Easter Basket and Egg Fillers: Expert-Recommended Toys to Boost Language Skills
As a pediatric speech-language pathologist, I often get questions about what toys are best to improve speech and language. The right toys (and interaction with them!) can encourage sound production, following directions, answering questions, and building vocabulary—all while making learning natural and meaningful. A toy itself isn’t going to improve your child’s communication skills but the way we use them together can!
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For Ages 1-3:
At this stage, toddlers are learning first words, simple sound combinations, joint attention and back-and-forth communication.
- Egg Shakers & Musical Instruments – The repetitive nature of songs and rhymes teaches vocabulary, sentence structures, and sounds, making it easier for children to remember and use new words (think about how you can remember lyrics to a song easier than a speech someone said). For children who are gestalt language processors, music is a pivotal part of learning language. When you’re singing a familiar song, pause at the end to let your child fill in the word!
- Wind-Up Toys – I love toys that require an adult’s help because it creates an opportunity to initiate. Allow your child to explore the toy and wait to see how they might ask for help. This could include making eye contact, handing it to you or grabbing your hand. Label ways to ask for help after they do this including “turn on”, “open”, “again”, “more”, “help”.
- Farm Animal Finger Puppets – There’s a reason many children’s first words are simple animal sounds - they’re fun to say! Use these finger puppets and keep the animals in the barns for your child to find on Easter! These are also perfect for pretend play. You could also stick them in a box of popcorn kernels and you have a sensory box!
- Stacking Cups – These stacking cups or nesting eggs are perfect for teaching size concepts "big/little", prepositions "in/out", “on top/under”. Label these as you stack or hide items underneath! Be sure to say the word more than one time and show your child the item as you label it.
- Shape Sorters - This shape sorter with carrots is a perfect Easter gift for kids who love to put things in/out, dump or match! Understanding that objects, colors, or shapes belong to the same group helps children learn how to organize words and concepts, a key part of vocabulary development.
- Egg Toys - There are so many cute egg toys that you can use to hide throughout your house instead of giving candy! This dinosaur set is perfect for working on the CVCV word “dino” (c = consonant, v = vowel). If you have a letter lover, these alphabet eggs would be a fun way to incorporate letter/sound knowledge into Easter play! Similarly these shape eggs are great for talking about the concept “same/different”. This little barn with eggs is adorable for beginning pretend play.
- Books - I will never stop recommending books to support speech & language development! I love Llama Llama books and Llama Llama Easter Egg is a perfect story to read before egg hunting to help your child know what to expect. Where are Baby’s Easter Eggs? Is an excellent book to practice answering yes/no questions because there is a definitive answer to each question. It also is a lift-the-flap book which keeps your child more engaged. Another lift-the-flap book for your Easter basket is Little Blue Truck’s Springtime. This book’s rhyming and repetition encourages children to participate in the reading with you.
For Ages 3-5:
This age group is working on expanding sentence length, using more complex vocabulary, answering questions, following directions and improving articulation.
- Play Food Easter Egg Set – These realistic looking eggs would make a great addition to a play kitchen. Practice describing textures "soft/hard" and sequencing “First we open/crack the egg, next we cook it and then we eat it.”
- Egg Laying Chicken – Making your child laugh is one of the best ways to create connection and therefore, communication. My daughters loved their egg laying chicken when they were younger! Practice counting, tell the egg to “get out!” or practice the phrase “do it again!”
- Art - I love using art projects to teach following direction skills, concepts and vocabulary. Practice naming a variety of vocabulary words while also improving fine motor skills with this Melissa & Doug scissor skills book. This dot paint coloring book would be a fun way to teach letter sounds and names. This Easter coloring tablecloth is one of my favorite ways to keep kids busy at family events when we’re waiting for food. Practice following directions and memory skills by asking things like “let’s color an egg first and then color a bunny”.
- Puzzles - I use puzzles in therapy to encourage children to make a choice. I hold two puzzle pieces up by my face and ask a question where there is a correct answer. For example, you can use these puzzles to ask “does a ladybug or a lightning bug have spots” or “I’m thinking of an animal with claws. Is it a shark or a crab?”. These What Goes Together puzzles are great for teaching categorical knowledge and relationships between items.
- Books – I’ll say it again, books expose children to vocabulary they might not otherwise experience multiple times. This Bluey book lends itself well to retelling a story using story elements - characters, setting, problem, solution, beginning, middle and end. Let your child look through the pages as they “re-read” the story. This Pete the Cat and the Easter Basket Bandit book has some really great phrases to practice like “where’s __”, “let’s go”, “have you seen __?” I also like to use Pete the Cat books to work on the final /t/ sound in “Pete”.
- Games - Games can teach so many language skills including following directions, turn taking, counting and sequencing. Funny Bunny is a silly board game where the bunnies can disappear or fall off the hill. It teaches small number concepts (one, two) and would be great for working on CVCV words like “bunny, funny” or your child could practice the /k/ sound every time they say “carrot”. This hilarious chicken game where you pluck feathers would be great to work on the /f/ in “feather”, “ch” in chicken or /g/ in “egg”. This mini pop-up chick game is small enough to fit in an Easter basket and I guarantee will create lots of laughs on Easter.
For Ages 5-7:
Kids in this age range are developing stronger language comprehension and conversational skills.
- Scavenger Hunt Kits – Work on following directions related to concepts including “fuzzy, scratchy, cold” with this scavenger hunt card game. Practice answering wh- questions like “where did you find it?” and describing the objects with adjectives.
- Board Games – Work together in this cooperative bunny game to complete a pattern before the mouse eats the food. This Easter bunny charades game can help your child with nonverbal communication skills and also allows them to practice interpreting clues to guess a vocabulary word.
- Playdoh – Playdoh is a hands-on way to practice action words and correct verb tense (I’m rolling the Playdoh… I’m done. I rolled it!) Make spring flowers, hide these Playdoh eggs or make your own bunny and eggs.
- Books - The Great Eggscape from the The Good Egg series can be used for problem solving and talking about accepting other people. It’s Not Easy Being a Bunny will help your child learn how to protest with the phrase “I don’t want to…”. And while you might think, why do I want my child to learn that? Because if they’re going to protest, and they will, let’s teach them how to use words to tell us instead of other ways!
- Building Toys - Not only are building toys great for fine motor skills, they also create language rich environments to describe, sequence and create conversation. This Easter Lego book encourages your child to follow directions to create a bunny, egg and lamb. These magnetic blocks leave it to your child’s imagination to build a carrot house or bunny village. Plus Plus blocks are also a great open ended activity that can grow with your child as their imagination grows!
Final SLP Thoughts
Easter baskets don’t have to be just about candy! Thoughtfully selected toys can support speech and language skills while keeping playtime engaging. Whether your child is working on first words, social conversation skills or following directions, these Easter basket friendly toys will keep your child’s attention leading to more opportunities for communication!
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— Ms. Ali, Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist