Enriching Your Child’s Speech and Language Skills through Play and Experiences
You don’t need flashcards, workbooks, or four walls to enrich your child’s speech and language skills. Using real-life experiences and play is the best way to support language development and cognitive growth in children!
Yesterday, Eade Care (a wonderful, local childcare) and I went on a learning adventure to our local public library who hosted a small petting zoo. The kids were able to meet and interact with many sweet little animals and enjoyed a fun craft activity inside.
Incorporating real-life experiences like this is one of the best ways to support your child’s speech, language, and cognitive growth!
How to Turn Simple Real-Life Experiences into Exceptional Learning Opportunities
Description Words:
Use descriptive words, adjectives, and actions to talk about what your child is experiencing. We talked about the textures of the animals' fur, scales, and feathers using a range of adjectives and opposites. We talked about how some animals felt hard and soft, others rough or smooth, and some were fuzzy while others were scaly.
Pro-Tip: No need to ask 1,000 questions; you can tell your child what they are experiencing as they experience it. For example, “That lizard is really scaly; his skin is rough,” or “The bunny is so soft! Watch him hop-hop-hop around.” This type of descriptive language helps children understand and articulate the world around them. It's never too early to start having these conversations and helping your child build a rich vocabulary.
Speech Sounds:
Making animal sounds together is a fun and effective way to practice different speech sounds. This activity not only helps with speech skills and phonological awareness, but also keeps the children engaged and entertained.
Following Directions:
Use simple, clear directions to promote your child’s language comprehension skills! Allow your child to try to follow the direction before stepping in and redirecting or repeating your direction multiple times. It’s okay for kids to struggle while they figure it out!
I-Spy Game:
While we were waiting, the kids got bored. I fully believe that boredom is GOOD for kids! But as they got antsier and antsier (not sure if that’s a real word), we introduced a game of I-Spy. This game is wonderful for working on color identification, boosting creativity, working on attention, and sharpening observation skills. The children worked to find and name different colors and objects, which reinforced their learning in an interactive and enjoyable way. This also helps to build on utterance length (e.g., not just a “car” but a “blue car” or a “fast, blue car”).
Pro-Tip: If your child is ready to move beyond colors, trying using other descriptions (e.g., “I Spy something that is hopping” “I Spy something that is tall").
Learning is Everywhere!
Enriching your child's speech and language skills doesn't require a classroom or traditional learning tools. By using real-life experiences and play, you can create engaging and effective learning opportunities that foster cognitive growth and language development. Whether it's describing the textures of animals, making fun sounds, following directions, or playing games like I-Spy, each activity can turn into a valuable lesson. Remember, learning is everywhere! Embrace the world around you, get out, and engage with your child. Together, you can explore and discover new ways to build their language skills while making lasting memories. Happy adventuring!