In the hustle and bustle of Christmas it easy to forget to just take time to play. Children love going to the park…. so let’s get outside and have fun in the crisp winter sun. Remember to wrap up warm (and maybe even bring a small towel to dry damp play equipment).
If your child is pre verbal encourage them to indicate they want more by using a point, gesture, eye contact or vocalisations. Try to encourage lots of back and forth communication opportunities
There is so much to talk about when you are at the park. It’s a great opportunity to practise all those Core Words that can be used across situations, e.g. more, come, stop/ go, up/ down, push, gone, help
We can also talk about WHAT we can see at the park: slides, climbing frame, tunnel, roundabout, swings, see saw, bridge…
We can talk about WHAT we are DOING at the park: running, jumping, chasing, sliding, stuck, pushing…
We can talk about WHO is at the park: mummy, daddy, boy, girl, children, baby, granny, grandad, elves…..
We can talk about WHERE we are: at the park
Remember to ADD and EXPAND on your child’s utterances. If they say no words model the word they require, e.g. help, more, again, stop/ finish.
If they are using single words model two to three word utterances.
Child: more Adult: more swing; want more
We can talk about going fast/ slow, going up high, big/ little…
In a busy park we can talk about taking turns in the slide “my turn”, “boys turn”.
We can talk about what things we like or don’t like about the park. I like the little slide. I don’t like the big slide.
We can take a photo of us playing at the park and share what we did with another adult. Today I……. went to the park, played on the slide, Sarah push me on swings, swing wet, dry swing…..
We can take several pictures and create a sequence of events, e.g. climbing the steps, at the top of the slide, sliding down the slide.
We can try and recall a list of what play park equipment we can find at the park.
The elves had fun on the swings!!
Remember to create opportunities to communicate and above all have FUN.
Sarah Winstanley, Speech and Language Therapist (SaLT)
Communication Lincs Ltd ……because Speech Therapy Matters