Open Ended Toys: More Than Just Fun

Open-ended toys are toys that can be used in a variety of ways, allowing children to use their imagination and creativity to create their own play experiences. Open-ended toys can help children develop important skills such as problem-solving, creativity, and fine motor skills. They can also help children learn how to interact with others and share.

Open-ended toys support language development. Here are some ways that open-ended toys can help children develop their language skills:

• Encouraging communication: Open-ended toys allow children to use their imagination and creativity to create their own play experiences. This can encourage them to communicate with others about their ideas and what they are doing.

• Providing opportunities for role-playing: Open-ended toys can be used to create different scenarios, which can provide opportunities for children to practice role-playing. This can help them develop their language skills as they learn to interact with others in different ways.

• Increasing vocabulary: Open-ended toys can expose children to new vocabulary words as they use them in their play. This can help them to expand their vocabulary and their understanding of language.

• Improving communication skills: Open-ended toys can help children to develop their communication skills as they practice using language to express their ideas and to interact with others.

Overall, open-ended toys can be a great way to support language development in children.

Here are some of our favorites:

Green Toys - creative play, planning, babbling,

Magna Tiles - creative problem solving, planning, initiation

Melissa & Doug Deli - Functional life skill practice, Built in visual supports, sequencing

WIKKI STIX - Open ended, problem solving, imaginative, planning, visual supports

Ball Popper - repetitive practice, requests, initiation