Fun on the Farm!

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2443512

What it is:  Fisher Price Little People Animal Sounds Farm
Where to get it:  Toys R Us, also Target, Meijer, Wal-Mart, Amazon, Fisher Price website, ebay, garage sales, etc. 
Alternatives:  There are so many versions of the Fisher Price farm, which was originally released in 1967.  I am proudto say that my mother still has this barn with many of the people and animals that go with it!  You can also buy packs of animals at places like Toys R Us for relatively cheap (not Fisher Price brand).  If you don't have a barn, you can use a shoe box or something similar to make a pretend barn.  The important thing is to have several animals, something that can be their "home", and some pretend food for them. 
What to do with it:  The ideas are almost endless! 

1. If you child is just learning to communicate--

• work on imitating actions (feeding the animals, putting them on the barn, making them fall off, making them run), imitating sounds (moo, baabaa)--I prefer starting with a panting noise for a dog noise instead of woof-woof because it is much easier.  I also like the "raspberry sound" or "motor boat" sound for a horse instead of neigh-neigh for the same reason (think when a horse blows air out of its nose).  If your child is good at signing you can work on some of the animals signs, as well as eat or drink.

2.  If your child is using simple words--

• Personally I think you can never work enough on "fun" sounds with kids who are just learning to talk!  Animal sounds, snoring, eating/drinking, etc are all things you can work on.  This really gets the child warmed up and ready to talk.  Work on labeling items (animal names, what they are eating), what they are doing ("eating, drinking, running, sleeping, jumping"), and where they are ("in barn, on barn, under blanket")

3.  If your child is using phrases--

• Start by using simple, rote phrases such as "more cow", "horse please", etc.  Then you can begin to combine any of the above listed words, such as "cow eat", "horse sleep", "go dog".  Avoid modeling long, complicated sentences--these are too hard to imitate!

4.  Receptive language--

• Have your child identify the different animals.  Give them directions to do with the animals--"give your horse something to eat, make the cow go to sleep".  You can sort the animals so all the cows are together, all the pigs, all the horses, and so on. 

As always--happy playing!