Language Activities
Here are some activities to do at home to improve your child's language skills:
Here are some activities to do at home to improve your child's language skills:
- To help your child learn to use prepositions ("under", "in front", "in", "on"), you can take objects (stuffed animals, favorite toys) and place them in different locations around your house. Then you can ask your child to find the object and tell you where it is using the correct preposition. Or you can let the child place the objects and you can find them and state where they are. For example (The puppy is under the table).
- When your child is reading or you are reading with your child, you can ask comprehension questions containing "what", "where", "who", "when", and "why" questions. This can be done as you read every two pages. For example, "What is the boy doing?", "Where is the boy going?", "Who is playing with the boy?", "When did the boy go to the circus?", and "Why was the boy sad?".
- When working with your child to retell a story in proper order, have your child state 1)who the characters were in the story, 2) what the setting of the story was, 3) what the sequence of events was, 4) what was the problem of the story, and 5) what was the solution of the story.
- When working with your child to use adjectives to describe objects, have your child select up to five objects from around the house. Have your child describe how the object is used, what it looks like, where it is kept in the house, how it feels and what it is made of. You can also work on discussing how two objects can be the same or how they are different.
- For following multi-step directions, play a scavenger hunt. Ask your child to bring you two to three objects. For example, "Bring me a spoon, a shirt and a book". Have your child repeat the direction to you before they perform the direction to make sure that they understood the direction. Then have your child repeat the direction out loud while they are performing it so that they remember all the steps of the direction.
- When your children are completing household chores, you can use this "rehearsal" strategy to help them remember all of their chores. You might say "Remember to take your clothes to the laundry room and empty the dish washer". Again, ask your child what the direction is, then have them repeat the direction as they are performing the actions so that no chores are forgotten.
- If your child is working on possessives (Lisa's, hers, his, theirs, yours, my), playing tea party with stuffed animals or playing a board game is a great way to practice possessives. You and your child can pass out cups, plates, and napkins to the animals and practice saying who each plate belongs to (Mommy's, Doggie's). With a board game, your child can be in charge of letting each player know when it is their turn (Mommy's, hers, his).
- If your child is working on plurals, overemphasize the "s" sound when you come across more than one item in their environment. Ex. "How many balls are you playing with?" Your child counts. Then you respond with, "You have three balls." Also you can emphasize the "s" in conversation. Ex. "How many pancakes would you like?"
- If your child is working on verb tenses, (present verb tense - ing, regular past verb tense - ed, irregular past verb tense - rode, or the future verb tense - will go) you can look at magazines or books with your child and discuss the actions that various people or animals are doing. Question your child to get them to use the correct response. Some examples are: "What is the man doing?" Answer - "He is running." "If the womans bakes cakes everyday, what did she do yesterday?" Answer "She baked a cake.", "If the man runs every day, what did he do yesterday?" Answer - "He ran." "If the man runs everyday, what will he do tomorrow?" Answer - He will run."