Crucial language-development experiences occur in the early years for children. From birth, babies begin distinguishing differences in the sounds they hear. A child's early interactions with adults and other children help a child develop language skills, which aid her as she enters school. Engage your child in a variety of language-based activities to expand her vocabulary, speech ability and understanding of communication.
Dramatic Play
Engaging your child in imaginative play experiences gives him a chance to practice language skills and watch you model communication. Show your child how to make two toys "talk" to one another by providing the voices and actions. Give him one of the toys to hold up one half of the conversation. Another option is role-playing, where each person pretends to be a particular character or person. For example, let your child pretend to be the teacher while you are the student. Add costumes to make it more entertaining.
Interactive Reading
Children's books provide a simple tool for developing your child's language skills. Read to your child daily to introduce her to new words. As you read, stop periodically and ask questions or let your child ask you questions. Encourage her to repeat words that she hears in the story. Ask her to make up a new ending or think of other events that could happen in the story. If the book includes any conversations, point out those communications as a model to your child.
Naming Objects
Young children encounter new words and objects almost every day. Take advantage of those opportunities to help your child develop his language skills. Point out new objects and identify them by name. Talk about what the objects do to give your child a better understanding of it. For example, explain to him that the fire hydrant helps firefighters put out fires. Talk about items he already knows, like shampoo at bath time. Expand on his knowledge by talking about the bubbles made from the shampoo and how it cleans his hair.
Questioning Games
Games that involve questioning help your child build her language skills. Ask your child what a particular object does, or do the reverse, describing what an object does and asking your child to name the item. Give your child a chance to ask you questions or give clues about different objects. Another variation is to describe an object in the room. Your child listens to the clues, processes them and figures out what you're talking about.
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