How to use stuffed animals to facilitate language development

You probably have a ton of stuffed animals and character plushies accumulating in the corner of your baby’s room.

But did you know that you can actually use those plushies to supercharge language development? A child’s language skills are predictors of future academic success. And according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, play is one of the most natural, most effective way for toddlers and preschoolers to learn.

It takes just small changes in play to target and increase language skills.

1. Use the plushies to teach verbs

Verbs are some of the first kinds of words that a child acquires. According to renowned child psychologist Roger Brown, who came up with “Brown’s Morphemes”, the first grammar form that a child uses is –ing attached to a word.

So, you can teach your child ing verbs and phrases while playing with them.

You can do this by taking a plushie – and then acting out verbs on it. For example, this baby is sleeping. Or, this baby is walking.

2. Use the plushies to teach prepositions

In Brown’s morphemes, simple prepositions like “in” and “on” come next. But you can supercharge this even further by using the doll in a playful sort of tag / hide and seek.

“Where’s Mickey? Is he under the table?”

3. Incorporate the plushies into daily routines

Pretend play is a social communication milestone. Starting around age 24 months, your child does daily routines on their dolls. For example, making mickey eat, or making mickey drink, or making him take a bath.

Start early by taking the doll to each routine, and doing the routine on your child, and then, on the doll. Talk to your child, and tell them what you are doing.

“Amy’s brushing her teeth. Now Mickey’s brushing his teeth.”

With time, your child will start doing the routine on the doll as well.

4. Use the plushies in play schemes

Once your child starts doing pretend play, by the time they are 3 -4 , you can make the routines a little more complex. For example, have the doll wake up, brush his teeth, and eat cereal. You can narrate each of the steps, using transition words like “first, then, and last.” These sequencing terms are important foundations for reading and writing. 3 steps is appropriate for 3-4 year olds. 4 steps is appropriate for 5 year olds.

Eg. – First, Ariel wakes up. Then she brushes her teeth. Last she eats breakfast.

Again, do it a few more times for maximum impact.

5. Use dolls to model taking turns

It’s never too late to act silly, and make your child’s doll “talk.” Make the doll say something like “Hi Julie!” and have your child say something back. This is a cute way to model turn taking and 2-way communication that is the foundation of social communication.

6. Use the dolls to teach social communication

To teach simple greetings, you can have your child say “hi” and “bye” to the doll, and have the doll say it back. You can also use the doll to teach concepts like “thank you” and “you’re welcome”. These are gestures and words you can begin modeling even before your child turns one.

For older children (starting around age 3 -4), you can introduce games like “store”. Have one doll be a customer and have your child be the cashier. You can teach your child how to interact with others by modeling all the components of a typical social interaction. For example –

Doll: Hi there

Prompt child to say : Hi. What do you want to buy?

Doll: Can I have a sandwich please?

Prompt child to say : Okay. Here you go.

Doll : Thank you!

Prompt the child to say: You’re welcome. Come again!

Your child can take turns being the cashier, and being the customer.

So there you have it. Ways to have fun with your child’s favorite toy, and teach them a lot, as well. It’s a little more work than just giving them the toy. But consistently practicing these strategies in play will make your child more imaginative, more talkative, and not to mention more fun.

Dust off that plushie, and happy talking and playing!

Disclaimer : Smarter Speech is a pediatric speech therapy / speech-language pathology practice for toddlers and children providing in-home and teletherapy services in and around Mountain View, CA and Los Gatos, CA. Smarter Speech Blog aims to provide free speech and language tips for parents educators and therapists. However, this post is not providing speech-language pathology services. This is general information, not speech -language pathology or speech therapy. This article does not assume or create a client – SLP relationship. The author is not liable for any losses or damages due to actions or failure to act based on the content in this article. If you need assistance with a child’s speech or language needs, please contact a speech-language pathologist in your area.