In the first five years of your child’s life they will learn more about speaking and words than at any other time. Your child needs good speaking and listening skills to learn so it is really important that you help in the development of their language. From the moment they are born be sure to make eye contact and smile.
Every chance you get, its important to talk about what you and they are doing, whether you are at home or out and about. Talking to your child can fit easily into your daily routine.
Children will develop language skills at different rates. Children understand far more than they can say. If you as parents are really concerned about your child’s speech check in with your Health Visitor or refer to the Speech and Language UK website to check now language develops.
Ages and Stages – Speech and Language UK: Changing young lives
Dummies prevent babies and children from talking correctly and they need lots of practice at speaking to develop their language skills. Children with dummies in their mouths form sounds incorrectly as they try to put their mouths and tongues in the right position to say a word.
Talking to your child – Walk and Talk trails
The ability to listen is important in a child’s learning journey and it is an on-going skill which they will continue to develop through their childhood. Its everyday things that we take for granted that make the biggest difference such as talking to each other while you walk to the shops, talking about your day at family meal times, playing eye-spy whilst taking car journeys, play games like Simon Says or reading a story together at bed time. There are lots of games about listening skills like this guess the sounds game!
Reading aloud to children is one of the best ways to get them interested in books. When you help your child learn to read, you are opening the door to a world of learning. Here are some ways to get the most out of reading to your child.
The skill of writing begins with mark making. It is easy to dismiss the different lines and circles children create on paper as mere ‘scribbles’ but actually children are mark making, the first steps towards writing. As well as enabling a child to learn to write, making marks can benefit a child physically and also help to develop their imagination and creative skills. Holding a pen and controlling it with such precision takes a lot of skill and involves hand-eye co-ordination and muscle control in our hands and fingers. Mark making doesn’t just have to involve a pen and paper – Give children the chance to explore new media and materials. Activities like Dough Disco below are great to help develop children’s fine motor strength and control.
When children come to Nursery we encourage them to undertake simple tasks independently, such as taking their coats on and off, washing their hands after using the toilet, putting their own apron on. We feel this is very important to develop children’s self esteem and co-ordination skills. These tasks can be easily practised at home and remember to praise the children’s efforts, no matter how small!
Encourage using number words and counting in play and everyday situations. When your out shopping you could ask your child to help by asking them to get you 2 apples or 3 bananas. Count the steps when going to bed, find 3 ducks in the bubble bath, count the number of red doors you walk passed on the way to Nursery.
Being outside is an exciting sensory experience for children vital for positive health, growth and all round development. Encourage wild life into your garden and talk about what you find. Make the mini-beasts a house in the garden using leaves, stones and twigs. Look under stones and logs in the park, take a magnifying lens to get up close! Talk about different things you do on different days of the week.
At Lee Royd Nursery we feel it is vitally important to encourage the children to be physically active, be outside and develop their gross motor skills. There is so many opportunities that you can provide at home to encourage your child to be physically active such as visiting the local park, playing on the climbing equipment, playing with a football, go swimming, or riding a scooter or bike.
There are some useful physical activity guidelines and what is expected of children under 5 on this NHS website –
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/physical-activity-guidelines-children-under-five-years/
Children love the opportunity to be creative whether it is making a den in the garden, dressing up, pretending to be a dinosaur, making a shop or making puppets. Its a great opportunity for parents to talk about colours and learn their names, paint pictures, talk about sticky things, make mud pies and dance to your favourite songs on the radio. The list is endless and children get so much out of doing it!
