How to Increase Language Development Through Meaningful Play

Play provides a natural context for young children to learn, grow, and flourish.  It provides a basis for proper development including social-emotional abilities, motor skills, cognition, and communication. If a child’s symbolic play skills are not progressing appropriately, this could possibly be a sign of delayed language growth. Symbolic play typically starts to emerge around 12-13 months (Gowan, 1995) and continues to develop throughout the early years. This form of play is the ability to use objects to represent other items. For example, a child demonstrates knowledge of symbolic play by substituting a ball for an apple and pretending to eat the ball.

Improving Language Through Play

To target symbolic play, you may need to work on functional play first if your child has not acquired these skills by this stage. You can tackle this area by showing your child how to interact with toys in appropriate ways. Do this by demonstrating how to use blocks to build a tower, push a car to make it go, or use a wand to blow bubbles. These are just a few examples.

You can improve symbolic play skills by encouraging your child to be inventive. Model silly and flexible ways of interacting with a toy during play like using a box to represent a car or utilizing a crayon to embody a fire hose. Help your child make up a pretend story to sequence what is happening during play. As you consistently engage your child in play, your child’s language skills will grow and progress.

Play can also be used to help your child process and use language in the following ways:

• 1. Increase Language Comprehension

  • a) Instruct your child to show you specific toys in the following ways: show me the car, point to the boat, or touch the dinosaur.
  • b) Once your child’s vocabulary improves, prompt him to point to items based on the manner that they are used. Say things like, “show me something you can throw”, “point to something you drink”, and “touch something you can read”.

• 2. Increase Language Use

  • a) Ask your child questions like “what’s that?” to elicit the name of each toy. Another method you can use is a simple “fill-in” strategy. Say “look this is a ___” and wait for your child to finish the sentence by adding the name of the toy.
  • b) Once your child’s vocabulary grows, help your child explain the function of objects by asking questions like what do you do with a cup? what is a key used for? what is a ball used for?

Developmental Milestones for Play and Language

Knowing what to expect at each stage can help parents and caregivers understand progress and spot potential concerns early.

• 12–18 months: Begins simple pretend actions (feeding a doll, pretending to drink). Uses 5–20 words.
• 18–24 months: Expands pretend play to include simple storylines. Vocabulary grows to 50+ words.
• 2–3 years: Combines objects and actions in more complex pretend scenarios. Begins using short sentences.
• 3–4 years: Acts out detailed stories with multiple roles and sequences. Uses more complex grammar.

If a child is not showing these skills within the typical range, it may be worth discussing with a speech-language pathologist or pediatrician.

Play Ideas by Age Group

Here are some play suggestions to target language development at different stages:

1. Toddlers (1–2 years): Pretend feeding a stuffed animal, pushing cars and saying “go,” stacking blocks and naming colors.
2. Preschoolers (3–4 years): Acting out trips (store, doctor, park), puppet shows with dialogue, using toy phones for pretend calls.
3. Early School Age (5–6 years): Building cities with blocks and describing them, role-playing real-life jobs (chef, firefighter), making up original stories with props.

Tips for Parents and Caregivers During Play

1. Follow your child’s lead: Let them choose the toy or game and build language around their interest.
2. Narrate what you see: Describe actions (“You’re feeding the bear”) to model sentence structure.
3. Expand on their speech: If your child says “car,” you might respond, “Yes, the red car is going fast.”
4. Use repetition: Repeat key words naturally during play to reinforce learning.

Adapting Play for Children with Language Delays or Autism

Some children may need extra support to develop pretend play skills. Strategies can include:

• Using visual supports or picture cards to guide play.
• Incorporating sensory-friendly toys for comfort and engagement.
• Starting with structured play scripts (e.g., “First we cook, then we eat”) before moving to free play.
• Using favorite characters or topics to motivate participation.

Play functions as an optimal catalyst to improve your child’s language abilities.  As you consistently engage your child in play, his communication skills will continue to burgeon and expand. Each child will show results in of play functions in different ways. If you would like to ask our expert about the topic, get in touch with us. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter) to stay on top of our latest updates.

References:

Gowen, J. W. (1995). The early development of symbolic play. Young Children, 50(3), 75–84. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42727020