So, here are a couple of ideas to help your child burn off some of that pent-up energy. Best of all you can class it as language development homework (working on instructional, directional, body awareness vocabulary and listening skills).
An indoor/outdoor circuit training course does not have to take up much space or be messy (but it might be a good idea if indoors to move ornaments a little further out of the way).
Simple activities can be fun if they are done for short periods of time and children do love a time challenge. Make each activity last anything from 30 seconds to 1 minute.
You could record how many they did in the time and see if they have improved when you try it again.
Why not try:
Hopping on one leg and then the other (balance & coordination)
Use the bottom step of the stairs for step ups (bilateral coordination)
Curl ups (core strength)
With a cushion balanced on their head can they touch their toes without dropping the cushion (balance, coordination, bilateral coordination and core strength)
Star Jumps (balance & coordination)
For more fun, simple activity ideas check out our games page, it is amazing how much fun you can have just hopping, jumping, skipping and dancing on the spot: https://teachhandwriting.co.uk/games.html
If you are feeling really brave why not try building an obstacle course, a lot of the fun is in the designing and making.
Learning to the conventions of conversation start from birth, as parents we do not really think about it in this way but it is what we tend to do naturally.
Sometime though we all need a few pointers to help us, so here are some ideas to help you develop and encourage your child to talking skills:
From Birth to 1 Years Old
To encourage cooing and babbling. Get yourselves comfortable in a face-to-face interaction position, babies often like lying on their back or on your lap looking up at you.
Start by talking to your child while gently tickling their tummy or neck.
Anytime they make a sound you imitate or match the sound as best you can. It is best to wait until they have finished before you try (one of the conventions of conversation).
Try changing or adding a new sound to the one your child has made, so if they say ‘ah’ you might say ‘ah-ooh’, this will help to keep the game interesting.
Show that you are excited by the sound they make – smile and laugh, if you are enjoying the interaction, they will be excited by it too.
Vocal play works best when it occurs naturally, such as playing with farm animals, for instance sheep go baa, baa or cows make a moo, moo sound.
1 to 2 Years Old
Talk directly to your baby/toddler so they can see your facial expressions and how your lips move, as this is the beginnings of learning the conventions of communicating, listening and responding (something they cannot get from the TV, iPad or overheard conversations – indirect talk).
Talk through everyday events, such as getting dressed; what is happening, where you are going and what the plan is for the day.
Use your body language, expressions and gestures to help reinforce and develop your child’s neurological pathways to support understanding and comprehension.
Share books with your baby/toddler, they may not understand what you are saying to begin with but they will be listening to the different sounds that the words make. By reading aloud you are probably using words that will introduce new sounds that your child may not be picking up from your normal day to day conversations. As they get older you are developing and increasing the range of their vocabulary.
Babies and young children love to hear you singing and saying rhymes, this is because the language is slowed down, allowing them to hear the small units of sounds and patterns which are often repeated several times in a short time lapse. Again, the language used is often different from your day-to-day talk.
To encourage and help your child to generate and play with sound, repeat the sounds that they make.
Using familiar objects and toys make the noises associated with them for example a toy car, broom, broom or a toy bumble bee buzz, buzz.
When you are out and about talk about what you can see and about the sounds they make, a cat goes meow or a train Choo, Choo, for example.
You can use other onomatopoeic words to describe sounds, such as wooden spoons on saucepans could be bang, bang or blocks being knocked together could be click, clack.
2 to 5 Years Old
When playing, talking and sharing new words it is important to get down to your child’s level so they can see your face and how your mouth and lips move to form the words or sounds being explored.
Remember toddlers learn to listen best when they are taking an active role in what they are doing, especially when you or others join in eagerly with them to play the games.
Give your child thinking and response time, this may seem like a long pause but it is worth waiting, be sure your child has finished what they wanted to say before you respond.
Try not to finish off your child’s sentence, yes sometimes it may be quicker but just give them a little moment longer and they will get there. If it is clear they cannot think of the word they want then that is of course different.
Before a child can really take part in meaningful interactions with others, they need to learn how to take turns. It is one of the basic elements of communication, when we are talking to someone, we leave a gap/pause so that the other person has the opportunity to respond, taking turns. Turn taking skills need to be modelled and taught to help your child develop and understand this element of communicating with others.
To encourage your child to keep talking try nodding, smiling and using comments such as; wow, really or acknowledging something they have said by repeating rather than always asking them questions.
We are all guilty of half-listening, especially when we are busy trying to cook dinner for example. If it is obvious that what your child wants to tell you is really important then make it clear that you are interested by saying “Just let me finish this and then I can listen to you more carefully.”
Don’t underestimate the importance of everyday chatter or conversation (‘Small Talk’), children develop and learn a great deal through ‘Small Talk’ with adults and other children.
What do we mean by ‘Small Talk’?
With babies it is the kind of talk that explains what we are doing, what they are doing, where we are going and what we can see. As they get older our verbal exchanges increase as we support their receptive and expressive vocabulary development. Through these exchanges we also support their general language development and understanding of how words are pronounced, basic sentence structure and using the correct tense.
When we talk with a child we demonstrate and model the use of language in real time so that it has meaning. For instance, a child may point and say “cat” and we would respond with “Yes, the cat is sleeping.” Or we may correct the child and say “That is a dog.” If we could we would point to a cat and explain the difference. We also correct mispronunciation of words and correct tense issues in the same way; repeating the word or sentence using the correct pronunciation or tense back to the child.
The Communication Trust is now part of the I Can organisation and has a great range of information and guidance for parents and professionals: https://www.icancharity.org.uk/
The Easter Holidays are here, so here are some fun activities to keep children of all ages entertained whether we have rain or sunshine.
A treasure hunt is a great way to teach children directional language. Being able to understand directional and placement (prepositions) vocabulary is important for understanding everyday instructions such as ‘put your cup on the table’; ‘go along the hall and stop at the door in front of you’.
We also use this directional language to explain how to draw patterns and write letters, which is another reason why it is important for young children to be introduced to, and have a good understanding of, this kind of vocabulary.
Through treasure hunts 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 you through the map, supporting them 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 and they are of different sizes make the larger ones 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 are a great whole family activity and you are never too young or too old to join in!
We have put together some quick step by step Easter and farm drawing ideas for you to try, using basic shapes such as circles, rectangles and triangles. It is amazing how, by using these simple shapes, you and your child can create fantastic Spring/Easter: cards, pictures mobiles or bunting. Just follow this link and scroll down the page: https://teachhandwriting.co.uk/more-activities.html
Drawing pictures is a great way to help your child develop their pre-handwriting strokes and shape forming skills. As well as supporting shape, colour, pattern and language development.
Homonyms and homophones need to be heard or read within a specific context if we are to understand what the word means, for instance, if I say the word ‘bank’ and do not give any other verbal or written clues what do I mean?
The word on its own could mean a couple of things the bank of a river or sand bank or a bank where I can collect money. If it is not put into a context its meaning is unclear. The word ‘bank’ is classed as a homonym.
Homonyms are words which are pronounced and spelt the same; therefore, their meaning can only be truly understood when the context in which the word is being used is made clear. For instance, the word ‘bark’ can be used to mean the bark on a tree or the noise a dog makes.
Homophones are words which are pronounced (sound) the same but have a different meaning and are spelt differently such as, ‘their’ and ‘there’, ‘one’ and ‘won’ or ‘two’, ‘to’ and ‘too’.
Phonological awareness relates to our sensitivity and understanding of the sound structures of our oral language. It enables us to progress from our awareness of large sound units (words in sentences) to smaller sound units (phonemes in words). It also incorporates the ways in which we communicate through speech, body language and written forms.
Your child needs to continue developing their understanding of language, its sound structure, grammatical rules and conventions through talking and playing. They need to be able to say what they think and can often only write what they can say, so they need to be able to talk it before they can write it. We cannot expect them to write well later if they cannot talk or express their thoughts and ideas through language, whether that be spoken or signed. So, you need to continue engaging them in conversation and exposing them to new vocabulary and concepts.
Phonemic Awareness – Part 2 – Phoneme substitution and deletion
Having mastered Phonemic Awareness Part 1, the next stage in the process is learning and understanding how substituting and deleting phonemes can create new words. This is still based on what we hear, not the written word.
We usually introduce this concept to children using one syllable CVC words, a word that has a Consonant followed by a Vowel and then another Consonant, such as hat, cat and mat.
Phoneme substitution
To begin with focus on helping your child to substitute the first sound in a word, for example replacing the ‘h’ sound in hat with an ‘m’ sound gives mat; or replacing with a ‘b’ sound gives bat.
Once they become comfortable with substituting the initial sound, progress to substituting the last sound in the word, for example replacing the ‘t’ sound in mat with a ‘p’ sound gives map; or replacing it with an ‘n’ sound gives man.
Then focus on the medial, or middle, sound in the word, for example substituting the ‘a’ in hat with an ‘i’ sound gives hit, or replacing it with an ‘o’ sound gives hot and with an ‘u’ sound gives hut.
Phoneme deletion
As with substitution begin by focusing on helping your child to delete the first sound in a word, for example removing the ‘s’ sound in stop gives the new word top; or deleting the ‘c’ sound in cart gives the new word art.
Once they become comfortable with deleting the initial sound, progress to removing the last sound in the word, for example deleting the ‘t’ sound in cart gives the new word car; or removing the ‘k’ sound in fork gives the new word for.
However not all children will find the concept of substitution and deletion of phonemes easy and it may be beneficial to move on to the next stage and then revisit this section, as the visual aid of letters that Stage 8 provides may help support their learning.
Research suggests that, when entering school, having good phonological skills based just on speaking and being able to hear and play with the sounds of language (Stages 1-7) is often a strong predictor of a child’s reading success later.
Some fun indoor activities may be the order of the day for this half term as the weather is not so hot.
This is a very simple idea which children love because they can take greater ownership of it. The aim of the activity is to help build up hand and finger strength through using the pegs; however, it can have a dual purpose, helping to keep track of the week by using it as a timetable or for learning spellings or maths activities, as well as supporting the development of language skills.
You do not need anything fancy, just some string (for the washing line), clothes pegs and pieces of paper or card to peg onto the washing line. The washing line can be a permanent fixture or you can just pop it up when you need to use it.
The clothes line needs to be at a height suitable for your child to peg things on to (placed against a wall is a safe option so that no-one can walk into it by accident and hurt themselves).
There are a whole range of games that can be played using this simple washing line and pegs concept:
Memory games – Get your child to peg up 5 to 10 different pictures or items on the line. Then give them 1 minute to remember the items. Once the time is up ask them to look away, or close their eyes, and then you remove one or more of the items. Get them to look back at the line. Can they work out what is missing?
You could try just moving one or two of the items around. Can they figure out which ones are in the wrong place and put them back in their correct place?
Try swapping an item for something new, which your child did not hang up on the line. Can they work out which is the new item on the line?
Odd One Out – Hang pictures on the line that belong together. Can they pick out the odd item on the line and explain why it is the odd one out.
They could all be pictures of fruit with a picture of some clothing
They could be shapes with straight sides and one with curves
They could all be animals but all are wild with only one being domestic
Sorting – Ask your child to sort all the pictures or items from a selection and to hang all the identical things on the washing line. They could all be the same;
Colour
Shape
Type
Pattern Work – Using pictures, different colour and shaped paper or items create different patterns. The patterns can be based on colour, size or type of object. You can create a pattern sequence on the washing line and then ask your child to try and copy the sequence. Can they explain the pattern and create their own for you to copy and explain?
Pairing or What is the Same? – Hang a range of pictures or items on the line, making sure that some of the items can be paired together because they are exactly the same. They could match because;
They are exactly the same e.g., a pair of socks
Match numbers to a picture with the same number of items on
Match capital to lower-case letters
Or have items that can be put together because they are both from the same set, for example they are types of fruit or are the same colour.
Phonological awareness relates to our sensitivity and understanding of the sound structures of our oral language. It enables us to progress from our awareness of large sound units (words in sentences) to smaller sound units (phonemes in words). It also incorporates the ways in which we communicate through speech, body language and written forms.
As your child interacts more with the world and those around them so their language and communications skills increase and the “Why?” stage is upon you. Yes! It can drive you insane at times but their brains are like a sponge, absorbing all sorts of information.
It is at this stage that your child can easily misunderstand your explanations and develop misconceptions as they try to find reasons and meanings for themselves. So, it can be useful to talk through some things again later, to check what they have understood or think about something. A good way of doing this is to ask them to tell someone else who was not there, perhaps Dad or an older brother/sister for instance. This way you can help them to develop a better understanding of the meaning of the word or concept. You can also broaden their experiences, on which to draw understanding, by setting up play scenarios or other activities.
Syllables
At about 4 years old your child is starting to split words into syllables, this allows them to break down words into manageable sound lengths. A syllable is the largest phonological unit (one or a group of sounds) of a word and is like the rhythmic beat of the word.
Your child is starting to refine their sound unit detection skills, moving them on from the previous stage of hearing and detecting articulatory gestures or features in rhymes, to recognizing them in syllables. They start to hear these sound units in different parts of a word, not just as the final sound unit of a word.
Spoken syllables are organized around the vowel sounds, making counting them easy, as the jaw drops when the vowel sound is spoken in the syllable. Try placing your hand under your jaw with your mouth closed before you say a word. Start with ‘cat’; you will notice the jaw drops once; this is because it is a one syllable (monosyllabic) word. Now try the same thing with the word ‘sunset’; your jaw drops twice as this is a two syllable (disyllabic) word, then try saying ‘important’; your jaw drops three times as this is a three syllable word (trisyllabic). Words that have more than three syllables such as hippopotamus are called polysyllabic words.
Most children will find it easier to identify syllables in compound words to start with. A compound word is formed by two words (root words) put together such as: sunset, hotdog, snowman and postman. They find it easier because the jaw tends to drop quite distinctly as we say the vowel sound in each of the root words and the slow speed at which we tend to say the word.
Children love to clap out the number of syllables in a word. It is important to say the word at a normal speed rather than really slowly as this can distort the word and make it difficult to hear the syllables. To start with your child does not need to be able to count the number of syllables in a word but just be able to recognize them by clapping, stamping or jumping for each syllable of a word. It is thought only about 50% of children can count out the syllables by the age of 4, so you can do the counting for them.
Being able to instinctively break down words into their syllables is the next step in breaking them into smaller logical sound chunks and an important skill set needed later on when your child is developing their reading and spelling strategies.
How we identify syllables in speech is slightly different from how we use syllables to de-code for reading and as a spelling strategy, but we need to talk and hear it first before moving to the written form.
Phonological awareness relates to our sensitivity and understanding of the sound structures of our oral language. It enables us to progress from our awareness of large sound units (words in sentences) to smaller sound units (phonemes in words). It also incorporates the ways in which we communicate through speech, body language and written forms.
By this stage your child’s awareness of rhyme will emerge, with them enjoying nursery rhymes, songs and stories with rhyme alliteration and repetition.
our child is starting to understand the more complex meaning of words and concepts such as positions (on, off, in, out, etc.) prepositions; size (big and small); quantity (1 and 2) and others such as hot, cold, wet, stop, go, loud, quiet, soft, heavy and colours.
Modelling and showing your child, the meaning of words and different concepts is really important if they are to truly understand and use them effectively in their speech (expressive language). For example, if you are trying to help them understand the meaning of wet, use water, show them the difference, and let them experience through touch and play what wet feels like compared with dry.
Explaining and using a word in different situations also helps your child to gain a fuller understanding of a word’s meaning, for instance the words ‘on’ and ‘off’ can be used in different situations; 1. You turn a light on and off. 2. You put the cup on the table or you can take it off the table. 3. Put your shoes on or take your shoes off.
Our language can be very confusing at times so it is important to provide as many opportunities as possible for your child to experience and play with new words and meanings in different ways, locations and times. It is important to model correctly formed sentences and the pronunciation of words. It is NOT about correcting your toddler and making them repeat what you have just said, but repeating back to them what they have said using the correct sentence structure or word pronunciation, modelling (leading by example). They may not be mature enough to pronounce words correctly yet, or form grammatically correct sentence, but it is what they need to be hearing, so they can store the information away for a later date.
Through talking and playing your child is also continuing to develop other key communication skills such as turn taking, understanding facial expressions and body language and the all-important listening skills. Their receptive language skills are growing fast, especially when compared to those of their expressive language, so they still understand far more than they can express.
Rhyme Awareness
Your child is beginning to become more sensitive to the larger segments of sounds within words (articulatory gestures or features). In developing this awareness, they begin to hear and enjoy the rhythmic patterns of these large sound units, providing them with more varied and engaging opportunities for sound and word play.
At about 3 years old research suggests that a child starts to store sounds units into sets that have the same or similar articulatory gestures or features. There is a limited set of articulatory gestures or features in the English language which are then reorganized and positioned in hundreds of different combinations to form words.
By this stage they are enjoying hearing and participating in action and finger rhymes, joining in ones they know and quickly taking on new rhymes and actions. They will of course have favourites which they never tire of hearing or singing (even though you may be going slightly mad hearing them again).
At around the age of 2 ½ – 3 years old your toddler is beginning to recognize and produce rhyme through oral word play. They learn through rote, and imitation, to rhyme words and identify oral rhyming words using real and made-up nonsense words. They also enjoy alliteration (words that begin with the same sounds such as ‘Sammy snake slithers silently’) and repeated short phrases which they can anticipate in a story, or rhyme, which they can join in with; such as “I’ll huff and puff and blow your house down!” in the story of ‘The Three Little Pigs’.
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