It’s time for a GIVEAWAY!
This past month, I have shared with you my top 20 picks for toys for toddlers and preschoolers and how each toy can help support speech and language development. Here is the list:
- Stacking cups
- Blocks
- Balls
- Shape sorter
- Toy Phone
- Mr. Potato Head
- Baby doll
- Baby stroller and/or grocery cart
- Cars and Trucks
- Farm Set
- Kitchen set
- Doll house
- Dress up clothes
- Sand/Water play table and toys
- Doctor/Vet set
- Magnetic letters and board
- Inset puzzles
- Magna doodle
- Ride on car
- Play dough
To read how these toys can be used to used to support speech and language development, read my four part series:
Read part one HERE
Read part two HERE
Read part three HERE
Read part four HERE
As you look over this list of toys…what do you notice? Do you notice a trend?
You should…because not ONE of the toys I recommended requires BATTERIES. Some of the toys may come with batteries or the option of using them (like many toy phones and some toy cars, and even the Little People Farm
Unplugged Play: No Batteries. No Plugs. Pure Fun, by Bobby Conner is an amazing book FILLED to the brim with fantastic play activities for all ages. Here is the book description at Amazon:
“From the joy of smearing glue on paper to the screaming delight of a bubble-blowing relay, kids love to play. In fact, it’s every kid’s built-in tool for experiencing the world at large. A parent-friendly encyclopedia, UNPLUGGED PLAY (“A wonderful guide,” says Daniel Goleman) offers hundreds and hundreds of battery-free, screen-free, chirp-and-beep-free games and fun variations that stretch the imagination, spark creativity, building strong bodies, and forge deep friendships…and keep kids busy at the table while mom or dad makes dinner.”
I love this book because it gets the kids away from activities and toys that require a plug or batteries. Sure, we own a TV, a Blue Ray and an iPad but we are trying to balance these with fun play that doesn’t involve a screen. We also have very few toys with batteries (most of which were gifts). For example, my daughter likes her play lap top and her keyboard and that’s ok. However we get more use out of her baby dolls, her $5 plastic shopping cart, and her kitchen set!
I love this book so much, that I want to give it to two lucky readers! And as an added thank you to all my readers (I just 500 email subscribers and have over 600 Facebook Fans!), to celebrate the season of Spring that will be upon us in just weeks…I am also giving away a copy of Eric Carle’s The Grouchy Ladybug
So are you all ready to enter my VERY FIRST giveaway!? Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter! Giveaway open until Tuesday, March 6th at 11:59pm Eastern and is open to US and Canadian residents only (age 18 and up). Winners will be contacted by email within 48 hours after the giveaway ends via email and I will post the winners names on Wednesday March 7th on the blog. If a winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. Please read the terms and conditions before entering. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Cheers!
Great suggestions! I plan to share your list of toys with my families. My favorite is the farm set….I also love bubbles!
BUBBLES! Shannon that is one I totally forgot about. Although I think I might do a post about favorite reinforcers and bubbles would DEFINITELY be on there. Thanks for the suggestion!
We don’t have a kitchen set, but we love our grill set. I purposely got one without batteries, and not only do they create yummy dishes for me, they love to stand behind it and pretend it’s an ice cream stand…or a drive-thru window, LOL! Great for independent and interactive play.
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I absolutely love using Mr. Potato Head with the younger children. It’s great for speech and language development, and there are so many activities you can do with it!
I would have to say my son’s firehouse is our favorite no batteries toy. Both boys spend endless hours using their imagination with it. It’s kind of like a dollhouse for boys.
Lauren I want to see this firehouse!!
Love this blog! We have made lots of updates to our toy selection based on your recommendation. THANK YOU!!
Carol THANK YOU!!! That makes my day!! 🙂
My son, 13 months, LOVES and ‘homemade’ instrument. His favorite is an empty water bottle half filled with rice. He can entertain himself forever banging on the metal dog bowl with a measuring cup too:)
Rachel that is awesome! I have a post coming up about using things like water bottles and things around the house for language learning toys!! You would LOVE the unplugged Play book!
I’m always telling parents that the best toys are the ones that don’t DO something! I was so disappointed with Fisher Price when the changed the Little People Farm. I never thought of just taking the batteries out! I LOVE Mr. Potato Head. You can do so much with them…simple vocabulary building (body parts, colors), building MLU (nose->red nose->want red nose->i want red nose please, etc), attributes (big nose, muscular arms), etc.
Carrie I agree. I have been disappointed in several toy makers in the way they have changed their toys since I was a kid. The little people farm is a great example. Why on EARTH does it need to make sounds? Our KIDS should be providing the sounds! And don’t get me started on the “educational benefits” that toys claim to have that make all the noise….sigh.
EXACTLY! I used to get so upset when I saw that the box said “promotes speech development.” No, Fisher Price, making the farm talk for the kids makes them talk less, not more!
WORD!!!!! 😉
My kids LOVE their dollhouse. They have played with it more than all of their other toys combined and have used it for 5 yeras!!
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Karla, I need to get one for my kids! I’m thinking next Christmas! 🙂
We love crafting and reading.
Gina, SO TRUE! Crafts and reading are other awesome examples of unplugged activities!
My favorite toys are the original little people sets. Kids from 1 to 10 can play with them…and NO Batteries!
YES!!!!! NO BATTERIES! 😉
This may not count, but my son’s sandbox and swing set are my fav non-battery “toys”. He can play for hours outside and I love to see what his imagination is making his swing set for the day. Usually it is a fire station/truck. Sometimes a construction site 🙂
Brandi….that DEFINITELY counts!
A favorite with many of my little ones is a wooden train set. 🙂
Cassandra we have one of those too! LOVE IT! I have one I bought for work YEARS ago and my daughter is always trying to get it out….so I bought her her own!
Hi Katie! I love so many of your recommended unplugged toys. In my house, Mr Potato Head and the Little People Farm are two favorites. thanks for sharing!
My kids loved puzzles, toy cars, toy trains, dolls, and their block sets.
I appreciate all the effort you have put into your posts on the topics of toys. We live in a techno-world and I feel sometimes we need to get back to good old-fasioned activities that our parents and grandparents used to participate with. Thanks for all the details and this wonderful giveaway!
Thanks Sabrina, I really appreciate your comment!
One of my faves is magnetic letters! There are so many I could list but that has to be one of my all time favourties!
I love just playing a board game or card game with my kids.
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I’d have to say I love potato head for colors, body awareness, and ‘in’ (following simple directions)
🙂
Mr. Potato head is AMAZING!
I have to go with the kitchen/food set! Even my boys love to “cook” and have picnics!
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Favorite unplugged toy or activity- a box- can be made into so many things encouraging imaginative thinking.
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YES! Boxes are AWESOME!! 🙂
Right now: transferring water between containers. Lots of fun. No batteries required (just lots of towels).
Water transferring is one of my daughter’s favorites! She does it in the bath or the sink…but you are correct LOTS of towels! 😉
I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed your website. Thank you so very much for all the ideas & thoughts you share!
Thanks Jess! So happy you are enjoying my site!
My favorite unplugged toy is the huge bucket of wooden train tracks and trains!