Spending time with your child, chatting and doing what they enjoy, sets them up nicely for school. All children are different and will be developing at their own pace. Some children will need a little more support. If you are worried, talk to their health visitor or their nursery, preschool or childminder and their new teacher.
Daily chatter really matters! When talking and listening during everyday routines, children hear and use new words. This helps them to learn about the world around them. It can be as simple as counting as you are doing up your child’s buttons or talking about the birds you see in the park. Making something together, like a sandwich, gives you lots to talk about! Use action words like cut, spread, slice and sequence words like first, next, then, finally. Daily chatter builds confidence to talk. Then children feel able to let their new teacher know what they want, ask questions, and talk to other children.
Make time to play. Play helps children to learn and develop in so many ways. Children get to practise moving with more control, exploring their feelings and taking turns. Children experience solving problems in play, building their confidence and learning about numbers. Play also helps children develop the language to talk about what they are doing. Children are naturally curious about the world, so let them explore and talk about the adventure! How many different ways can you play with a stick or a cardboard box?
Sharing a book together will help your child’s language development at any age. For children who will be going to school soon, it is especially valuable. Let your child take the lead and turn the pages. Talk about the pictures. Children love to hear the same book again and again! This helps them to remember and join in with the words and begin to retell stories. Reading books about school will help them get used to the idea. Local libraries have a range of children’s books that you can borrow free of charge.
Children are less worried when they know what to expect. Talking to your child, using words related to school can really help. Words like teacher, class, playground, learn, lunch, book bag, uniform, coat peg, PE kit and tidy up. You could take the journey to school before the first day and talk about what you see on the way. If there are events at the school you could join in and then encourage your child to remember and talk about what happened.
Knowing what will happen can make all the difference to a child’s first days at school. Find out about daily routines such as how the day starts, snack time, assembly, lunch time, what happens in the afternoon and at home time. Talk to your child about the daily timetable using language related to sequence and time. Words such as first, next, then, after that and at the end of the day will. Some children will find a visual timetable helpful, with pictures of the different activities in the order that they will happen. Let the school know if you think your child will need extra support to settle into the new routine.
When you give your child choices you help them to increase their vocabulary. You could ask “What shall we put on next… socks or vest?” or “would you like an apple or a satsuma?”. There will be lots of decisions for your child to make at school. Decisions they might make are what and who to play with, choosing what to eat at lunch time or which book to bring home to share with you. Giving your child simple and realistic choices will help them to become more independent and responsible. This will also help to build their confidence to make decisions and solve problems.
Talk with your child about sharing as you play together. This will help your child understand how to interact with other children and will give them the language to do so. Practice taking turns when playing games together. Being alongside and playing with other children helps to develop these important social skills. Ask your local Children’s Centre about stay and play groups in your area.
Talk with your child as you go through their routines such as using the toilet or getting dressed. This will help your child to become more confident with self-care. Talk about what is happening and what to do next. For example, “Now flush the toilet. After that wash your hands, then dry them”. Your child may need to hear just one instruction at a time. Encourage your child to tell you what the routine is.
School can be tiring! A good bedtime routine now sets children up nicely for school. This means that they can make the most of all that school offers when they start in September. Having a routine that helps your child to get a good night sleep will also help them to manage their feelings and emotions better. Reading a favourite book or chatting quietly together are great ways to help your child relax.
Children are naturally curious! Noticing things around you and talking about them encourages learning. Listen for sounds together. As you walk to the shops, listen to the sounds you can hear. Who can hear a new sound first? This helps your child to become a good listener. Games that help them to listen to the sound at the beginning or end of a word will also help with reading and writing.
Your baby will soon be joining your daily life and will be hearing your voice many weeks before they are due to meet you in person. Chat about what you are doing during the day to include them even before they are born and to get them tuned into the sound of your voice.
See more of the ‘Let’s Get Chatting’ messages here https://www.livewellsouthwest.co.uk/lets-get-chatting
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Babies in their first two years of life will become more and more aware of what happens in their daily life. When you
chat about what you are looking at together, use simple words to explain what you are doing, and chat during daily routines it helps your baby hear the same simple words every day. This sets them up to be able to learn to use those words themselves as they learn to talk.
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Chatting about everyday things with your 2 and 3 year old will help them learn new words. When you are playing together use words like ‘bang’ or ‘crash’ and describe what you see them do. It’s also really great when you use words for their feelings to help them learn how to describe their own feelings when they are sad, upset or worried.
Chat about memories and things that are going to happen in the future.
Using a variety of words will introduce them to lots of vocabulary related to their daily life.
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Together Time with your child each day can be time set aside to do what interests your child and you can chat with them as you play. This could be looking through a book, playing with toys they like, or chatting about what you both see out of a window in your home. You can ask questions that start with ‘I wonder…?’ to start an interesting conversation.
Asking questions with no right or wrong answers can lead to great conversations with your child about how you both see the world.
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As you start the 2nd half of your pregnancy, your baby is getting ready for life outside the womb and can hear noises and voices. When you chat with them, sing to them and respond to their movements you are connecting with them and showing them that you want to communicate with them!
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It’s amazing that before a baby is even 1 year old they recognise and can get excited when they hear voices coming of the special people in their life. They may show their excitement by kicking or waving their arms or making noises. You can respond with your facial expression and voice to show you are excited to see them too!
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By 2 years of age children have heard many words and are used to what happens in their daily life. These repeated experiences help them to understand simple questions and instructions like “where’s your drink?”, “go and get your coat” and “daddy’s turn”.
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Between the ages of 3 and 4 your child’s understanding will grow from the things that happen in their daily life to include lots of different words. They will understand words for different colours and numbers and words such as ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’. They will understand you when you ask for them to give you a ‘red car’ or ‘three blocks’. If they don’t quite understand these yet, you can help them by using these kind of words during play and daily life.
When you use those words to describe what you’re doing together it helps them hear the words in the right situation. Try not to turn it into a test of what they know, keep it playful!
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In the final trimester babies can start to recognise different voices outside the womb. Encouraging the special people in your baby’s life to talk to your bump can support them to create a bond with your baby before they are born.
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Pointing is a big step in your child’s communication development. It may start with your child using their whole hand before they use a single finger. Why not try pointing out things to your child so that they can see you doing it and hear the words that go with what you are pointing at.
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By 3 years of age children have usually developed clearer speech. The people who spend the most time with them can understand what they say. Children will still have some immaturities and they may say things like ‘pider’ instead of ‘spider’.
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By age 5 children understand more complicated language such as ‘first’, ‘last’, ‘might’, ‘maybe’, ‘above’ and ‘in between’. It helps when adults model these words in lots of different situations so that children can develop a really good understanding of the more tricky words.
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Babies learn so much from watching the faces of the special people in their lives. You may see them start to copy what they see. Copying what they see is a big part of how they start to communicate.
Lots of face to face time in the first few weeks of a baby’s life is an amazing way to support their communication and show them how loved they are.
See more of the ‘Let’s Get Chatting’ messages here https://www.livewellsouthwest.co.uk/lets-get-chatting
See more of the ‘Let’s Get Chatting’ messages here
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Between the ages of 1 and 2 children learn so many words, especially the ones that they hear you say each day!
At 2 years children usually say about 50 words – things like ‘car’, ‘juice’ and ‘biscuit’. The words they use might not sound the way an adult would say it, they might say ‘tar’ instead of ‘car’. But that’s ok, say the word back to them in the right way – ‘that’s right, a car!’
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Three year olds will often use little sentences to ask for things, to show you things and to tell you what they don’t want. It’s common that they may say sentences like ‘him want his coat’ which don’t sound quite right. Don’t worry, just copy back to them what they have said using the right words and sounds.
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By age 4 children can use sentences to tell you about their day and things that happened in the past. Most of the words they use will have the correct sounds in them and their sentences will be well formed.
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