Play-Doh Ideas to Encourage Toddlers’ Talking
Feb 5, 2022 Play-Doh and Play-Doh sets are a fun medium for kids to play with. Not only can it inspire a child to further explore their creativity, studies tell us that Play-Doh can also be used to expand a child’s social and play skills.
Additionally, you can use Play-Doh activities for toddlers as a way to encourage your toddlers to talk. Whether you let them do it freely, or you guide them, there are several Play-Doh activities to partake in with your child while teaching them about speech and letter recognition.
In This Article
Stamping Letters and Numbers in Play-Doh
Stamping letters or numbers in Play-Doh is a pretty cool activity for toddlers. Not only does it encourage them to work on their alphabet or numbers, but it can also be an opportunity for them to work on their pronunciation and articulation.
For instance, if they struggle with a particular sound such as /p/ or/ b/, you can use these letters to make a word association (B is for ball) while prompting them to say the word (ball). And if your child is older, you can motivate them to write and vocalize words as they are using the stamp letters.
Teach Shapes with the Use of Play-Doh
Whether you choose to make squares, circles, or ovals, you can reinforce your toddler’s learning while also working on their overall speech. As you make these different shapes, motivate them to say the words ‘circle’ or ‘square.’ Additionally, you can prompt them to talk about the colors they are using to make their shapes.
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Building Objects Relating to Their Target Sounds
If your child struggles with specific sounds, you can use Play-Doh to build different objects in relation to their target sounds. For instance, if they struggle with the /f/ or /s/ sounds, you can make flowers, fruit baskets, stars, or slugs while prompting or motivating them to say these words.
Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, Knees and Toes
When you use Play-Doh, you can teach your little ones about their body parts. You can guide them to form lips, teeth, or eyes; but you can also work on making a whole person out of Play-Doh. And as you do so, direct them to talk about the different body parts they see: “Can you show me the head? Can you say ‘eyes’?”
Can You Show me a Happy Face?
In addition to using Play-Doh to teach about the different body parts, you can utilize it to teach your toddler about feelings. You can do so by making various faces displaying different emotions. And while doing so, you can prompt them to mimic or vocalize the emotions they’ve created out of the Play-Doh.
Animal Farm
Whether you direct your child to make a cat, a dog, or a worm, you can prompt them to talk or repeat the name of the animals they are creating; further building their motor and language skills. And if you want to keep them more engaged, have them make these silly animal sounds. (What sound does a dog make? “woof, woof”)
Play-Doh Food
Have your toddler open up their mini restaurant.
Do they love pizza or french fries? If so, you can guide them into creating a variety of food they love out of Play-Doh. And while preparing the food, you can further incorporate language learning by exposing them to new words and by asking them fun questions (Is the pizza hot or cold? Oops, it’s hot, hot, hot, can you say hot?) (Is this pizza or ice cream?)
Explore and Learn with Play-Doh
In addition to being a fun activity for kids, Play-Doh can be used in an instructional method to improve a kid’s social and language skills. Moreover, children get to further explore their creative side while using Play-Doh.
Remember, your little tots are fun storytellers and have wild imaginations. Allow them to make different shapes out of Play-Doh to tell a story. And if they struggle to say a word, model the word or prompt them to repeat the word slowly. But also, have a lot and lots of fun.
Let your imagination go, too, and think of your own play-doh ideas for toddlers!
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