Are you looking to help your child build their language skills? Building vocabulary, increasing understanding of basic concepts, answering questions and telling stories are all important skills to develop! There are lots of fun things to do during the Fall to increase your child’s skills in this area! Let’s explore 5 of them!
1. Pumpkin Painting- You can start by picking out a pumpkin and while you do work on size and shape concepts (big, small, round). While painting you can help your child work on following directions, building vocabulary and answering questions as you discuss what they are making!
2. Apple Picking- This is such a great family activity and bonus there are lots of opportunities to build vocabulary, to increase your child’s ability to follow directions and to work on answering and asking questions.
3. Hay Rides – A trip to a farm that includes a hay ride should give your child opportunities to build their vocabulary and to work on answering and asking questions! If your child is working on speech there should also be lots of opportunities to practice their sounds as they make animal noises and name the different things that they observe.
4. Nature walk/scavenger hunt – Have your child hunt for autumn objects (different color leaves, acorns) as you take them for a walk outside! Work on concepts as you give them directions on where to find items or as you help them make observations about what they see! When you get home have them tell someone about their experiences.
5. Halloween/trick or treating- If your family celebrates this is the perfect opportunity to build language! When I used to screen kindergarteners for speech and language I loved doing it near Halloween as the children were so willing to share! Embedding language practice can start while your child is picking their costume. Give them lots of opportunities to tell family members what they are going to be and after the holiday encourage them to talk about what happened. Teaching the rules of Halloween is a great way to work on following directions, whether they will be going door to door or participating in a Trunk or Treat event!
Bonus tip! For those rainy/colder days playing family games is a great way to work on language skills! If you are looking for some new games to add to your collection? Check out
https://www.simplyfun.com/TinaWilliams
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