As the Christmas holidays approach, they bring with them the precious gift of time to spend with your children. In the whirlwind of holiday preparations, it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle, yet amid the wrapping paper and turkey preparation, there are lots of unique opportunities to create playful moments to support language, communication and social-emotional development.
Have a peep below at our Magic 8 Tips for you to remember about during the playful festive season ahead.
1.
When it’s possible allow your child to choose the toy, object, or activity they want to play with and follow their lead when they are doing something with a toy, an object or an activity.
2.
Allow lots of waiting time for your child to communicate. Communication can look like any of the below following - smiling, gurgling, reaching, looking, pointing, laughing, making noises, babbling, words, talking.
3.
Listen to what they are saying/communicating and try to affirm all their attempts. Affirmation is any response verbal or non verbal that you make to their communication attempt (smiling back, gentle tickles, pointing also, looking, making your own sounds, imitating and adding to what they have done, verbal affirmation by saying “yes that’s right and………)
4.
Use short and simple sentences when talking/naming/labelling what is happening or what they are doing.
5.
Very rarely ask questions or keep questions to the bare minimum.
6.
If your child is using words or sentences, repeat what they say and add something (an adjective or a short simple idea) to it. Be careful not to correct them, if they mis-pronounce a word, repeat the word the correct way, but don’t draw their attention to the mispronunciation.
7.
Give praise by explaining and praising what they did well. For example, “ I really like the way you built that car….It’s great how you waited to take your turn….Look at you turning the pages “…
8.
Always be ready to give your child prompts, for milestones they may not have met yet.
Children thrive when they feel competent It’s great for them to feel they have accomplished something, so give lots of praise and attention when they complete a task or say a words, even if you have prompted them!
Guaranteed they will do it independently when they are ready.
If you would like more information on prompting and how playful activities promote language and communication, we have a short demonstration video here . Our Toddler Talk Step Up Step Down strategy has lots more detail and examples about how to prompt your child during playtime.
