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The Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide
This year I’ve rounded up some of my favorite gifts for children, parents, educators, and SLPs and want to share them with you! Give your children presents that will help them practice their speech skills in a fun and unique way. I’ve also included some holiday gifts for parents – both moms and dads.
Amazon affiliate links have been included.
In addition to all of these ideas listed below, I’ve compiled a list of children ‘s toys and books that are perfect for practicing language skills AND perfect for the holidays in my resource library on my blog! I share some brief specifics as to why I like each toy/book and what skills each one practices. Check them out here: toys and books!
For Toddlers
Books:
Goodnight Moon – and grab the book companion with it!
“Goodnight Moon” is a classic children’s book, and it’s ideal for practicing language skills! While reading this book, your little one can practice words like “stars,” “cow,” and “room”. They are able to practice saying common household items, repeating them until they can remember them. Because after all, repetition is key! Settle down with this book before bed and get your child nice and cozy before they go to sleep. I also love this book so much that I’ve created a book companion! This book companion has several handouts and activities, including thematic vocabulary cards and puzzle cards, so you can further expose your child or student to common vocabulary that is playfully featured in this book. The included activities are interactive, fun, and hands-on!
Baby Loves Book Series – grab the adorable book companions
The Baby Loves book series by Karen Katz is an adorable collection of seasonal board books for toddlers! From Winter, Fall, Spring, and Summer, these books introduce children to seasonal vocabulary, common first words, and simple phrases for them to add to their speech. I’ve created book companions for ALL of these books: Baby Loves Winter, Baby Loves Spring, Baby Loves Summer, and Baby Loves Fall. These book companions are jam-packed with parent coaching handouts, colorful cards, and easy to do puzzles to help parents and/or SLPs deliver effective and engaging speech therapy!
Poke-A-Dot Old McDonald’s Farm
Kids will LOVE this interactive book! You and your toddler will be singing along to Old MacDonald while they learn animal sounds, counting skills, and farm/animal vocabulary. They will be excited to press the fun pop buttons on each page – talk about endless fun! Encourage your child to repeat after you s you count the animals.
For additional toddler book recommendations, please see My Favorite Books to Encourage Language Development and grab this FREEBIE from my resource library.
Wood City Rainbow Stacking Toy
This colorful rainbow stacking toy is great for young children to use their creativity and learn simple command/location words. Encourage them to use words and phrases that indicate location such as “on top” and “next to”. You can also introduce them to commands such as “move this” or “pick up”. This stacking toy also promotes creativity and imaginative play. Allow your child to use their own imagination to stack and move the pieces as they please! It can provide them with hours of hands-on play.
For additional toddler toy recommendations, please see My Favorite Toys to Encourage Language Development and grab this FREEBIE from my incredible resource library.
For Preschoolers
Magna-tiles are the perfect toy for building and creating, and they are great for practicing speech and language skills. Use these tiles to target location words such as on, top, bottom, next to, etc. Try telling them, “The triangle is next to the square” to demonstrate how to use these prepositions. Finally, practice giving and receiving directions by instructing your child to move or shift the tiles. And remember – have fun!
Picasso Tiles are a less expensive alternative to magna-tiles.
Have your child explore their inner fashionista or dress up as their dream job by playing dress up! This is a fun and simple activity that your child will have a blast with! You can either use clothes/outfits you already have or buy a dress up set, like this one, for them to play around with. Encourage them to use vocabulary words that correspond to the outfit they have on. For example, if they are dressed up as a princess, use the words “crown,” “dress,” and “wand”.
Bring the beach home with you all year long by playing with kinetic sand! Children will love digging through the sand to find objects and have them scoop and dump the sand. Encourage them to practice prepositions such as “the shell is on top of the sand” or describing objects that they find using words like “small,” “big,” “red,” or “bucket”.
Take a break from screens and break out some play dough! Play dough is an extremely versatile yet simple toy that helps encourage speech development. Playing with play dough provides wonderful tactile opportunities for children to say a variety of words related to the actions they are performing. Children will LOVE pulling, poking, and squishing the colorful play dough in their hands and it allows parents to teach them different motions and words. Activities like this promote growth in communication skills and serve as a great alternative to screen time! *If your little one is still mouthing items, it is not wise to let them have play dough OR SUPERVISE THEM.
Melissa and Doug Scissor Skills Activity
This creative activity pad gives children an opportunity to construct and cut out crafts. It allows for children to practice their scissor skills with less of a mess- a win-win for everyone! The different paper-cutting activity pages allow children to use different skills and levels of concentration. These activity pages also assist in the development of fine motor skills as well as creativity. After your child cuts out these activities, they will have a profound sense of accomplishment!
This colorful marble run set will entertain kids as they watch the marble move from the top of the structure all the way down to the bottom. Allow your children to use their creativity as they build their set, adding in intricate curves and paths to their marble run.
I Spy Dig In Game (also great for school-age kids)
Ready, get set, dig! Dig in the bowl for six objects that are listed on your card, but hurry because you only have fifteen seconds! Kids will absolutely love playing this exhilarating game with their family and friends.
Jumping Jack will keep kids jumping with excitement! This high-energy game will keep children engaged and allow them to practice their turn taking skills, basic counting skills, and hand-eye coordination/reflexes.
For School-Age Children
Skoolzy STEM Toys for Boys and Girls
Let your child be inspired with the endless building opportunities of the Skoolzy STEM Toy! Pieces are large enough for little hands, making sure they don’t get frustrated when assembling them. Children will practice logical thinking, problem solving, and motor skills while assembling their building sets. Let them use their creativity to assemble, deconstruct, and then reassemble structures.
There’s only room for one builder in town, will it be you? The main objective in this Goliath Build or Boom Game is to race to build the structure shown on the blueprint card and then BOOM your opponent’s structure, making it come falling to the ground. School aged children will take delight in building and then smashing their structures down, laughing and having fun with their friends while engaging in some friendly competition!
ThinkFun and Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty Puzzle and STEM Toy for Boys and Girls
For older children, this Thinking Putty Puzzle is a great intellectual challenge for boys and girls! How to play: Connect the same-colored dots by creating same-colored paths of Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty without crossing different colored Thinking Putty paths. Kids will have to think critically and strategically in order to complete and win this game, making it all the more fun!
This exhilarating saucer swing set is a new spin on the classic tire swing us parents all know and love. Kids will be thrilled to swing, laugh, and have an absolute blast!
For Women
What woman doesn’t love shoes?! I know I do! I always struggle to find the perfect shoe that’s both stylish and comfortable. Being a mom of two and a SLP, it’s important for my shoes to be comfortable all day long. That’s why I love Dr. Scholl Shoes for women! They come in super cute styles and they couldn’t be more comfortable! These booties are both comfortable AND cute, making them perfect for speech therapy or playing with your kids!
Stay up-to-date on all of the latest trends- fashion, lifestyle, health, cooking, and home design – with a magazine subscription! I love gifting my girlfriends with a magazine subscription for the holidays. Personally, I love Real Simple, which consists of DIY ideas, home decor, and much more!
Yeti mugs and water bottles are high quality gifts that both men and women will love! The Yeti Rambler coffee mug keeps coffee hot for hours on end, and it’s practically indestructible. The Yeti water bottle is easily transportable, dishwasher safe, and keeps liquids hot and cold all day long. The heavy duty quality of these Yeti products makes them perfect for busy moms and dads who are on the go!
As a mother and a SLP, I’m ALWAYS writing down To-Do lists! Whether it’s for my daily tasks or my speech therapy session plans, I find that writing to-do lists always helps me plan ahead in an organized way.
Groove to your favorite songs this holiday season with a brand new bluetooth speaker! Speakers are also great for SLPs because they can be used to play whitenoise outside of the office during speech sessions, and they can be used to play music during sessions where you sing along with your student/child. This JBL Flip 4 is a great option, and it has great sound quality!
What woman doesn’t love a new bag?! Elevate your fashion and professionalism this holiday season with a new work bag. This Dagne Dover Classic Tote is a perfect work bag for moms, educators, and SLPs. It’s structured, sturdy, and has plenty of room to fit a laptop, notebooks, and much more! The Lovevook Laptop Backpack is also durable, stylish, and comfortable for busy professionals, parents, and graduate students.
Scrub away your stress with a brightening face scrub. For all of my busy moms and female professionals out there, this Minimo Glow Lemon Cake Brightening Face Scrub for Dark Spots is a great addition to your self-care regime! It gently exfoliates and helps even out your skin tone, leaving you with a glowing complexion.
An aromatherapy set is the perfect gift for someone who needs some rest and relaxation. Enjoy pampering yourself with these calming shower steamer bath bombs that are easy to use and easy to clean up – no mess!
For Men
Family Handyman is a great magazine subscription to get your husband or any man in your life. It’s full of home improvement ideas, DIY projects, and much more! Encourage him to get inspired with new ideas!
Give the gift of audiobooks this season! Binge listen to some of your favorite authors and books with an Audible subscription. Audible has a large catalog of audio books from some of the best authors. Enjoy the comfort of enjoying your favorite book while walking the dog, doing dishes, and much more! It’s perfect for multitasking.
Stay active and connected this year with a new Apple Watch! Stay active by tracking workouts and activity statistics on your watch. It will encourage parents to go out and play with their children while also staying fit and healthy! It’s also great for SLPs who use it to time their sessions on their phones. With the Apple Watch, they can easily set the alarm and turn it off when it goes off.
Among the many perks of Amazon prime, Amazon Prime video has a collection of hundreds of shows, movies, and live TV. Is your husband a football fan? Then you’re in luck! Amazon Prime now streams Thursday Night Football for free, as opposed to paying extra on cable.
What’s on your list to buy?
Happy Shopping!
For more ideas please see some of my favorites from years past:
- Enhance Your Speech Therapy Sessions with ‘Picky Kitty’ – A Must-Have Game for Every Speech Therapist
- Same and Different: Why Speech Therapists and Educators Should Target this Basic Concept
- New Beginnings for Scanlon Speech Therapy
- Articulation Speech Therapy: Favorite Activities, Games, and Books to Target the TH Sounds
- Articulation Speech Therapy: Favorite Activities, Games and Books to Target the L Sound