The best toys to stimulate language

The best toys to stimulate language

by | Jan 31, 2014 | news

The best toys to stimulate language development are those that encourage exchanges in contexts that are meaningful to your child. Recreating the immediate world through play is fundamental to developing proper communication.
No toys on this list are specifically designed to teach vocabulary and are toys that your child probably already has.
It is important to take into account certain characteristics when we go to choose a toy so that in addition to entertaining the child, helps him in his development process.
Keep in mind that the toy is versatile, that is, it can be used in a variety of ways and during different stages of a child's development.
Also that they relate to meaningful and familiar experiences for your child (i.e., that everyday actions such as feeding, bathing, dressing can be reproduced).
They also help social interaction, i.e. toys that are fun to play with other children or parents.

Some examples:

Mr. Papa's face:
There are a variety of opportunities to work on the language with this toy as it includes many accessories. You can work on body parts, clothes, emotions, etc.

Blocks: blocks stimulate creativity and imagination. The child who plays with blocks reinforces symbolic play, sizes, shapes, colors, and problem solving, among others.

Casa de Muñecas /La Granja:ideal games to build imaginary scenarios (feed, build, clean) to work onomatopoeia, semantic fields, functionality of objects.

Musical Instruments: Music is excellent for the development of many areas of the brain that are directly involved in language development. It is excellent for the development of auditory discrimination, prosody, fine motor, coordination, creativity, imagination etc.

Board Games: with games such as Memory, Pictionary, Monopoly you can work taking turns, sequences, memory, problem solving, quantity concepts, etc.

These are just a few examples of the benefits you can get with accessible toys, many can even make them at home with waste material and as a family project. Remember that the important thing is not whether it is an expensive or exclusive toy but functional and fun.

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Terapeuta del Lenguaje
How to stimulate your child

How to stimulate your child's language at home

by | Jan 28, 2014 | news

Children must be stimulated in all areas of development, a fundamental area is language. I share some examples of activities you can do at home to encourage proper development and enhance your child's communication skills:

1. Talk to him or her, looking him or her in the eye, and reinforce emotions to encourage the expression of feelings.
2. Encourage a positive communicative environment. A place where turn taking is spoken correctly, clearly and respected. Call things by name, describe their appearance and functionality.
3. When they come out, describe the activities they do. For example, if you go shopping tell your child what you are going to buy, if you go by car describe the landscape, if you are cooking ask your child for help.
4. Encourage the child to communicate even if not verbally. It is important to develop your communicative intention.
5. Tell him stories. If possible with large drawings, plates, sounds, 3D.
6. Encourage symbolic play. With objects that provide opportunities for creativity such as legos, blocks.
7. Encourage role-playing: puppets, casitas, professions, trades. 8. Encourage the use of onomatopoeia games through concrete objects.
9. Listen to songs and repeat them. The children enjoy music very much.
10. Try not to encode or "guess" what the child is trying to communicate with gestures, instead construct the correct statement and try to get the child to reproduce it but without creating pressure.
11. Try not to correct the child when he or she makes a mistake, but instead repeat the phrase in the correct way.
12. Do not try to correct errors in the different sounds of language because each sound is acquired at different ages.
Remember that if you notice a delay in language development contact a specialist, do not try to correct the errors yourself. the earlier the intervention starts the better the prognosis of recovery.