Using Magnatiles to Grow Vocabulary

Are you looking for a fun and easy way to boost your toddler’s language skills? You’ve come to the right place. I have some tips and tricks to share with you for ways you can grow your child’s vocabulary while using a favorite in my house: Magnatiles!

Magnatiles are famous for their open-ended play and building fun, BUT they can also do SO MUCH MORE than that. I’m going to show you how I use Magnatiles as a speech therapist to grow vocabulary and help toddlers talk more.

A really fun (and simple!) way to use Magnatiles is to make roads for cars or other vehicles. You can make a straight line or have fun with angles or hills. Use your imagination and bring in other toys from around the house.

While Driving Cars Along This Road You Can Model These Words:

• BEEP
• BOOM or CRASH if the car hits another car or a wall if you build walls along the side
• HONK (if there’s traffic!)
• (a higher-pitched repetitive) BEEP BEEP BEEP as a backing-up sound

Don't have cars at home or handy right now? Don’t worry! Just change it up! You can use these “roads” as paths for animals or people to walk on. Maybe they are going to the store, going to school, or work. 

Most kids have some favorite go-to locations like the library or a neighborhood park. Pick your favorite and add ideas along the way that make sense. Maybe the animals need to stop for water, or the people need to grab a snack. Have fun, and make sure to let your little one pipe up with ideas as well!

For either activity you can work on modeling action words, descriptors, or sequential language. I'll list some examples for you below.

 Action words:

• STOMP
• RUN
• SKIP

Descriptive words:

• FAST
• SLOW

Sequential words:

• FIRST
• NEXT
• LAST

Whether it's tall buildings, curvy roads, or a bustling city, you can make Magnatile play a great opportunity for modeling description and functional language for your little one. They will love learning new words to talk with you about their masterpieces.

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Looking For More Ideas? Watch My Talking With Toys YouTube Series!

I’m not exaggerating when I say there are endless possibilities with Magnatiles play! Besides making roads, I have 9 other simple and interactive ideas for bringing language into your Magnatile play like:

• How to model concepts like PUSH and PULL
• Creating scenes like a farm for pretend play 
• Making shapes
• Sorting by color
• Using Magnatiles in the kitchen
• Modeling feelings and coping strategies
• And so much more!

To access all 10 Magnatile play ideas with all my tips and details, click here for the most recent video in my Talking with Toys series on YouTube. You might also find my other Talking with Toys videos helpful, especially if your toddler likes cars or dinosaurs! While you’re there, be sure to subscribe to my channel so you won’t miss any of the new videos I post. You can even post in the comments what toy you would like me to cover next!

Happy playing!

Melissa

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