0 to 5
- Talk to your baby about what you are doing as you are doing it. Talk about what your baby or child is interested in. Children learn new words by hearing them lots.
- Have fun with nursery rhymes and songs, especially those with actions that your child can copy. You could try leaving a gap to let your child take a turn e.g. ‘Twinkle twinkle little……’
- Act out your child’s favourite book with their toys / teddies e.g. Dear Zoo, Going on a Bear Hunt. Book sharing is a wonderful way to help your childs language development.
- Listening games are a fun way to encourage language development. When you go on a walk can you hear all the different sound, e.g. a car, a dog barking, the leaves rustling.
- Mark making is a great way to get ready for writing. Drawing and painting using their hands and objects is so much fun! Try rolling a car in paint and making a track on the paper, or making a family tree with your hand prints, add glitter to rice and make shapes with your fingers etc. When you do this talk about the colours, objects used and the actions you are carrying out.