I also really like books with puppets – anything that will get your child’s attention and build the interaction. Keep your language simple and point to the parts that you’re talking about so that your child can make a connection between your words and the pictures. It doesn’t have to be words either – sound play is an important part of speech and language development. Robot noises, animal sounds, sirens, beeps, honks – the noisier and the sillier, the better.
For older preschool children, they may enjoy picture books and longer stories, but the same rule applies – there is no need to read a story all the way through for there to be language and learning benefits.
Look at the pictures together and talk about what you see. Pay particular attention to the parts of the picture that your child is interested in and comment on that. Think about what they might be noticing, what the characters look like or what they’re doing, how they might be feeling. It’s OK to ask questions too, like what might happen next. To build language, the general rule is 5 comments to a question. Instead of asking lots of “what’s that?” type questions, think about 5 things you could say about the picture, then ask a question. For example: “It’s a pirate! He has a wooden leg. And an eye patch. There’s his treasure, in a big wooden chest. It’s so heavy! Where will he put it?”.
Another great language extension activity is to act out or copy the story. It’s fun to go on a bear hunt together, or make your own castle out of boxes or sheets.
Not only that, but you will be consolidating the vocabulary and language structures that you experienced in the book. You don’t have to stick to the story you’ve read either – this can just be a starting point for your own adventure. Whether you read about adventures or act them out, you can celebrate the fact that you are building language and learning while you’re doing it. And enjoy those reading-related cuddles.
Reference
1 DeBaryshe BD. Joint picture-book reading correlates of early oral language skill. J Child Lang 1993;20:455-61.
Donna Heather has a Bachelor of Speech Pathology and has been working as a speech and language therapist in Australia, the UK and NZ over the last 20 years. After years of working in community services and education, Donna started WordPlay Speech and Language Therapy in June 2019. WordPlay is a mobile speech and language therapy service, helping families to build speech and language skills for their child (especially through play). For more information, visit www.wordplay.nz or follow on Facebook or Instagram.
