Home > Activities > 2-3 years
Playtime is an excellent chance to start conversations with your little one - not only does it show interest in what they're doing, it gives them a chance to build their speaking skills.
Watch the video below for examples and tips to spark conversation with your child.
What fruits are we going to choose to take home in our basket?I see peppers.A pear. A nice green, juicy pear.A kiwi.A kiwi. Do you like kiwi Daisy?Orange.An orange!Is that going in your basket?Ah! Thank you.It's sad.The dog was very sad.Dog's asleep.Dog's asleep!You want to be a superwoman?Yeah.What things can they do?Save people.Save people!Yeah they do save people.They definitely can.And can they -some of them - run very, very fast?Yeah. Wow.Girls can run.Apple.Apple.That's a nice, juicy red apple.You want to put it in the basket?Yeah? Basket or the bowl?Umm basket.Basket, okay.I found a pearYou found the pear.They're so nice.They're all yours now.You can keep them in the fridge now.Ready for later?Well done.High five.Yay!
Creating chances for chat
Children learn language from the world around them as they grow, but giving words context helps them to make connections between words and their meaning more easily.
This means that their play is a great time for you to chat to them about what they're doing. By talking about the objects and actions they're focussing on, new words and sentences are built around something they understand - and it shows you're interested in their interests.
Building blocks of ideas
Taking turns is a vital part of conversations - give room between the things you say for your child to respond. Asking questions is also great for prompting a response.
Don't worry if they give one-word answers, you can build on those words to make full sentences. For example, if they say 'apple' you can build on it with more descriptions in a full sentence, like 'Yes, that is a big red apple!'. That way you are modelling how to do this for your child.
