A warm, evidence-led guide to the toys and play styles most likely to unlock language in toddlers whose words are taking a little longer to arrive.
If your 18-month-old has fewer than ten words, or seems to be watching language from the outside rather than joining in, the most useful thing you can do right now is play: deliberately and warmly, with simple, open-ended toys that invite you to talk together. Research does not support the idea that any toy works alone, but a growing body of evidence shows that the right object, held by a present and responsive adult, can significantly increase the number of words a toddler hears, imitates and eventually keeps. The toys most consistently linked to richer language are those that invite turn-taking, repetition and shared gaze: wooden shape sorters, simple stacking rings, cause-and-effect toys and basic puzzles. Electronic toys that speak for themselves tend to reduce the amount a parent talks, which is the opposite of what a child with a speech delay needs.
The short answer, then, is this: choose toys that stay quiet so that you can be loud. Choose objects that reward a child's action with a satisfying result, because that moment of shared delight, when the shape drops through the hole or the tower falls, is precisely when a toddler is most open to hearing a new word and storing it. The sections below explain why, and point you towards specific types of toy worth seeking out.
The landmark work of Hart and Risley in the 1990s established that the sheer quantity of words a child hears in the early years is one of the strongest predictors of later vocabulary. More recently, researchers including Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff have refined this picture: it is not simply word-count that matters, but the quality and responsiveness of the interaction. A word spoken in response to a child's gaze or gesture, what researchers call a contingent utterance, is far more likely to be learned than the same word broadcast into the air by a speaking toy.
What the Research Tells Us
Sosa (2016) found that infants playing with electronic toys produced significantly fewer vocalisations and heard fewer adult words than infants playing with wooden or board toys. The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, concluded that the talking and sound-making features of electronic toys may actually crowd out the very conversation they appear to encourage.
Dauch and colleagues replicated a related finding: toddlers presented with a small number of simple toys engaged in longer, richer play than those given many toys at once. Fewer, better objects create the conditions for sustained attention, and sustained attention is where language learning happens. Kuhl's work on early phonetic learning adds a further dimension: infants and toddlers learn sound patterns most efficiently from a live, responsive human face, not from a screen or a recorded voice.
Wooden toys earn their reputation not through sentiment but through design logic. They are quiet, which means the adult fills the silence. They are tactile, which gives a toddler something real to attend to and a parent something concrete to name. They tend to be simple enough that a child can succeed with gentle support, creating the moments of shared triumph that Vygotsky described as learning within the zone of proximal development: tasks just beyond a child's current reach but achievable with a warm hand nearby.
Open-ended objects, those that can be stacked, sorted, rolled, carried or lined up, also allow a child to set the pace and direction of play. Montessori's observations, echoed by decades of subsequent developmental research, suggest that a child who initiates an action is more cognitively alert and therefore more linguistically receptive than one who is being entertained. When your toddler reaches for the red ring, that is an invitation: name it, narrate it, respond to it.
Piaget on Action and Understanding
Piaget's sensorimotor framework reminds us that toddlers between 12 and 24 months understand their world primarily through physical manipulation. A toy that can be touched, turned, fitted and dropped is not merely entertaining: it is the medium through which a child at this age builds the mental categories that words will eventually label.
Repetition is the engine of early vocabulary. When the same shape goes through the same hole ten times in a single afternoon, a parent has ten opportunities to say "circle" or "in" or "well done" in a context that is utterly clear to the child. That clarity, what researchers sometimes call referential transparency, is one of the conditions Golinkoff identifies as essential for word learning to stick. Shape sorters also naturally invite joint attention, the shared gaze between adult and object that Meltzoff and colleagues have shown to be a gateway skill for language acquisition.
Stacking rings offer similar advantages. Colour, size, order, the satisfying collapse of a tower: each moment generates a natural exclamation, a label, a question. "Big one. Small one. Shall we knock it down?" Three words. Three concepts. Ten repetitions before lunch.
Browse Jaques London's collection of wooden toys, crafted with the same commitment to quality that has guided the company since 1795A four-piece wooden puzzle is a masterclass in joint attention. The child looks at the piece, looks at you, looks back at the board. In that triangular gaze lies the very architecture of communication. Trawick-Smith's observational studies of toddler play consistently identify puzzles and manipulative toys as among the highest-quality play objects for cognitive and language development, precisely because they generate extended, focused engagement rather than flitting distraction.
Cause-and-effect toys, those where pressing, fitting or dropping produces a clear and repeatable outcome, are similarly powerful. They give a child a sense of agency, and a child who feels in control of their environment is more likely to attempt to comment on it. Even a simple "oh!" or "more" in response to a falling tower is a communicative act worth celebrating and extending.
The toy is the vehicle; you are the engine. Suskind's work, developed through the Thirty Million Words Initiative, distils the most effective parental strategies into three principles: tune in to what the child is attending to, talk more by narrating play in simple, rich language, and take turns by waiting for any response, however small, before speaking again. These strategies cost nothing and require no special training, only attention and patience.
When selecting toys for a toddler with a speech delay, look for objects with a small number of distinct, nameable elements: colours, shapes, animals, sizes. Avoid toys that talk, sing or light up automatically, as the evidence from Sosa and others suggests these features reduce parental input. Avoid toys with too many pieces, which can overwhelm rather than engage. Favour toys that reward effort with a clear, satisfying result, because that moment of success is your language window.
Explore Jaques London's educational toys range, designed to support early learning through play that enduresThe following types of toy are consistently recommended by speech and language therapists and supported by developmental research. All are available in traditional wooden form from specialist UK suppliers, including Jaques London, whose heritage of thoughtful game and toy design stretches back to 1795.
Fewer than ten words at 18 months sits below the typical developmental range, and it is worth mentioning to your health visitor or GP. That said, the range of normal is wider than many parents realise, and late talking alone, in the absence of other concerns, does not always indicate a lasting difficulty. A toy cannot replace professional assessment, but the right toy, used in the right way by a responsive adult, genuinely increases the number of language-rich interactions a child experiences each day. That increase matters. Hart and Risley's research makes clear that cumulative exposure to words in meaningful context is one of the most powerful levers available to any parent.
The UK Chief Medical Officers' guidelines recommend that toddlers aged one to two years should be active and engaged throughout the day, with screen time discouraged outside of video calls. For language-focused play specifically, research suggests that quality matters far more than duration. Two or three short sessions of ten to fifteen minutes, where you are fully present and narrating play, will likely produce more language growth than a single long session of distracted co-play. Build these moments into natural transitions: before a nap, after a meal, during the quiet hour before bath time.
The evidence points firmly in the other direction. Sosa's research found that electronic toys reduced both parental speech and infant vocalisation compared to wooden and traditional toys. The American Academy of Pediatrics similarly cautions against over-reliance on talking toys for early language development, noting that live, contingent interaction with a caregiver is the gold standard for word learning. A toy that speaks does the talking so you do not have to, and for a child who already needs more language input, that is a significant drawback. Wooden toys, precisely because they are silent, give you the stage.
Speak to your health visitor or GP promptly if your child has no words at all at 18 months, has lost words they previously used, does not point or wave, does not make eye contact consistently, or if you have any instinct that something is not quite right. Play-based strategies at home are a valuable complement to professional support, not a substitute for it. A speech and language therapist can assess your child's specific profile and tailor guidance far beyond what any toy or general guide can offer. Early intervention, when it is needed, produces the best outcomes: do not wait to ask.
Britain's oldest toy maker. Every toy open-ended, wooden, and built for exactly the kind of play the research recommends.