The Four Types of Toys You Need for Speech Therapy

If you are a pediatric SLP then odds are, you're a sucker for toys. You cruise the toy aisle at Walmart or Target looking for a new and engaging toy to entice your kiddos into participating in articulation drills or language expansion. Personally, I'm not really big on "educational toys". I prefer to keep things basic. Now, that doesn't mean I don't have a lot of toys...because I do. But all of my toys fit into one of four simple categories that can be easily remembered as F.O.B.S.

F: a toy you can Feed

It sounds simple enough, and it is! Kids are obsessed with feeding things, probably because it's one of the few things on their daily to-do list. This can be something as simple as a Kleenex box with a monster face taped to it, a Ned's Head, Pop the Pig, or this Olaf Snack-time Surprise toy my sister recycled to my speech collection when she became bored with it. What's the surprise? Well....Olaf's body removes whatever he ate after you feed it to him, if you catch my drift. But this can easily be prevented by taping the back compartment closed. Unless you want to get a really good laugh from your kiddo!

O: a toy you can Open

Ever played hide and seek with a kid? Or peek-a-boo? Then you know how much kids love hiding and discovering things. Having toys that open to reveal something hidden inside is so engaging for kids and can be easily adapted to meet most goals! Requesting to open the item, commenting that you're opening the item, having an item or word card inside that represents an artic target word, the list goes on! Some toys I like that allow kids to open are these Surprise Party gift boxes or Rock n Gem Surprise which are both from Learning Resources. But something simpler (and cheaper) you can use are Easter Eggs. You can find eggs that are shaped like animals, rocket ships, legos, dinosaurs, ice cream, and more on Oriental Trading.

B: a toy you can Build

Once again, simple but effective. Kids love building things! This could be legos, blocks, play-doh, puzzles, or my favorite: Mr. Potato Head. Children become engaged in creating things, or for some of our kids on the spectrum building things can fix or complete something. A blank face with holes for the pieces? Let me fix that!

S: a toy that can Scare

Let me go ahead and put this disclaimer out here. I'm not telling you to scare children. Some kids are going to cry and meltdown if you give them a toy that scares them. Then there are other kids who love the scare and want to play with that toy again and again, kind of like your first roller-coaster ride. Some of my favorite games that give a good jump-scare are Greedy Granny, Pop-up Pirate, and Crocodile Dentist. This smaller version pictured above is much less menacing and has braces. How cute is that? These games are perfect for promoting participation for drills or social/emotional communication: "I'm feeling nervous! How does this game make you feel? Are you scared that the crocodile will bite you?"

So, what are your favorite toys to use in therapy? Are there any other categories of toys we should add to the acronym?

Checkout The Speech Tribe IG account for more therapy inspiration and tips!