In addition to the activities found in the monthly calendar, below are some suggestions for activities that are easy to incorporate into your daily routine that will help promote your child's language skills!
Reading Books is a great way to develop your child's language skills! After your child finishes their nightly reading, ask them about the following details:
Ask your child questions about what you have read. These can be factual questions (Who? What? Where?) or inferential questions (Why…? How…? What might happen next…?)
Have your child retell the story to you. Try using sequencing words like first, next, last. Encourage them to think about characters, setting, problems, character feelings, actions and the resolution.
Draw your favorite character, part of the story, etc. and explain
Discuss a new ending to the story, or tell what might happen next
Encourage your child to share a related personal narrative with the topic umbrella.
Games that you can play as a family are a great way to encourage your child to think about and use their language skills! Below are some simple and fun games you can play with your child that will reinforce what we are working on in speech:
Scattergories/Scattergories Junior: Teams work to come up with different members of different categories (ie. sports, desserts, winter clothes). The twist is that each thing you name has to start with a certain letter. This game works on our understanding of categories and how words go together.
5 Second Rule/5 Second Rule Junior: In this fast-paced game, your job is to name three items of a given category in just five seconds. This game works on our understanding of categories, word associations, and thinking on your toes!
Headbanz: Every player has a picture on their forehead that they cannot see. Your job is to guess what is on your head by asking yes/no questions. This game works on our understanding of categories and item features. You can also provide a description such as, “You are a type of transportation that travels in the sky.”
Heads Up: This is a smartphone app that is very similar to Headbanz. Players hold the phone up to their forehead and a word is displayed. The other players have to describe this word in order to get the player whose turn it is to guess the word correctly.
Apples to Apples/Apples to Apples Junior: In each round of this game, a judge puts down a green (adjective) card. All the other players play a red (noun) card that “goes with” the adjective word on the green card. The judge decides which red card is the best. This game works on word associations and parts of speech.
Taboo: Your job is to get your team to guess a certain word by giving clues and describing the word on the card. The twist is that there is also a list of ‘taboo’ words that you cannot use in your description. Modify the game and instead of worrying about the ‘taboo’ words, use them to help you in your descriptions. As you get better at formulating good descriptions, then try playing the true way where you cannot say the ‘taboo’ words.
Guess Who?: Try to guess which character card your opponent has by asking yes/no questions. This game works on vocabulary, item features, asking questions, and process of elimination.
Blurt: This game works on listening skills and vocabulary. Listen to a description of a word and “blurt” out the correct word. If you’re the first one to blurt it, you advance on the gameboard.
Watch a Movie and use some of the same strategies as you would when you read a book:
Ask your child questions about what is happening, why characters feel certain ways, what might happen next, etc.
Talk about the different characters’ personality traits. Compare and contrast the characters.
Think of other ways the characters could have solved problems. Come up with silly solutions and talk about why they might not have worked.
Cook/Bake something together
Practice following the directions of a recipe. Use sequential language such as, “First we add the tomatoes, then we stir it all together, and last we add seasoning.”
Use spatial concept words such as in, on, on top, next to, as much as possible.
Talk about the textures, tastes, smells, and colors of the foods. Use descriptive words.