Wellcomm Section 3

Why is this important? 

Pretend play helps children understand how objects are used in the real world and also leads to an awareness that toys can represent real things and people. As play skills develop, so does the knowledge of the words that represent objects as they are heard in context during play. Play is essential for children’s learning and for the development of language.

What to do:

• Get together a large doll or teddy (not miniature) and some real everyday objects (e.g. cup, brush, flannel).
• Offer the child one of the objects (e.g. cup).
• Encourage the child to use the cup to ‘Give dolly a drink’.

Why is this important? 

The names of body parts are part of a child’s early vocabulary. At first children learn to understand the word on its own and then phrases using the word (e.g. ‘Mummy’s hand’, ‘Tommy’s eyes’).

What to do:

• Sing lots of action songs together relating to body parts. Examples include:
  
  • ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.’
  • ‘Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush’ (e.g. this is the way we ‘wash our teeth’, ‘brush our hair’).
  • ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It …’
• As you sing, point to each body part together.
• Encourage the child to join in with the actions and point to body parts as you sing.
• Make up songs using well-known tunes (e.g. ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ could be adapted to ‘Katie on the bus, she claps her hands’ or ‘The children on the bus they touch their toes’).
• During everyday routines (e.g. getting dressed, bath-time) ask the child to ‘Point to nose’, ‘Wash tummy’, ‘Put sock on foot’).

Why is this important? 

Action words describe what people are doing. They are more difficult to learn than object names because they aren’t static. Children pick them up more easily if they can be experienced (e.g. by ‘washing’ themselves or teddy). It’s important, therefore, to use as many multi-sensory activities as you can.

What to do:

• You will need:
  
  • Teddy or doll (or a favourite toy).
  • Cup, brush, item of food, flannel.
• Put out teddy (or other toy) with two different objects (e.g. cup and flannel). Ask:
  
  • ‘Make teddy drink.’ 
  • ‘Wash teddy.’
• You can also ask the child to make teddy perform an action that doesn’t need any props (e.g. sleep, run, sit, wave, clap).
  
  • ‘Make teddy jump.’ 
  • ‘Make teddy sit.’ 
  • ‘Make teddy sleep.’

Why is this important? 

This is part of the continuum of language development: children learn to abstract meaning from one (key) word and then move to being able to do the same with two.

What to do:

• Gather together:
  
  • Teddy and doll (or two of the child’s toys).
  • Two of the following objects: bed/chair/table/box/plate/cup.
• Put out the two toys and three objects.
• Ask the child to put one of the toys ‘in’/‘on’ one of the objects, e.g.
  
  • ‘Put doll on the table.’
  • ‘Put teddy in the box.’
• Vary the instructions and use different toys and objects.
  N.B. The child doesn’t need to understand the prepositions in/on to do this task.

Why is this important? 

When children first begin to understand simple instructions, they use all the cues around them (e.g. routine, pointing, gestures) to work out what they need to do – the words are not necessarily the most important part! As the connection between the words and the cues is established, the meaning of the words alone begins to develop. Only when the child is able to follow instructions without the cues can we say that verbal understanding is developing.

What to do:

• It is important for the child to realise that not everything happens at the same time every day (e.g. other children may have a swimming or music lesson one afternoon but not every afternoon; you may have forgotten to get something from the shops and have to go out at an unusual time). In these situations the child can’t rely on routine to work out what will happen.
• Try to reduce the number of additional cues (pointing, gestures) you give; so, as an example, instead of putting your coat and shoes on first, you might say ‘Go and get your coat’ or ‘Can you fetch Mummy’s bag?’ If the child is successful, the words (‘coat’ or ‘bag’) alone have really been understood.

Why is this important? 

As children are beginning to string words together, words such as ‘more’, ‘gone’ and ‘bye-bye’ can be added to the object names that the child has acquired. They are a fun and easy way to develop two-word phrases. These are often referred to as pivot phrases.

What to do – ‘more’

• Choose high-interest items for this activity!
• Break a biscuit, apple, banana, piece of toast into small bite-size pieces and pass
  the child a small piece to eat.
• When he/she reaches or vocalises for ‘more’, say ‘more biscuit’ and pass over another piece.
• As this becomes consistent, encourage the child to ask for ‘more’. Pause as he/
  she is reaching to give a chance for the word to be used.
• Remember – it doesn’t matter if the word isn’t perfect!
• When the child is using ‘more’, encourage joining the ‘more’ with the item (e.g. ‘more apple’).
• Blow bubbles: encourage the child to say ‘more bubbles’ before you respond.

What to do – ‘gone’

• Gather together a box or bag and some everyday objects/toys.
• Encourage the child to post the objects into the box/bag.
• As each one is posted, you say ‘gone’.
• Now pause after each object has been posted, waiting to see if the child will copy.
• When the child is consistently using ‘gone’, begin to join ‘object + gone’ as the
  child posts the objects or puts them away in the bag (e.g. ‘keys gone’, ‘brush gone’).

Why is this important? 

Action words (verbs) describe what is happening/what someone or thing is doing. They are more abstract than object names (i.e. they can’t be seen) and therefore can be trickier to learn. Describing what someone else is doing is a further step along this road.

What to do 

• During movement or physical play, talk about what the child is doing. Ask the child if he/she can copy, e.g.
  
  • ‘Mummy’s jumping. Can Amy jump?’
  • ‘That boy’s climbing. Can Jalil climb?’
• As the child begins to understand the action words, ask: ‘What is Amy doing?’
• Sing nursery rhymes that include actions, e.g.
  
  • ‘Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush’ (e.g. ‘this is the way we clap our hands, stamp our feet, jump up and down’).
  • ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ (e.g. ‘the people/children on the bus, they wave bye-bye, nod their head, eat their lunch’).
  • ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It …’
• Encourage the child to join in with the actions: sometimes pause and ask, e.g.
  
  • ‘What did we do with our hands?’ – ‘clap’.
• Play ‘Simon Says’. Ask the child to follow instructions to:
  
  • Jump, walk, run, sleep, clap, fall down, etc.
• At first, do the actions together and then let the child try by him/herself. Get doll or teddy to play along too. Reverse the roles so the child has to tell others what to do – you could use picture cards for this so one child, in turn, tells the others to do the action on the card.
• Look at picture books together, talking about what people are doing. Ask, e.g.
  
  • ‘Find someone who’s running.’
• Take it in turns to find someone and say what is happening. If the child is unsure of the right word, offer a choice ‘Is he running or sleeping?’
• During play, you describe what is happening and/or ask the child what he/she’s doing, e.g.
  
  • In the home corner brushing teeth/hair, eating, sleeping, sitting, cooking, tidying, cleaning.
  • During ball play – the child can roll, bounce, throw and catch.
  • Playing with cars – the child can push, crash, pull and stop.
  • Craft play – cutting, painting, cooking, drawing, colouring, etc.

Why is this important? 

Children need to hear words many times before they begin to use them. Everyday objects/photos/favourite toys are the words that children will be most familiar with and therefore the ones they will be motivated to use first. Expanding vocabulary is an important aspect of language learning.

What to do 

• Use a bag (e.g. felt bag/PE bag/pillowcase) and put a selection of everyday objects (about ten items) inside:
  
  • Brush, cup, shoe, book, teddy, etc.
• Let the child feel inside the bag and pull something out.
• As this happens, pause to see if he/she spontaneously names the item.
• If this doesn’t happen, offer a choice (e.g. ‘Is it a brush or a car?’).
• If this doesn’t prompt the name, you name the item. Use lots of repetition to give the child the opportunity to listen to the word.
• Demonstrate what the item is for as you say the word (e.g. pretend to drink as you say ‘cup’).
• When the bag is empty, reverse the activity so the child is picking up an object, naming it as it goes back into the bag.

Why is this important? 

Nursery rhymes and songs are repetitive and easily become familiar, there by helping children to remember a series of actions associated with specific  words, and to become increasingly confident in being able to predict what is going to happen next.

What to do 

• In a small group or individually, sing favourite nursery rhymes together, particularly those with actions, e.g.
  
  • ‘I’m a Little Teapot’
  • ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’
• Slow down your singing: give the child a chance to join in with the actions. Don’t worry about singing the same song several times in a row – children love the repetition and it helps them become familiar with the actions.
• Guide the child’s hands/arms to encourage him/her to join in.
• Older children/siblings love nursery rhymes and can encourage younger children to join in.

Why is this important? 

Children need to learn how to use words to draw attention to something – to ‘comment’ (e.g. child sees a duck and says ‘duck’). This is an important communicative function as language is not just about getting one’s own basic needs met, but is about chatting to others too!

What to do 

• When out and about, or round the house, give the child opportunities to point to things in the environment (e.g. when at the park, point to the ‘dog’). Follow what captures the child’s interest.
• Point to and name things yourself.