: Infant Toy Gift Guide.
Age one (12-24 months) is one of my favorite ages for language development. So much language growth happens in these 12 months. When your baby turns one, they may or may not have a couple words and likely will be able to understand a little of what you are saying. But by the time they turn two, they will likely have 100-200+ words, be putting two and three words together to make phrases, and follow simple 1-step directions.
Just like in the infant stage, interaction with you is more important than the toy you play with. The toy is not what will teach your child words, you are. Engage your child through play, and use the toy as a tool to play with and help engage your child.
While you are playing with your child, model single words for them. If your child is using single words during play, you can then start modeling a two-word phrase for them! For example if your child is consistently saying “car” every time you play with the car, you can then start modeling “go car!” I also like to use fun words called exclamatory words during play such as “uh-oh,” “wow,” and “wheee!” Animal sounds are some other fun first words for children.
For each of my one-year-old toy recommendations in this gift guide, I will list some words and phrases you can model for your children as you play with them. A child needs to hear a word many times before they are able to understand it enough to start saying it! So keep this in mind as you talk to and play with your child. Repeat! Repeat! Repeat!
Another bonus with many of these toys is that even older children will enjoy playing with them as well. They are timeless toys that will grow with them as they age!
Mega Blocks
*If you keep these in the bag or put them in a box, you can use this as a language building opportunity so your child has to request you to open them
Single word: blocks, build, out, in, open
Phrase: build blocks, put in, take out, open bag
Pop up Activity Toy
*can use as a receptive language building opportunity by asking “Where’s the _____?” and have them open the correct one
Single word: open, close, animal name, bye bye, pop
Phrase: bye bye animal name
Little Tikes First Slide
Single word: slide, go, down, wheee
Phrase: go down, slide down
*You can also use the verbal routine of “ready, set, go” and leave off “go” to see if they will fill it in
Baby Doll
Single word: baby
Phrase: kiss baby, hold baby, rock baby
*model these actions so the child will imitate them
Melissa and Doug Blocks
Single word: blocks, uh-oh, oh-no, up, tower
Phrase: stack blacks, fell down, tall tower
Fisher Price Car Garage Ramp
Single word: up, go, car, whee
Phrase: go up, go down, go car
Verbal routine: ready set go
Step 2 Water Table
Single word: pour, splash, rain, dump
Phrase: pour water, splash water
Books!
Every age is a good age to read books with our children, but at a year old you will likely see your child start to request books, point to pictures in a book and label them, and generally start to engage with you more while reading. So continue to read books with your children at this age!
**For children who may have speech and language delays, always reach out to your child’s speech-language pathologist for more specific recommendations on how to use toys to target your child’s language goals!
For more information on how to interact with your toddler to increase speech and language skills, check out this blog.