Resources for Typical Play Development

I work with a lot of kids under the age of 5 years.  I recently have had an influx of "late talkers" and children who are not interacting or playing as you might expect.  I've compiled a list of resources that I use as the professional and that I also give to my clients' parents.

Carol Westby created a play scale of 10 stages that goes up to age 5.  You can download it for free here: 

Teach Me to Play WITH You Manuel from Teach Me To Talk- $48 here

How Play Differs Among Toddlers with Typical Developing Skills, Language Delay, and Autism podcast from Teach Me to Talk

Early Language Development Handout from Super Duper-free download

Types/Stages of Play charts from Communication Station Speech Therapy--free download

Best Toys for Language Development blog post from my friend Katie at Play With Words 365

Language For the Playground--a website focusing on play skills.  This particular article focuses on the playground and 3 stages of social competence. 

Learn to Play--a website full of resources for therapists and parents

Zero to Three: four resources that describe the development of play from birth to three years

Make the Most of Playtime article from The Center on Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning from Vanderbilt University

Social Thinking We Thinkers! Building Blocks Poster- $9.00 on their website

1 2 3 Just Play With Me- Play-Based Developmental Card Set- $42 on Amazon

Blog post from Medbridge regarding choosing appropriate toys

Preschool SLP Evaluation Forms from my friend Jenna at Speech Room News

Early Intervention Parent Handouts: Play from Language Launchers 

What are your favorite resources for typical play development?