Toddler Speech & Language Activities with Lovevery Play Kits: The Enthusiast (28, 29, 30 months)

The Montessori-inspired play kits from Lovevery are treasure troves for practicing a variety of different developmental skills, such as fine motor, gross motor, social-emotional, cognitive, language, and more.  As a pediatric Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP), I find incredible value in these play kits as not only toys for my little one but as materials for my speech therapy sessions, too.  

We recently got The Enthusiast Play Kit for toddlers (ages 28-30 months), and it inspired me to share some functional language activities that you can easily implement at home with your child!

In this article, we'll dive into each of the toys with developmental activities promoting speech and language skills, as well as tips to foster a language-rich environment.

I'll be sharing: 

1. Target vocabulary, including core words that are important for your little one to understand and use.
2. Language activities that target skills, such as:
   Receptive language (comprehension),
   Expressive language (speaking),
   Pragmatic language (social communication)

I hope you'll have as much fun with it as my daughter and I did! 

If you prefer watching (or listening) over reading, please feel free to check out my video below of this same, exact content!  

If you have an older child, take a look at my review of the Observer Play Kit (for ages 37-39 months).

What's in the Box?

Before I jump into the activities, let's take a quick look at what's in The Enthusiast Play Kit.  Upon first glance, you can see that there's a wide array of fun and enticing toys, books, and objects for your little one to engage with.  I can attest that they're well-designed and inspire creativity and play!  

Here's a breakdown of what's included:

Balance Scale

› Target Vocabulary

weight, heavy, light, more, same, different, put (in), take (out), empty, full, up, down 

› Listening Comprehension

Following Simple Directions:

Lay out a number (start with 2-3) of small, familiar objects (e.g., animals) and have your child find the one you indicate into a bucket.

"Put the ___ in the bucket." 

Right & Left:

Use directional concepts like "left" and "right" to tell which bucket to put the object into. 

"Put the __ into the bucket on the right." 

Multi-step Directions:

Give a two-step direction using temporal concepts, such as: first, then, next, after. 

 "First, put the __ into the right bucket. Then, put the __ into the left bucket."

› Speaking

Numbers & Counting:

Give multiples of the same object (e.g., marbles, buttons) and work on placing a certain number into one bucket. Give a different number for the other bucket. Ask your child what they notice about the different numbers of objects and how it affects the weight. Talk about more being heavier, and fewer being lighter. 

"Let's put three marbles in this bucket. Count with me. One, two, three."

Grammar and Sentence Structure:

Have your child pick between two different objects to weigh, and put them into the two different buckets. Practice comparative sentence structures with the phrases "heavier than" and "lighter than". You may start out the sentence and have them fill in the last word. Giving a pause is a natural prompt for your child to complete your sentence.

"The doll is heavier than the... (button)." 

You can also practice this with the counting concept above. 

"Three marbles are heavier than... (one marble)."

Squeegee Set

› Target Vocabulary

Nouns: bottle, squeegee, wall, window, mist
Verbs: spray, scrape, wipe
Describing: clean, dirty, wet, dry, high, low

› Language Activities

Parallel Talk:
Narrate what your child is doing. Talk through their experiences and senses, like sight, tactile sensations, smell, sound, and emotion. Talk about what you notice. Don't be afraid to use specific vocabulary, which will help improve knowledge of word meanings. 

"You're being very careful spraying mist on the window." 

"I see many wet droplets!" 

"That squeegee made a squeaky sound!" 

Expressing Needs: 

Prompt your child to appropriately request their needs, which helps develop self-advocacy skills. 

"Looks like you finished spraying the tabletop. What do you need for wiping it clean?"

Peg Puzzle

› Target Vocabulary

Nouns: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, peg 
Verbs: put (in), take (out) 

Describing: yellow, green, blue, 1, 2, 3, 4
Social: my turn, your turn 

Functional: all done, more, again  

› Language Activities

Following Directions:
Focus on any distinguishing attribute (e.g., color, shape) with either an action word (e.g., "put in") or "where" question. Give multi-step directions for a challenge. 

"Where does the circle go?" 

"First put in the yellow circle, then the blue square." 

Social turn-taking:

Take turns with your child finding a shape and putting it into the puzzle. Pick your own shapes, or give each other directions on which shapes to find. 

"I put in circle. Now it's your turn!"

Picnic Set

› Target Vocabulary

Nouns: plate, cup, teapot, cloth, napkin, basket, picnic

Verbs: pour, spill, drink, eat, pack 

Describing: yummy, hot, cold

Functional: please, more, all done, like, don't like, oh no

› Pretend Play

Asking questions:
Model the use of questions and encourage your child to ask you questions as well. Try a variety of question forms, like yes/no, this/that, and WH- questions. 

"Do you like hot tea, or cold tea?" 

"How does it taste?" 

Problem-solving: 

Pretend to spill your cup and ask your child how to fix the problem. 

"Oh no! I spilled my tea. What do I do?" 

"What do I need to fix this? 

"Where can I find more napkins?"

Final Thoughts & Discount

I hope that you find these activity ideas and tips to be helpful!  I encourage you to have fun with it as intended. 

I'd love to share a special discount for those of you looking to start a subscription to Lovevery's all-in-one play kits!  To claim your discount code, send me a direct message on Instagram.  Alternatively, you may send an email to: jade (at) sweetsofties.com for your code.

Happy playing!

Warm wishes,

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