Using Play to Support Your Child's Speech and Language Development

These instructions are for caregivers of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia patients to improve their child’s communication and requesting skills through play.

Important information:

You can use play activities at home with your child to improve communication and requesting skills.

Instructions to support communication:

Always pause and wait after you try one of these activities to give your child time to respond in some way. Anything your child does after you try one of these ideas may be their way of trying to communicate, request, or show they want something to happen again. Your child might grunt, reach, make a sound or word, point, or make eye contact with you. Reward these behaviors by giving your child what they are trying to get.

• Eat food your child likes without offering any to them. Wait and see what your child does to get some of the food.

• Offer only a little bit of something and then wait. For example, pour a little milk and wait to see what your child will do to get more.

• Do not automatically give your child something they want or need before they let you know that they want it. For example, give your child a piece of paper without crayons and wait. Try waiting at the refrigerator if you think your child wants a drink, rather than automatically getting it.

• Make a wind-up toy go, let it run out, and hand it to your child. Wait and see how your child will ask to wind the toy again. Help your child hand the toy to you to show that they want it to happen again. Say “again,” “more,” or “help” to show your child what words they could say.

• Break a pattern. For example, give your child four blocks to drop in a box, one at a time, then give your child a small animal figure (something different) to drop in the box. Wait and see if your child looks at you or can let you know that you gave them the wrong thing.

• Play social games with your child like peek-a-boo. Then stop the game and wait. Notice how your child continues the activity. For example, will your child put your hands over your eyes again? Will they put their hands on their own eyes?

• Wave and say, “bye bye,” to a toy and then put it away or out of sight. Do this several times, and then wave and say, “bye bye,” but leave the object or toy there. Help your child wave or say, “bye bye.”

• Pretend to make a mistake on a step in an activity. For example, put your sock on your hand instead of your foot. See how your child reacts.

• Use toys that show actions for you and your child to do. For example, push toys that make noise and represent objects, musical instruments, rattles, and cause-effect toys like those where something pops open by pushing a button.

• Choose toys that help your child look at your face. Blow bubbles, balloons, and pinwheels.

• Play with things that are fun for two people. Try throwing, catching, kicking, and rolling balls, pushing vehicles, and acting out play with two puppets.

• Hide toys or objects in unexpected places and find them together. Place a favorite train in the mailbox when going to get the mail, or in your child’s cup, shoe, bed, or jacket pocket. Then act surprised and see how your child reacts.

Suggestions for creative play at home

Through play children explore their environment and develop speech, language, and social skills. Common items from around the home can be used in new ways for play. Get creative and have fun!

Ball

Pillow, fruit (oranges, apples, clementine, etc.), loofah, shower sponge, roll of toilet paper, or rolled socks

Bubbles

Mix 1 tablespoon dish soap + ¼ cup water + ½ tablespoon sugar or cornstarch. Make your own bubble wand with a plastic cup (hole punched in the bottom), slotted spoon, or by rubbing your hands together and blowing through your hands.

Blocks

Light books, empty boxes, plastic food containers, rolls of toilet paper or pillows

Cars and ramp

Cars: ball, plastic bottle, dry pasta, cup

Ramp: baking sheet, book, box, or piece of cardboard

Dolls and action figures

Create a doll: stuff cotton balls or socks into a large sock, tie, and draw a face on the sock. Use paper to draw and cut out people or animals.

Drums

Pots, pans or other dishes with utensils (spoons, spatulas, forks) as sticks, a tabletop and hands

Puppets

Sock, mitten, brown paper bag, stuffed animals, winter hat, blanket draped over hand, oven mitt, pillowcase

Playdough

Mix 1 cup flour + 1 teaspoon salt. Mix a few drops of food coloring in 1 cup water. Mix colored water with flour and salt mixture. Add more flour if it's too sticky. Add a few drops of vegetable oil.

Chalk

Mix equal parts cornstarch and water with a few drops of food coloring. Use a paintbrush, cotton swab, or your fingers to draw with the mixture on a sidewalk.

Paint

Use a cotton swab dipped in water to “paint” on colored construction paper. Use fingers to draw in shaving cream or pudding on a table.

Contact your speech-language pathologist with any questions or concerns.

Center for Childhood Communication
1-800-551-5480

For non-urgent issues, send your speech-language pathologist a message in the MyCHOP portal.

Reviewed September 2023, Kimberly Bradley, MS, CCC-SLP