Speech games to play with your toddler at home
The habits speech therapists teach parents, turned into games you can play in five minutes.
Short answer: the most effective home practice is everyday back-and-forth with you, not flashcards or videos. A 2020 review of 25 randomized trials found that when parents learned strategies like waiting, following the child's lead and adding a word, children's talking improved. Play, daily routines and shared book reading were the settings where it worked.
Why parents make the best speech coaches
Toddlers learn words inside conversations with the people they spend the most time with. In a meta-analysis of 25 randomized controlled trials with 1,734 children, programs that taught parents to use specific language strategies improved children's expressive language. Short, frequent moments during real life count for more than one long session.
Eight strategies that make any game work
- Get face to face. Sit or lie at your child's eye level so they can see your mouth.
- Follow their lead. Talk about what your child is already looking at or playing with.
- Wait. Pause with an expectant look for about five seconds. The silence is their turn to try.
- Copy and take turns. Copy their sounds, then wait for them to go again.
- Add one word. If they say "ball", you say "big ball" or "ball go". Do not ask them to repeat it.
- Offer choices. "Milk or water?" Say the one they probably want last.
- Create little problems. A snack in a jar they cannot open, a toy just out of reach, one bite at a time.
- Repeat in routines and books. Use the same few words at the same moments every day, and read the same books often.
Six five-minute games to start with
Ready, set... go!
Roll a ball or lift your child for a swing, saying "ready, set... go!" each time. After a few rounds, stop after "set" and wait. Any sound counts as "go".
The snack jar
Put a favorite snack in a clear container your child cannot open. Wait for them to bring it to you, say "open" slowly, wait, then open it the moment they try.
Bubbles
Blow bubbles, then close the wand and wait. Model "more", "pop" or "bubble", and pop them together.
Uh-oh!
Drop a soft toy on purpose and say "uh-oh!" Repeat until your child joins in, then try "up" and "down".
Song with a gap
Sing a song your child knows, then stop before a key word and wait with a smile. Songs from your home language work just as well.
A book without reading
Point and name the pictures instead of reading every word. Let your child turn the pages, and pause on their favorite.
What about screens and apps?
Pediatricians advise keeping screen time to a minimum before age 2, apart from video chats, because toddlers learn words from real interaction. The best use of an app is as a coach for the grown-up: read the game, put the phone down, and play.
Try it tonight, free
Get one game a day matched to your child's stage, with step-by-step instructions and a five-second wait timer.
Open Talk Baby TalkSources
- Heidlage, J. K., et al. (2020). The effects of parent-implemented language interventions on child linguistic outcomes: a meta-analysis. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 50.
- Capone Singleton, N. (2018). Late talkers: why the wait-and-see approach is outdated. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 65(1), 13 to 29.
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), Speech and Language Development
- CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics, Developmental Milestones (updated 2022)
This guide is general information for parents, not medical advice. If you are worried about your child's speech, talk to your pediatrician or contact your state's Early Intervention program for a free evaluation.