Do you sometimes have trouble understanding
what your preschooler says? You can help her hone her speaking skills by
becoming an active listener.
This means not just hearing what your child
says but getting involved in real conversations with her: Ask questions, make
comments, keep the chat going, and give her plenty of opportunities to speak
her mind.
Here are some games and activities you can use
to get the ball rolling. Because children learn in different ways, the games
are organized by learning style. But don't feel restricted to just one
group—all children can benefit from the activities listed.
Talk to your child
whenever you're together. Tell her about an interesting story you read
in the newspaper. Describe a conversation you had at work with a friend. When
you go shopping together, describe what you're buying.
Get in the habit of narrating everyday chores.
If you're washing clothes, for example, you can say, "Let's separate the
colors, then measure out the detergent, put in the clothes, set the
timer..."
Your child may not seem to be paying
attention, but she is absorbing your vocabulary and sentence structure without
even realizing it. Don't be surprised if you hear her repeating something you
said when she talks to someone else.
Ask open-ended
questions. If
you ask your child a broad question such as "What did you do at the
park?" you'll get a much more detailed answer than if you ask a yes or no
question like "Did you have fun at the park?"
If she's slow to answer, then be more
specific: "What equipment did you play on?" Give your child a chance
to describe what she's been up to, and listen enthusiastically even if she gets
lost in seemingly trivial details about her day at the park. All of it is important
to her.
And you might as well enjoy the conversation
while it lasts: Soon enough you may have a close-mouthed teenager sitting
across the dinner table from you!
Record her singing a
song or telling a story. Your child will love to hear her own voice,
and she'll be surprised and fascinated by how she sounds to other people. Hold
on to those recordings—years from now you'll be glad to have an oral portrait
of your child at this age.
Revisit a favorite old
story. Bring
out one of your child's most dog-eared, battered books and read it aloud yet
again, only this time pause at key points to let her supply the words that come
next. Or read the story and purposely change key details to see if she corrects
your "errors."
Videotape
your child looking at a book or telling a story. To make this even more fun, have her dress up as a
character and act out a scene. Play the video back and watch it together. Ask
her to talk about her performance, and praise her speaking ability.
Don't
make a big deal out of any mispronunciations. The idea is to get your child
comfortable speaking in front of others, not prepare her for public office.
Ask
your child to describe a TV show. Children
love to talk about things they know something about and enjoy. One of the easiest
ways to get a conversation started is to ask your child what's happening on her
favorite television program. Shows such as Sesame Street and Arthur are
designed to get parents involved.
This
activity not only builds speaking skills but encourages your child to think of
herself as a real reader even if she can't recognize a word. Two to try: Peggy
Rathmann's Good Night, Gorilla and Jerry Pinkney's The
Lion & the Mouse.
Go
on a nature walk. Bring
along a box or jar so you can collect treasures (feathers, unusual rocks,
colorful leaves). When you get home, have your child describe each item to the
family: its color, shape, size, function, and where she found it. Or have her
begin a nature scrapbook.
Play
family story time.One
person starts making up a story ("Once upon a time, there was a little
dragon who lived in a cave on a big hill"). Then another person continues
the story, and so on.
Let
your child chime in whenever she wants, and if she can't come up with a whole
line herself, prompt her with questions: What color was the dragon? Did he have
any brothers and sisters? What was he learning about at school? Write down or
record what each person says.
Ask
your child to tell you a simple story, and write it down. You can prompt her by asking
about a particular event such as a party or playdate.
If
she leaves out key details or says something you don't understand, ask her to
clarify. When she describes something to you, rephrase it a bit and say it back
to her. ("So, you and Sarah were at a very fancy tea party thrown by a
princess?") This will help her think about different ways to describe the
same event.
Ask
her to draw pictures to go along with the story, and use them to make a book.
Periodically, you can pull out the book and have her tell you the story again.
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