Language & Communication

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Communicating Effectively

Your child’s ability to express themselves clearly (their language and communication skills) are vital in order to be school ready. The more able they are to speak in a way which is easily understood will not only help them with their communication with their teachers but will also aid with making friends, learning to read and write. We want our children to speak clearly enough to allow them to be understood by their teachers and so they can have fun playing with their friends.

Equally your child needs to be able to hear all the sounds in the words they are reading and writing. If I say the word, ‘preese’ instead of ‘please’ my early writing will look like this: prees rather than plees. Although not spelt correctly the second version of the spelling (plees) is phonetically correct so my teacher will be able to decode what I am is communicating.

Exposure to Vocabulary to support Language

Exposure to a broad range of vocabulary is also highly important as this will aid with: understanding instructions, following along with an activity, comprehending what is being taught and communicating effectively.

Having a broad range of spoken vocabulary also aids with reading. If a child is attempting to read a word they have never heard before or they don’t understand, it will be challenging for them to surmise what that word says. The more reading clues and tools a child has before they attempt the challenging task of reading the more successful they will be. Have you ever read a text with a word in that you have never seen before? If you are anything like me you will just skip over that word and use the context of the sentence to get a rough idea as to what is being communicated. This strategy works when reading the odd new word but it’s very hard to apply this when there are a lot of new words to read.

So, a great way to prepare your child for reading is to build up their spoken vocabulary.

Ten Great Ways to Support the Development of Language & Communication at Home

Language & Communication Idea 1, Be Aware of the Everyday

There are hundreds of ways in which a child’s language and communication skills can be developed, but (I think) the most effective is being aware that these are really important skills. This awareness will open your eyes up to the possibilities of the everyday.

So, when you are sitting and doing a jigsaw together you will naturally speak about all of the animals you can see in the picture. You will use a range of words to describe the pigs: sow, piglets, pigpen. Then you can talk about how the sow has an udder and that her piglets suck on the teats of the udder to get their milk. When your child’s language has developed to a confident level, you will begin to ask questions such as; “What are the piglets doing in this picture?” And your child will be able to comment back, “They are drinking milk from their mummy’s teats.”

Eventually you will find yourself becoming a narrator to the day’s events or activities.

*Please bear in mind that children’s language and communication skills do develop at different ages and stages. However, if you are at any point worried over your child’s language and communication skills please book and appointment with your GP to talk through your concerns. Remember you are you child’s advocate, never feel like you are being over concerned or over fussy.

Everyday Activities that Promote the Development of Language & Communication

• Jigsaws
• Board games
• Indoor role-play (toy kitchen, playing with dolls, superheroes, animals etc)
• Outdoor role-play (playing in the woods)
• Car games e.g. ‘Eye Spy’. In this version of the game say, “I spy with my little eye, something that is … blue.”
• Cooking using new ingredients (this will also help with trying new foods to eat)
• Drawing
• Going on adventures
• Looking at photographs
• Talking about past events
• If your child is too tired to talk, you can model recalling an activity, describe what happened
• Making plans, talking about what your child wants to do and why
• Reflecting on feelings

Language & Communication Idea 2, Read

• Read, read & read some more!
• Visit the library (even if it’s just for a browse).
• Read to your child every evening before bed.
• Discuss new vocabulary together during story time.
• Ask your child questions about what they can see in the pictures.
• When a book is familiar, ask your child to ‘read’ it to you or a younger sibling.

Help Develop a Love of Reading:

• Don’t make books precious! Allow them to be well loved, allow the corners to get folded and for them to be taken to bed. If you need to replace a book because it has been read to death that is an absolute #mumwin.
• Find fun places to read, make reading more than just about bedtime.
• Buy books as presents.
• When shopping take a trip to the local book shop; spend time browsing and looking at what is there (you don’t need to buy any).
• Give your child an early bedtime, leave them awake in bed with a selection of books.
• Find out what interests your child and buy them books around that topic.
• Model reading yourself (even if it’s just a magazine, showing the importance of being able to read is sooooooo important!)

Language & Communication Idea 3, Chit-Chat

• Speak to your child and engage in general chit-chat.
• Ask your child questions and leave space for them to answer you.
• Try not to speak for your child when someone else asks them a question.
• Model out loud your thought processes; “If I go to the shops now it will be a rush, however, I could pop by later in the car.”
• Go on little or big adventures to discover new things.
• Engage in new experiences as a family.
• When out and about, ask questions (even if you don’t know the answers) – “I wonder what this flower is called?”
• Learn new facts and words together – looks up your questions together on Google.
• Don’t be afraid to use sophisticated language.

Learning Language

REMEMBER: Your child is learning a new language, it is up to you what words you want them to learn first. You could teach them the word ‘nice’ or you could teach them the word ‘wonderful.’ The learning process is the same for both words. So, why not teach the word wonderful first?

Your child’s ability to learn sophisticated words will astound you!
(In school, at the age of 4, children learn the words digraph and trigraph – their little brains are amazing!)

Recommended Products to Help Develop Language and Communication

Mrs Wordsmith produces a number of great resources that aid with developing a rich vocabulary at home. Check out My Epic Life Word Book, My Epic Life Daily Word Workout and Storyteller’s Word a Day.

Language & Communication Idea 4, Family Adventures

One of the best ways to encourage your child to develop language skills is to provide them with a wealth of experience, such as; exploring in the woods, going to the zoo, cooking at grandma’s house or visiting the allotment. When a child takes part in something new and hands on it’s really exciting and in most cases, excitement fuels talking!

Some snaps from our family trip to Birmingham’s Chinese New Year Festival. We went as my son was learning about the festival in his Foundation year at school. During our time there he learnt so much (in fact we all did!) Lots of new vocabulary was learnt as the children saw and engaged in actives which they had never seen or done before. Both children learnt that even though Chinese dragons look really cool in books they are quite scary up front. They experienced the thud of drums pounding through their bodies and the peace of a martial artist. You can not beat real life experiences!

Take Time to Notice

Stop & Think: When you next have some family time, try to notice all of the new experiences your child is being exposed to. Think about the language they are developing, the risks they are taking, the problems they are solving and the connections they are making.

Use the adventures you go on as a family as an opportunity to develop your child’s language skills. Give them the language and understanding to out smart their new class teacher!
Side Note: a four year taught me about the life cycle of a ladybird. He totally outsmarted me!

Language & Communication Idea 5, The Telephone Game

This activity never gets old! Children love the awe and wonder of making their own telephone and it is a really great way to encourage speaking and listening.

What you’ll need:

• 2 x paper cups
• Long piece of string
• Scissors
• Pen

How to make a paper cup phone:

•  With a pen, pierce the bottom of one of the paper cups to make a small hole.
• Thread one end of the string through one of the cups and tie a knot.
• Repeat with the other end of the thread and the second cup.
• Hold a paper cup each and pull the string tight.
• One person speaks clearly into a cup whilst the other holds a cup over their ear.
• Pass messages back and forth.

If you have an old phone lying around the house, that is just collecting dust, I would encourage you to allow your child to use this as part of their role play (don’t charge it). You will notice that they will begin to mimic you when you are on the phone. They will use it to pose for selfies, have conversations with work colleagues and even plan dinner dates. It’s great fun to watch!

Language & Communication Idea 6, Time Around the Table

Time together around the dining table is really special family time and supports with the development of lots of skills little people need for when they start “Big School.” When your child starts school they will be expected to sit at a table for a period of time and eat using their fork, knife and spoon. Sitting smartly at a table requires lots of core strength and eating with tools requires lots of fine motor control and cross lateral coordination. Practice at home will be really beneficial in order to prepare your child for eating at school. In addition to developing the strength to eat at a table, there are lots of other benefits to sitting down as a family to eat a meal.

These include:

• Developing healthy eating habits
• Having a go at trying new things
• Turn taking
• Listening to conversation
• Joining in with conversation

Contributing to conversation

The dining table is a great place for children to learn how to effectively engage in conversation. Conversations around the table are really valuable life lessons which will certainly put them on the right footing for starting school. Sometimes you might find that your child struggles to contribute to table conversation. That’s okay, keep modelling conversational skills and every now and again encourage them to join in.

Language & Communication Idea 7, Give a Compliment

This is simply about giving one another compliments (great for social and emotional well-being as well as developing language and communication skills). You will need to teach your child what a compliment is before you start and you should always model by giving the first compliment. At this age compliments can be as simple as, “I like your hair,” but as your child grows in confidence, complimenting will become more sophisticated. Be sure to teach your child that when they receive a compliment it is like someone giving them a present from our hearts. Ensure that your child receives the present with grace (even if they find it a bit uncomfortable) by saying,

Thank you.

Language & Communication Idea 8, An Attitude of Gratitude

A useful conversation starter around the table is, “What are you grateful or thankful for from today?” Again your child will have to learn what this means and so you will need to model and support. A great way to start is by asking, “What has been good today?” Then you can reword what they say into a sentence, “So, are you grateful for jumping in muddy puddles today?” 

If your child struggles to verbalise what has been good today you can reflect back to them what you have observed, for example, “Well, today you had sponge cake for pudding at school, you got a sticker for your reading and you jumped on the trampoline. If I was you I might say, I am thankful for yummy sponge cake, for my sticker at school and for my trampoline.”

Even if it feels like it’s taking a long time for your child to grasp gratitude, don’t give up! Keep modelling and your child will pick up and realise they can do it as well. #sogoodforthesoul

Language & Communication Idea 9, What’s in the Bag?

This is a really easy and fun game to play as a family to help develop speaking and listening skills. You could encourage our child to sit cross legged on the floor whilst playing this game to help them get used to how they will be sitting when they start school.

What you’ll need:

• Bag
• A piece of fabric
• A selection of toys or household objects

How to play:

• Secretly collect some items from around the house that your child is familiar with.
• Keep the items hidden under a piece of fabric.
• Sing the song:

“What’s in the bag? What’s in the bag? 1, 2, 3, 4 what’s in the bag?”

Version 1 

Begin to describe the object in the bag and give time for your child to guess what the ob ject might be. (If this is too difficult allow your child to see the selection of objects you have collected before you hide them under the fabric. Choose one of those items and place it in the bag without them seeing, then begin to describe it.)

Version 2 

Your child asks questions about the object and you answer yes or no. E.g. is it a toy?

Version 3

Place an object secretly in the bag and then give the bag to your child to feel. Whilst they are feeling the bag ask them questions to encourage them to describe what they can feel.

Version 4

Use a scarf to blind fold your child. Place one of the objects in their hands and allow them to feel and smell it. Encourage them to talk about what they are feeling, smelling or thinking.

Repeat the games with different objects. Allow your child to have a go with placing objects in the bag or blindfolding you and you having a go at guessing what is inside. This is a great opportunity for you to model descriptive language as you feel and guess what is in the bag.

Language & Communication Idea 10, Nursery Rhymes

Although singing nursery rhymes might seem a little old fashioned there are so many benefits to this tradition:

• Language development
• Non-verbal communication skills
• Understanding of rhythm and rhyme (foundations for phonological understanding – needed for reading & writing)
• Turn taking
• Counting
• Coordination, gross and fine motor development (making up and copying actions)
• Social and emotional development (quality time)

Top Tips:

If you can’t hold a tune, sing nursery rhymes anyway! Your child won’t care. They’ve heard you sing since their conception and your voice is of comfort to them.

Sing slowly and clearly so that your child can hear and copy every word you are saying.

Use props to help make the rhymes engaging and encourage role play.

Make up actions together.

Once your child is confident with a rhyme, mix it up. Have fun changing the rhyme, but make sure it still rhymes! This will give you an indication of how well your child grasps the concept of rhyme.

Nursery Rhyme Games

Tommy Thumb

Great for gross and fine motor development. As you mention each finger when singing hold it up and bend it in rhythm to the song. When your child has mastered moving their fingers on one hand don’t forget to have a go with the other hand as well. Why not try moving both hands at the same time?

Play Dough Fun

Sing Tommy Thumb when playing with play dough. This time press each finger into the play dough in time to the song. Your child’s fingers might well be aching after singing and doing the actions for this rhyme, that’s a good sign that their finger muscles are working hard and building up strength ready for writing.

1 Finger, 1 Thumb

Great for gross and fine motor development as well as cross lateral integration, coordination and concentration.

This is a really fun rhyme that exercises the whole body. Start off singing this rhyme slowly to ensure your child can complete all of the actions. Once your child is confident with the actions increase the speed at which you sing the rhyme. You can have loads of fun singing it ridiculously fast and even incredibly slowly.

Hush Little Bunnies

Great for gross motor development and imaginative play.

When signing this rhyme take part in the actions alongside your child to encourage them to make really BIG movements with their bodies. They will love playing alongside you and mimicking your movements.

Encourage your child to use their imagination to think of other animals that might be sleeping. What actions will the animals make when they wake up?

The Grand Old Duke of York

Great for gross motor development.

Find a scarf or some ribbon to support making large movements to this rhyme. Move alongside your child showing them how they can move their arm up and down with the scarf depicting how the duke’s men march up and down. Either use two scarfs at the same time or swap over to the other side to ensure both sides of the body are exercised equally.

Why not add an extra element by using pots and pans as drums, beating the rhythm of the march?

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