Language development is a vital part of communication in the early childhood years. It is a crucial aspect of cognitive development in children. Language development with young children is crucial for their success in school and beyond. Both teachers and parents have a vital role to play in building their listening skills and understanding skills. By talking, listening, reading, and singing with them you can engage them in a few fun activities that will help them develop their language skills.
If your child can speak and understand well, his/her learning and reading will also improve. If you find that your little one has trouble with his language or hasn’t started to efficiently speak even after a certain age, then you must incorporate preschool language-development activities to encourage little toddlers to use their verbal skills.
Here is some of the communication and language activities for toddlers that can help your child learn and model his language skills.
- Play the Telephonic Game
A toy telephone can be an active part of your little munchkin’s playtime. Toy telephones can be used to pretend play; you can your child’s number to call the phone that is in your child’s hand. Then encourage your child to pick up the phone and answer. Teach him how to say ‘hello’ when he picks the phone to answer it. Doing this activity on a regular basis, helps your child develop good phone etiquette and improve his speaking skills.
- Singing along
Singing rhymes and songs that can help your little one improves their language skill while still having fun. Through this, you can also introduce new words and teach them nouns and verbs using a song.
- Storytelling
Reaching stories to children is one of the best ways to encourage language development and to build cognitive skills. Read age-appropriate stories to your toddler or just tell him/her the story through the pictures. You can start with early book experiences with board books and use sensory books to encourage your little one to touch and feel items in the pictures. There’s an endless list of the avenues you can explore and language that you can develop through books.
- Play ‘Name the Thing’
This activity can be played even outdoors. You just have to point to various objects in your house and ask your toddler to name them. Help them with the names at the start until they begin to say them on their own. This activity is an easy way to build and improve children’s vocabulary. Play this game in your house, in the park or even in the supermarket.
- Join the Dots
You need to draw a dotted outline of the different letters of the alphabet. Now, ask your little one to join those dots and identify the letter. This activity will help in enhancing their motor skills and teach them to write better. You can also give them crayons or color pencils to make the activity exciting for them.
- Give Him Toys and Puppets
Bring in toys or puppets for your toddle and encourage them to have conversations with it. Kids are very creative and imaginative – once you show them, they would mimic and make up their own conversation. You can also use them to have simple conversations with your child. Put on a puppet show to make your kid’s playtime more enjoyable.
Language development is an essential part of your toddler’s growth during their early childhood years, so it is important that you practice good grammar and speak as clearly as possible to help them during this phase. Introduce new words through fun activities to them on a regular basis and explain what they mean.
Language development helps toddlers become fluent communicator and express themselves in a clear manner. Every child is unique and some children pick it instantly while some children take some time. With a little bit of patience, you can definitely deal with any development issues. However, if you notice delayed speech and poor language skills after the age of three you should get your child enrolled in the best preschool. TSEY is one of such pre-schools in Gurgaon offering a curriculum that is designed in such a way that boosts pre-math & literacy skills. Their curriculum promotes learning while helping children meet the various languages, social, physical & cognitive goals.
