Talk Time's Holiday Gift Guide
- Allessandra Farrar
- Nov 14
- 8 min read
The winter holidays are fast approaching, and we're all feeling the pressure of shopping the sales. If you're on the hunt for gifts for kids, look no further!
While speech and language support strategies can be incorporated into play and reading with any toy or book, we compiled some of our favorites that easily lend themselves to supporting communication development.
When thinking about toys, games, books, and activities that will help foster speech & language development, here are some things to look out for:
EARLY LITERACY: Toys and books that feature letters are a great way to introduce pre-literacy skills.
COLLABORATIVE PLAY: Look for toys and games that encourage joint action and collaboration. These are great ways to develop social communication skills!
SENSORY INPUT: Toys that light up, make noise, or have varied textures can help your child explore their senses.
PREFERRED INTERESTS: Above all, toys and books should be FUN! Look for things your child already likes and lean in!
Play is a crucial tool that children use to develop language as well as social skills, problem solving, and self-regulation.
All play is okay. No matter your child’s age, we believe that as long as play is safe and fun, it is functional!
Whether your kid prefers to play alone, likes to play with the same toy over and over, or engages with toys in unconventional ways, follow their lead and celebrate the joy of play!
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2025:
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Building & Stacking
Kids of all ages love to build and stack. Here are a few of our favorites:
Quirptey Interlocking Building Blocks: These snowflake-shaped blocks give kids a whole new way to build! Younger kids can build simple shapes, while older kids can really let their imagination flourish.
LEGO DUPLO Town Truck & Excavator: Little hands can easily build with these bigger Duplo blocks. Plus, this kit includes characters and accessories to encourage imaginative play.
Clixo Magnetic Building Toy: These magnetic pieces are flexible, allowing kids to make endless creations!
Melissa & Doug Blockables Farm: Kids will love building their familiar farm friends. This toy provides great opportunities for expanding vocabulary and pretend play!
Picassotiles Marble Run: Marble run is always a hit, and this building kit will put kids’ engineering and problem solving skills to the test.
Melissa & Doug Wooden Construction Set: The possibilities are endless with this set of wooden blocks and tools. Kids can strengthen their fine motor skills, too!
Itzy Ritzy Sensory Blocks: The littlest learners will love exploring these adorable soft blocks and toys. The different textures expose babies and toddlers to a variety of sensory input.
Learning Resources Magnet Movers: This set of magnetic pieces allows kids to explore building in a different way. What a fun way to instill an early interest in science!
Sensory Play
Wake up those senses! Check out these toys for some fun sensory play.
Silouka Toddler Busy Book: This Montessori-inspired book helps little ones explore their senses and develop fine motor skills with felt, buckles, and more.
Joyin Turtle Stepping Stones: These stackable stepping stones give kids tactile input as they step. These are great for indoor or outdoor play!
Kabvry Animal Fidget Tubes: The stretchy tubes in these cute animals give kids sensory input as they pull and squeeze.
Hand2mind Express Your Feelings Sensory Bottles: These adorable sensory bottles help kids explore their visual sense while developing awareness of emotions.
Lesong Color Sorting Sensory Toys: These cute monsters are super squishy, and they help kids slow down and focus on colors and sensations.
Arts & Crafts
Creating art and exploring creativity helps kids stay engaged while developing vocabulary and strengthening problem solving skills.
Skillmatics Scissor Skills Activity Book: This book comes with everything kids need to create cool art projects while practicing scissor skills!
Chuckle and Roar Magnetic Drawing Board: This all-in-one set is a great way to take art on the go! Kids use a magnetic pen to manipulate colorful balls over and over again.
Learning Resources Geo-Glow Art: This set combines art with STEM-based learning by inviting kids to explore shapes! Plus, it glows!
Klever Kits Foil Art Kit: Foil art is a fun new way for kids to explore creativity! They’ll also practice following directions - first peel, then press, last stick!
Ready 2 Learn Textured Art Tools: Kids of all ages will have so much fun trying out these funky brushes! Try them with washable paint, in a sand sensory bin, or with water!
Imaginative Play
Let's play pretend!
Educational Insights Plush Fruit Basket: This fun set encourages kids of all ages to explore preparing, eating, and sharing foods! Take the basket on a “picnic” for more pretending opportunities!
VTech Drop & Go Dumptruck: Kids will love filling and dumping the truck and driving to all sorts of places! Try playing with the sound OFF to encourage more language!
Playdoh Care 'n Carry Vet: This set comes with all the accessories to take this cute pooch for a check-up. Or wait - maybe Rover’s getting groomed! The possibilities are endless.
Melissa & Doug Construction Worker Costume: Kids will love putting
on this construction get-up and the accessories are perfect to pair with toy trucks and tools!
Lalalark Whisk & Bake Set: This set is sure to inspire young bakers! Play while modeling vocabulary like crack, pour, and combine.
Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn DJ Table: DJ baby in the house! Little hands will love banging on the keys and making all sorts of noise with this fun toy! Try singing your favorite nursery rhymes as baby plays along!
Driven by Battat Gas Station & Drive-thru Restaurant: Let kids take the wheel with this set - try giving them an order for the drive-thru and see how much they can remember! Pair with your own vehicles and figures to keep the fun rolling.
Play22 Pop Up Castle: This pop-up tent provides the perfect backdrop to inspire imaginative play. Will your kids be a prince or princess? A knight? A dragon? Bring in toys and animals to add even more tools for play exploration.
Tabletop Games
Here are some of the board and card games we love to play:
Go, Go Little Penguin: This adorable game is a great introduction to the world of board games. The board itself is a puzzle - even more fun!
Feel & Match Zoo: This fun guessing game flexes kids’ describing, tactile perception, and vocabulary skills!
Pete the Cat: The Missing Cupcakes Game: This fun game is a great way to practice turn-taking and following directions! And who doesn’t love Pete the Cat?
Guess Who: A classic for a reason, this game helps kids practice asking questions, understanding negation, and using deductive reasoning.
Campfire Chatmallows: Stretch your story telling skills with this cute campfire set! Roll the dice, add them to your stick, and story away!
Elephant in the Room: Kids can strengthen their understanding of prepositions by moving the cute animals into the correct positions!
Want even more games? Want to know more about social communication and executive functioning skills that you use when playing games? Check out our blog post Getcha Head in the Game, packed with information and some great recommendations.
Books
We LOVE books, so it's no surprise that we have four different book lists! Keep scrolling to see our recommendations and why we chose them.
BOOKS FOR SENSORY EXPLORATION
Early readers can develop important pre-literacy skills - like touching & holding books and turning the pages - while exploring their senses.
Check out (1) Busy Tractor and (2) Never Touch A Polar Bear!
INTERACTIVE BOOKS
Kids can start actively participating in book reading by pressing buttons or opening flaps! This is especially great for kids who like to move and wiggle during book time. These interactive strategies keep your kids engaged for longer.
Check out sound books like (3) Noisy Animals, flap books like (4) The Very Hungry Caterpillar's Forest Hide & Seek, and sticker puppet books like (5) The Boo-Boo Book.
BOOKS WITH REPEATED LINES
Repeated lines, rhymes, and predictable story sequences are great for beginning readers to get excited about storytelling! Encourage young readers to speak aloud lines of the book that they know.
Check out (6) One Duck Stuck, (7) The Napping House, and (8) Jump, Frog, Jump!
BOOKS TO TEACH LESSONS
Readers of all ages can learn important lessons from books about friendship, new experiences, big feelings, and more!
Check out books like (1) The Way I Feel and (2) Spoon.
WORDLESS PICTURE BOOKS
Wordless books are a great way to get kids talking about books! Try taking turns telling each part of the story as you flip through the pages.
Check out books like (3) Flashlight and (4) Float.
BOOKS WITH RICH STORYTELLING
These books are full of opportunities for making predictions and inferences, retelling stories, and making connections to real-life experiences.
Check out (5) The Story of Little Babaji, (6) Molly Goes Shopping, and (7) Stella, Queen of the Snow.
BOOKS FOR IMPORTANT TOPICS
Books are a great way to tackle tough or complicated topics. Reading together with your child can launch meaningful discussions about mental health, self-identity, inclusion, bullying, and more.
Check out books (8) Ruby Finds A Worry, (9) The Goodbye Book, and (10) The Colors of Us.
BUILDING LITERACY SKILLS
If you are looking to support your child to reading and literacy skills, the Lovevery Reading Kits are the best deal. Teaching through play, these kits walk through developmentally-appropriate pre-literacy and literacy skills. The accompanying books make it easy for your child to feel successful at their reading level as they learn.
There are three different levels -- Sounds to Reading, Words to Books, and Advanced Rules to Chapter Books spanning from pre-K skills to skills learned in 1st/2nd grade. Buy one kit at a time or buy all three.
BOOKS FOR EARLY INDEPENDENT READERS
More advanced readers will love exploring the world of chapter books. Find books about their favorite topics to really motivate them to fall in love with reading!
Check out books and series like (1) Muk 'N' Honey Treehouse Trouble, (2) The Never Girls, and (3) Orris and Timble.
Reading books that feature characters with disabilities is incredibly important.
For those who are not disabled, reading promotes understanding, challenges stereotypes, and fosters inclusivity. For children who are disabled, seeing characters who reflect their own experience boosts self-esteem and confidence. Here are some of our favorite books that feature disability:
Just Ask: This story from Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor explores all the wonderful ways that people are different.
This Is How We Talk: This book celebrates the many ways that we can communicate - through speech, AAC, body language, and more! It also includes a guide for discussing disabilities with kids.
Included: Meet six awesome kids with their own special strengths. This sweet book helps kids understand that kids are kids, whether they’re disabled or not!
All The Way To The Top: An inspiring story about the history of the disability rights movement and activist Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins.
I Talk Like A River: This award winning book shares the perspective of a boy who stutters as his father helps him to accept his speech just the way it is.
My Three Best Friends And Me, Zulay: Zulay is just like her friends, and she’s blind. They work together to help her achieve her dream of running a race on Field Day!
Do You Want To Play?: When Jamie wants to play with an autistic classmate, she learns how to become friends with someone who plays and communicates differently.
Need More?
Have specific questions? Feel free to comment below or find us on Instagram. We would love to help you find the perfect gift for your little one this holiday season.
Want all this information and some educational content in one handy PDF? Download the Holiday Gift Guide for free -- don't forget to click on the pictures for easy-to-use links.