What Are Some Activities I Can Do with Infants and Toddlers to Promote Language Development?

Question

Answer

Here are some curricular activities for developing language. One of the most important is to read, talk, and sing to children starting at birth.

• Use self-talk as you interact with young children.
• Respond enthusiastically to infants’ gestures.
• Mimic babies’ cooing and babbling.
• Pause and take turns when talking to infants.
• Smile and let the baby touch your face when you speak.
• Expose babies to a variety of sounds and tones.
• Vary and play with your voices so babies hear different pitches.
• Let babies touch and turn pages of books.
• Introduce vocabulary words – nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
• Describe what you’re doing and seeing.
• Be patient when children start to use words and sentences.
• Don’t pressure children to speak.
• Avoid finishing children’s sentences for them.
• Talk to children about the events of the day.
• Ask open-ended questions to help children to strengthen memory and problem-solving skills.
• Talk with children one-on-one and in small group settings.
• Have the child’s name posted in places in the classroom.
• Scribe what children say.
• Display environmental print in the early care setting.
• Build and expand vocabulary.
• Read familiar books over and over again.
• Before reading a familiar book, ask children what happens in the story and who are the characters in it.
• Look for ways to let children use their memory and imaginations to change the story.
• Ask open-ended questions.
• Look for ways to connect other content areas to the story.

Using self-talk is great for an infant classroom where the teacher may say something like, "I'm going to be changing your diaper right now. I'm going to lift up one leg and then the second leg. It might feel cold when I wipe your bottom with the wipe." Talk through your day. Children should hear language as part of their everyday environment. Think about how you talk through things or do your self-talk. For example, Miss Maria is going to pick out a book for us to read. I think we're going to pick out a book about the farm. Then you begin to read the book. Doing self-talk will help children make those connections.

Pause and take turns when talking with children so children can learn and understand reciprocity and the rules of language engagement. Vary and play with your voice so children hear those different pitches. For example, if you're reading a story you might be the farmer who has a big, deep voice, and you might be the lamb that has a little, tiny voice. Let them be engaged in turning the pages as you read. 

Talk with children one on one and in small groups, even if it's two children or three children to allow them to see how their peers are speaking. Find opportunities to show two or three children something at a water table or a sensory table and let the children observe and learn from each other. Post children's names around the classroom. The general rule is children need to see their names at least three places in the classroom. Scribe what they're saying if they are able to describe it so that they begin to see print and connect it with what they do. Display environmental print such as signs or logos, things with language that you would see in the environment.

Children love to read their favorite books over and over again. There's comfort and a sense of stability in that. I suggest when reading a familiar book, think about what vocabulary you might add through your storytelling process. Adding a few words to that story can add to the depth of their vocabulary. For three and four-year-olds, look for ways to let children use their memory and imaginations to change the story. You might say, what do we know about the story, what's going to happen next, or what do you think would happen if...? Ask open open-ended questions, such as what, why, and how and find ways to connect the story with their real-life experiences.

This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, Exploring Physical and Language Development of Infants and Toddlers, presented by Jean Barbre, EdD.