Holiday Gift Guide for Speech Therapists: Build Speech & Language With Playful Pairings
Welcome back to The Talk with April Anderson—our December edition of this monthly series for feeding and communication professionals. Each installment shares practical strategies, family-centered tools, and playful ideas you can use in therapy and at home.
The holidays are a perfect time to refresh your therapy bag and to help families choose gifts that naturally support communication. Rather than prescribing a long toy list, this guide shows you how to pair high-interest play with the right therapy tools so children can practice skills they need: following directions, imitation, narration, describing, categories, feeding play, oral-motor patterns, and language expansion. For more resources, visit the TalkTools blog hub and resource library.
How to Choose Gifts That Spark Language (and Carry Over at Home)
- Follow the child’s lead. Use their favorite characters/themes and build simple, repeatable routines to invite turns, comments, and requests—core habits supported across ASHA’s language and early-intervention guidance.
- Blend sensory and motor with communication. Short bouts of oral-sensory prep can improve readiness for feeding or speech tasks, then play becomes the context for practicing targets.
- Keep it routine-based and fun. Predictable games and shared story play increase joint attention and opportunities for modeling across home and school environments.
5 TalkTools Team Top Picks
Therapy Tools to Pair with Holiday Play
1. TalkTools® Honey Bear
A TalkTools original that lets caregivers gently control liquid flow while teaching straw drinking. It supports lip rounding, tongue retraction, and transitions from bottles or sippy cups to more mature drinking patterns. Resources like ASHA’s pediatric feeding and swallowing materials highlight how SLPs help children with feeding challenges across settings.
2. TalkTools® Itsy™ Cup
An all-in-one drinking cup that transitions with the child, from supported sips to straw and open-cup drinking. It provides repeated practice for oral motor control during mealtimes.
3. TalkTools® Straw Kit
The TalkTools® Straw Kit is a 12-step straw hierarchy that promotes jaw, lip, and tongue dissociation. It supports tongue retraction, grading, and lip rounding, and helps lay the groundwork for clearer speech.
4. TalkTools® Horn Kit
The TalkTools® Horn Kit is a motivational horn hierarchy designed to improve breath support and velopharyngeal function. You can explore our horn hierarchy tools to target specific speech sound errors as part of an OPT program. Tools that support breath control and oral motor patterns may be included in broader intervention plans for children with orofacial myofunctional disorders, guided by an SLP following frameworks like ASHA’s overview of orofacial myofunctional disorders.
5. TalkTools® Therapeutic Feeding Kit
The TalkTools® Therapeutic Feeding Kit is a curated collection of mealtime and sensory tools in one portable case. It is ideal for families who need a therapist-guided starting point for safe, nutritive feeding at home. You can find this and other comprehensive therapy sets in our programs and kits collection.
How to Pair Therapy Tools With Holiday Toys
Use the toys families already love—then layer tools on top:
Pretend food, tea sets, or snack breaks
Honey Bear / Itsy™ Cup
Coach paced sips, lip rounding, and tongue retraction while keeping the interaction playful and low-pressure.
High-interest games or music time
Straw Kit
Weave short straw-hierarchy trials between turns to practice jaw–lip–tongue dissociation while motivation is high.
Fast-paced turn-taking games
Horn Kit
Channel excitement into structured breath support using the horn hierarchy; tie progress to specific speech-sound goals.
Board games or cooperative play
Therapeutic Feeding Kit
Keep utensils, chewy options, and pre-feeding tools on hand so mealtimes and therapy overlap naturally in real routines.
Therapist Tip 💡
No matter the toy or tool, the real magic is in how you use it. Model language, build simple predictable routines, and keep play child-led. When children feel in control and connected, communication flourishes.
If you’re looking to deepen your clinical skills while you play, explore TalkTools training courses for CEU opportunities focused on OPT, feeding, and speech sound development.