Developing #Listening & #Speaking Skills – Directional and Positional Language (Word Play)

Treasure hunt and hide & seek games are a great way to teach a child directional and placement (prepositions) language. It is important for a child to learn directional and placement vocabulary so that they can both understand instructions given and share information themselves, such as; ‘put your cup on the table’ or to say ‘teddy in car’.

Through treasure hunts and hide & seek games you can introduce new directional and placement language in a fun and exciting way. There are a number of different ways to approach this:

• You can give verbal instructions to the hidden treasure.
• You could create a map for them to follow and ask them to talk through the map, supporting with new language as necessary.
• You could use a mixture of verbal and map clues.
• For older children get them to hide the treasure and give you instructions, or draw a map.
• If you have more than one treasure to find, make the most exciting piece more difficult to find.

The important thing is the language shared. Words and phrases to use are: left, right, straight on, forward, backwards, about turn, turn around, up, down, higher, lower, stop, next to, in front, beside, underneath, on top of, behind, on the left of, on the right of, outside, and inside.

Treasure hunts and hide & seek games are a great whole class or family activity and you are never too young or too old to join in!