Child Speech Development:
Playing Your Part

Looking for toddler activities that help with child speech development?

Well, you're at the right page!

Even if your toddler is not yet speaking, you can be sure that, assuming he is hearing correctly, he will be listening to and absorbing all the speech that is going on around him. (Yes, that means bad language too, so be careful what you say...!)

Parenting tip for toddler:
Giving your toddler a rich diet of spoken words is the best way to help your child's speech. Actually this is really best from birth, but I know that many people do not understand the importance of speaking to a baby about what is going on around him. However, if you have not started on this yet, he will still benefit from hearing you now.

So, what can you do to provide this rich diet of words? What activities for 2 year olds are the best for toddler education?

• You could just comment on everything that is around you, describing places and people as you go about your daily activities. "This cauliflower looks good. It has white flowers in the middle and green leaves around them. The flowers don't look like flowers do they? They're very tiny."


• Describe to her what she is doing. "Oh, l see you are putting the red block on top of the blue one. And it is balancing! And now another red one on top of that. Oops-a-daisy! They've fallen down."


• Describe what you are doing if your toddler is watching you. "It smells like the cake is ready now. I'm putting my oven gloves on because the pan will be very hot and I don't want to burn my hands."


• Talking whilst playing any toddler games and activities. Again, just comment on whatever you are doing. "Lets play Ring a Ring o' Roses. Can you hold my hand and hold Gemma's hand too? That's right, now we have made a circle."

You see it really is easy, once you've got over being self-conscious about commenting on the obvious. And the whole point is, it is the obvious that will help your toddler in his learning. If he hears about what he can see, then he will be understanding those words you speak.

What do I do if my toddler doesn't say the words correctly?

Don't worry, she will, eventually, after she has practiced it often. Just keep pronouncing the words correctly yourself and she will pick it up. When your toddler says "bicki" whilst reaching for the tin, you could say, "Oh, you want to have a biscuit, do you?" This way you are modelling both the correct pronunciation and the correct grammatical sentence, whilst also affirming to your toddler that you understand her communication attempt.

In the past it was popular to use dumbed-down words to name something when talking to little ones. Now we know that this is not only unnecessary but can be unhelpful. For instance, a toddler will know that a train is a train if you show one to him and tell him that is what it is. There is no need to call it a 'choo-choo'. In fact I have seen 5 year olds in schools who think that a banana starts with the letter 'n' because the adults around them have not used the correct word for the fruit, calling it a 'nana' instead.

So, some activities for 2 year olds that lend themselves to perfecting child speech...

Here are some games to play with toddlers that will give you some ideas. Rhymes and songs are a very good way to get a toddler to start speaking. They are non-threatening and enjoyable.

• 'Wind the Bobbin Up' is a lovely game to play with your toddler that she will soon be joining in with. For the lyrics check out our action rhyme page, also popular nursery rhymes are often the first ones toddlers sing.


• You can make toddler games and activities out of any everyday chore just by creating a rhyme to do it by. It is easy to do - you can either
  • Just repeat the words, for instance:
    "Put your sock inside your shoe, in your shoe,
    Put your sock inside your shoe, in your shoe,
    Put your sock inside your shoe, oh dear, what a poo!
    Put your sock inside your shoe, in your shoe".
  
  
  • Or adapt the song 'Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush', like this:"This is how we put your toys away,
    toys away, toys away,
    This is how we put your toys away,
    When we tidy up"
    (You could replace 'your' with your child's name if you like)
  
  
• Any of the classic nursery rhymes are wonderful for helping with your child's speech development. Click here for nursery rhyme lyrics.


• Reading stories are wonderful activities for 2 year olds. The best ones for promoting child speech are those with lots of predicable repetition that your toddler will love to join in with.


• Discussing pictures like I mentioned with the nappy (diaper) changing ideas also encourages your child's speech.


• Actually, I could go on forever because all the toddler activities on this site have the potential for developing child speech just as long as you talk about the activities.

I hope you are now more confident in providing some toddler games and activities for 2 years olds to more effectively play your important role in child speech development.

Talk your way from Child Speech to Toddler Education