It’s almost summer here in Central Florida. Making plans and going out of town, it is also a great time to engage children in activities designed to strengthen language and communication skills.
Music And Dancing For Developing Communication Skills
Children love music, whether it’s songs for toddlers or the latest kid friendly top hits, moving to and singing to music is great for developing speech and language skills.
Practice imitation skills, copying sounds, words, and dance moves.
Develop an understanding of action words, following directions, and working together.
Water Play To Encourage Language Skills
Whether it is in your backyard, a community park, or even inside with different size containers of water, there are many opportunities to encouraging language skills.
For instance, verbs like ‘pour’, ‘scoop’, ‘drip’, and ‘splash. Exclamatory words ‘yuck’, ‘yay’, ‘wow’, and concept words such as ‘cold’, ‘hot’, ‘dry’, and ‘wet’.
During water play activities, try to follow your child’s lead. Comment on their actions by saying relevant comments, such as “fill it up” or “pour, pour, pour”.
Sand Play To Support Speech Skills
Children love playing in sand, whether this rich sensory activity is with kinetic sand in a tray inside or a sandbox outside.
Encourage core words during sand play, such as ‘all done’, ‘more’, ‘dump’, ‘fill’. Concept words, ‘dirty’, ‘clean’, ‘heavy’, ‘dry’, and ‘wet’.
It is also a great time to support non-verbal actions, if your child lifts a bucket, say words they can use such as “help me” or “it’s heavy”.
Playing With Sidewalk Chalk Fosters Creativity
Sidewalk chalk is a fun and engaging way to encourage communication skills and gestures. Try using gestures name the objects that are drawn.
For instance, draw cars and make the ‘driving’ gesture or draw ice cream, then make the gesture of licking the ice cream.
It is also a great way to encourage pointing, by asking the child to point at different drawings.
Speech and language therapy is very important to a child’s development. Unfortunately, taking a summer break can have a negative impact on all the progress a child has made.
Which is why First Words Speech Therapy provides several options when it comes to sessions over the summer. This individualized alternative to the traditional therapy has proven to be effective.
