LG:…………. No! No Choo choo ( shaking his finger telling me off with a big smile on his face)
LG: ( Pointing) Look…… nee naw bamp bamp ( fire truck- I know you knew that!)
Encourage sound I spy in toddlers who love sounds or who haven’t got the hang of words yet. My preschooler loves this game too.
Toddlers love making sounds and this gives them access to a fun game they can participate in wherever you are. We love to play this in the car. It’s one of the few games I don’t have to crane my head around to see what he’s talking about. When we are walking out and about at the park, to the shops, waiting at the Dr or waiting for his brother at preschool.
To extend the game you can say the sound and the word. Eventually, your child will substitute the sound for the word or at least try to say it. They will associate it very quickly. My little guy responds to ” I can see a cat? Can you?” by pointing and saying- “Miaow” . Also, it helps him to ‘say’ the sound when others don’t recognise his attempts at saying the word ‘cat’.
Language communication in toddlers can be such a frustrating thing but here we can all get a bit silly, have some fun, extend vocabulary, practice sounds and words and be more focused in a fast moving world.
Can you help?
A recent visit to the zoo was very challenging……. What sound to use for the giraffe? His favourite animal. We waited for ages to hear them make a sound. Any ideas?
Nope you’ve not missed the boat. There are hundreds of ideas out there for you and the kids ranging from contests, giveaways to practical ways that will impact your family or the larger (world) family. Nothing is too small.
With so much going on today, here is a brief snapshot of play activities and ideas so your under 5s kiddos can join in.
21st Century Mummy: ” It’s Earth Day on Tuesday and I would love it if you could mark the occasion by trying your hand at a Zero Waste Day, which means not throwing away anything that would end up in landfill, whether it’s at home or indeed work. Don’t forget to try and avoid buying anything with packaging that can’t be composted or recycled. Go on…it’s easier than it sounds, honest…and if you have any questions…just ask! Even better…blog about it and challenge others.”
Barefoot books helps you CELEBRATE EARTH DAY with a book of environmental poems, The Sun in Me.
Place an order today and as a thank you, receive a free Whole World Mini Edition ($9.99 value) — featured on Oprah’s O List! ( Offer closes April 30 2008)
BAM: Body Mind and Child Radio (www.bodymindandchild.com), a program aimed at shattering parenting myths and bringing parents the best, integrated, scientifically supported advice on the development of a child’s mind and body. The program aims to address the severe imbalance in parenting practices caused by the “commercialization of parenting” and the emphasis on intellectual development that excludes the critical role of the mind/ body connection in early childhood. Created by leading early childhood experts, the program challenges the popular genre of parenting notions that has given rise to commercial products like Baby Einstein, Brainy Baby and lapware, all of which claim to accelerate a child’s mental development in the face of science that suggests otherwise. Each week the program tackles a salient parenting issue, comparing the conventional wisdom to the latest scientific insights on the subject. Initial topics include: “Should You Try to Boost Your Child’s Brain Power?,” “Is your Child Advanced or Slow?,” and “Giving Your Child the Very Best Head Start.”
BAM’s programming is developed in collaboration with an advisory board of leading early childhood experts, including pediatricians, researchers, educators, psychologists, neurophysiologists, occupational therapists, and professors, all of whom are on top of the latest scientific findings and peer-reviewed research. Each segment of BAM gives parents easy, quick and reliable access to the foremost experts on parenting subjects.
Source: BAM press release Early Childhood Experts Challenge Popular Parenting Myths
If you haven’t done already, tune in to find out more about popular childhood topics using the Play button located in the top right corner of this blog or the home page. See below for example.
Prepare Your Child’s
Body and Mind
for Life!Listen to Body, Mind
and Child on
Play Activities Radio
You can also subscribe as a podcast through iTunes.
I’ve been an avid reader of Rae’s books and lately her blog as she always has wise words and ideas to say about play in the early years ( and older). I hope these interviews give you weekly food for thought on topical Early years issues.
I received a newsletter from the Alliance of Childhood, packed full of play information to share.
The most exciting is a New PBS documentary airing today in the Michigan area on PBS and nationwide on PBS stations in May.
Where Do the Children Play? was produced by PBS affiliate WFUM in Flint, Michigan, directed by award-winning documentarian Christopher Cook, and originated with the work of Elizabeth Goodenough of the University of Michigan. The Alliance is working with them and a number of organizations on an outreach campaign.
PBS broadcasts: Where Do the Children Play? will be broadcast in Michigan on all public television stations on Tuesday, April 15 at 9 p.m. It will be available to other PBS stations around the country in mid-May. If you would like your local PBS station to air it, call and ask to speak with the program director. Find contact information at www.pbs.org/stationfinder. Let the program director know the film is on the APT list of films (and therefore free to most stations). Direct her to www.wfum.org/childrenplay for more information.
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