Top 10 Ways to Turn Playtime Into Communication Practice
I’ll be honest with you, the best communication wins I’ve seen with kids almost never happen at a table with flashcards. They happen on the floor, surrounded by toy cars and stuffed animals, when nobody’s even trying that hard.
Play is basically a Trojan horse for language. The kid thinks they’re just having fun, and meanwhile they’re stacking up new words and back-and-forth skills without even noticing. There are various ways you can incorporate these into playtime to make it more engaging and learning-friendly. We learned these during our visit to Aviation ABA, an organization offering ABA therapy in Salt Lake City. So here are ten easy ways to sneak communication practice into the everyday chaos of playtime.
1. Be a Tease About the Toys
Hold onto something your kid loves for a beat longer than they expect, just a second or two of “wait for it.” That little pause creates a reason for them to look at you, point, reach, or say something. You’re not being mean, you’re just creating an opening where communication suddenly makes sense.
2. Play Dumb on Purpose
Put the puzzle piece in the wrong spot. Try to put a sock on their hand instead of their foot. Kids love correcting adults, and that little jolt of “no, silly, it goes there” is often the most natural sentence they’ll say all day. Mistakes are an invitation, not a mess-up.
3. Narrate Like a Sports Announcer
You don’t need to label every object on the shelf. Just talk about what’s actually happening in the moment. “Whoa, the tower is wobbling, wobbling, and… it’s down!” Kids pick up language faster when it’s attached to something they’re already watching unfold.
4. Build in a Reason to Ask
Put the favorite toy in a clear container they can’t quite open. Set the bubbles just out of reach. This isn’t a setup to frustrate them; it’s a setup to give them a genuine reason to communicate, whether that’s a word, a sign, a point, or just eye contact paired with a sound.
5. Take Turns and Actually Wait
Roll the ball, then stop and wait for them to roll it back before you do anything else. The waiting part matters more than people think. Most of us jump in too fast to fill silence, but that silence is exactly where a kid’s own attempt at communication has room to show up.
6. Copy What They Do First
If they bang two blocks together, you bang two blocks together. If they make a weird noise, you make that same weird noise back. This sounds almost too simple to work, but imitation builds connection, and connection is the soil that communication actually grows in.
7. Offer Choices, Not Handouts
Hold up the red car and the blue car and ask which one. Even if your kid can’t talk yet, they can point, reach, or look longer at one option. Choices turn a passive moment into an active one, and active moments are where the real practice happens.
8. Leave a Gap in the Song
Sing the same song you always sing, but stop right before the last word and just look at your kid expectantly. “Twinkle twinkle little…” and then wait. Predictable routines with a small gap built in are basically a low-pressure invitation to fill in the blank.
9. Follow Their Lead, Don’t Redirect
I know it’s tempting to steer playtime toward something more “educational,” but honestly, the dinosaurs smashing into each other for the fortieth time is exactly where the engagement already lives. Join what they’re doing rather than pulling them toward what you think they should be doing. Kids talk more when the play feels like it’s actually theirs.
10. Celebrate the Attempt, Not Just the Word
If your kid grunts and points at the cup instead of saying “cup,” that grunt and point still count. Respond like it worked, because it did. Communication isn’t about a textbook-perfect first try; it’s about a kid learning that reaching out gets a response. That feeling is what keeps them trying.
The Real Takeaway
None of this requires a special toy, a curriculum, or a chunk of scheduled time. It just requires you noticing the small windows that pop up in ordinary play and stepping into them instead of letting them pass by. Your kid is already practicing communication every time they play, whether you’re tuned in or not. You showing up and playing along is really just turning the volume up on something that was already happening.