Preschool

Kids learn language through playing. One of the best things you can do with your preschooler during school breaks is play together!

Here is a Toy of the Week blog that talks about different ways to use popular toys (magnetic sand, Mr. Potato Head, toy cars) to help your child's language grow.

Crafts are a great way to practice language skills! You can give your child directions and see how well they follow along. After they finish the craft, have them describe it to you. You can also work on having your child request items they need to make the craft (such as asking for paper, or a color marker).

Craft websites:

https://www.dltk-teach.com/

https://www.easypeasyandfun.com/crafts-for-kids/

https://www.speechandlanguagekids.com/speech-language-crafts/

Music is a great way to help your child's language grow!

Play the "Stop and Go" song and see if your child can follow directions, and say the words "stop" and "go"!

Nursery rhymes (such as "The Itsy Bitsy Spider") are great, because they are repetitive and tell a story. You can stop the song and have your child finish the line! ("Down came the rain and washed the spider..." and stop and wait for your child to finish).

The CocoMelon YouTube channel has lots of nursery rhymes, as well as songs about body parts, animals, and daily activities for toddlers.

The Jack Hartman YouTube channel has songs for learning sign language and educational topics, like the alphabet and counting. He is very popular in our preschool!

Scholastic Learn at Home is a great, free tool that has at-home lessons for preschool students. Each lesson has a free book, video, and activity.

Read books with your child at home. Talk about the pictures (ask what they see in the pictures) and ask questions about what happened.

There also are several videos of popular children's books being read aloud on YouTube! You can watch the videos together and talk about the story.

Here are some resources with information on how to help build your child's language skills in preschool:

Activities to Encourage Speech and Language Development

Language Modeling Tips

9 Ways to Build Your Child's Language Skills