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The Wiggles - Kids Songs and Nursery Rhymes

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Simon Says 🗣️ Children's Activity Songs & Games for Kids 😄 The Wiggles

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My Friend Robot! | Barefoot Books Singalong

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A Dragon on the Doorstep by Barefoot Books

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A Dragon on the Doorstep by Barefoot Books

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A Dragon on the Doorstep (UK) | Barefoot Books Singalong

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🎆 Diwali Magic! 🌟 Kids Song About Lights, Colors, & Sweets! 🎶 | Sing Along Now!

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爱哆有声绘本故事IDOL Mandarin Chinese Kids Audiobooks

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《大卫上学去》| 中文有声绘本 | 睡前故事| David goes to school | Best Free Chinese Mandarin Audiobooks for Kids

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《好饿的毛毛虫》有声绘本/幼儿读物/中文故事/亲子阅读/童书阅读/睡前晚安故事

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Little Fox Chinese - Stories & Songs for Learners

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The Three Little Pigs (三只小猪) | Folktales 1 | Chinese | By Little Fox

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爱哆有声绘本故事IDOL Mandarin Chinese Kids Audiobooks

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《蚂蚁和西瓜》中文有声绘本 | 睡前故事 | Best Free Chinese Mandarin Audiobooks for Kids

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月份歌  | 一月到十二月 | 12个月份歌 中文 | Chinese Months Song | Months of The Year Song in Chinese

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Story Time with Lynn "A Little Spot of Belonging"

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Story Time with Lynn "A Little Spot of Belonging"

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Story Time with Lynn "A Little Spot of Belonging"

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How to grow a friend  By Sara Gillingham

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The Dance Freeze Song | Freeze Dance | Scratch Garden

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Play Percussion Instruments by Little School of Music

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Play Percussion Instruments by Little School of Music

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Sing-Along Songs for Kids | Play Percussion Instruments | Little School of Music

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从一数到二十 | 数字儿歌 | 朱妮托尼儿歌 | 🎀🚘学数数 |  Kids Song in Chinese | 兒歌童謠 | 卡通動畫 | 朱妮托尼童話故事

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Little Fox Chinese - Stories & Songs for Learners

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Little Red Riding Hood (小红帽) | Folktales 1 | Chinese | By Little Fox

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Little Fox Chinese - Stories & Songs for Learners

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The Three Little Pigs (三只小猪) | Folktales 1 | Chinese | By Little Fox

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貝瓦兒歌 - 經典童謠 - 卡通動畫 - 最好的儿歌

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拔萝卜 | 经典儿歌 | 國語童謠 | 最好的儿歌 | 卡通动画 | 贝瓦儿歌

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Guide to Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood

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Guide to Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood

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Guide to Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood

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Early exposure to language impacts a child’s later ability to read and write. Learn how to nurture children’s emergent literacy skills in the classroom.

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The Power of Pretend Play in Language & Literacy Learning

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The Power of Pretend Play in Language & Literacy Learning

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1. Choose a play setting kids are familiar with like a grocery store
2. Provide background knowledge on the setting
3. Ask the children to help create and gather appropriate props for the setting.
4. Create writing opportunities by having the kids make signs for the setting
5. Identify words that are specific to the play setting
6. Let children play and follow their lead

Find more play ideas here!

Imagine yourself acting as a news anchor or a doctor. What would you say and how would you speak? You would probably need to learn some new vocabulary and practice the way news anchors and doctors speak. Adults may not have much opportunity to pretend to be someone else in their daily lives, but for children, pretending comes naturally to them.

Unfortunately, recent evidence suggests that pretend play has been dramatically reduced in society. In 1982, pretend play accounted for 41 percent of preschoolers' free play while it has dropped to just 9 percent in 2002 (Howes and Wishard, 2004). Sadly, dramatic play areas have been disappearing from many kindergarten classrooms. Considering recent research that shows play DOES make a difference in language learning (Han et al, 2010), we should bring back this wonderful opportunity for learning to our children's lives both in and outside of schools.

Pretend play (also known as dramatic play or role play) is critical for developing oral language. Researchers discovered that children engaged in pretend play often use higher forms of language than they would use in normal situations.

This makes sense because they are pretending to be someone else, oftentimes, adults. Psychologist Jerome Bruner found that "the most complicated grammatical and pragmatic forms of language appear first in play activity." This is because the pretend situation stimulates kids' language development.

In addition, children learn emergent literacy skills during pretend play, specifically learning about the different situations in which reading and writing may be needed. For instance, during pretend doctor play, kids learn that in order to make the patient feel better they must be able to determine what is causing the pain - reading a patient's chart will help in that regard. Eventually this type of reading gives children authentic motivation to learn reading and writing for age-appropriate purposes. It will be a lot more relevant to write the sign "OPEN" if they pretend they are in a grocery store than if they are asked to write the same word without the context of grocery store. The elements of "fun" and "meaning" are important to unfold the intrinsic learning motivation of children.

Here are some tips for early childhood teachers on how to support pretend play in their classrooms.

1. Choose a play setting of children's interest or a setting that they are familiar with such as the grocery store, restaurant, doctor's office, etc.

2. Provide some background knowledge by reading a book, showing photos, taking a field trip, and/or discussing what it's like to be in a grocery store/restaurant/doctor's office, etc.

3. Ask the children to help you create and gather appropriate props for the setting.

4. Create writing opportunities by making signs with the children. For example, for a restaurant, create signs that have the restaurant's name, open/close, hours of operation, a special daily menu, and name of waitress/waiter.

5. Identify words that are specific to the play setting. Consider both nouns and verbs. When playing with children, use the vocabulary while taking the role of coplayer or play leader. E.g. During doctor play, you may say "Let's take your temperature with a thermometer" or "This medicine will make you feel better." However, don't force children to use new words right away. Kids have a right to accept or reject your offer during the play. This is okay. After multiple exposures to new words and new concepts, they will eventually utilize the new learning when they feel comfortable.

6. Be a co-player and a sensitive play leader. Refrain from commenting outside of the play frame or redirecting to teaching. Let the children play and follow their lead.

Most importantly, have fun with the kids! This is your chance to be an actor/actress using your imagination.
References
Han, M., Moore, N., Vukelich, C., & Buell, M. (2010) Does Play Make a Difference?: How play intervention affects the vocabulary learning of at-risk preschoolers, American Journal of Play. 3(1), 82-105. http://www.journalofplay.org/issues/151/155-does-play-make-difference

Howes, C., & Wishard, A. (2004). Revisiting shared meaning: Looking through the lens of culture and linking shared pretend play through proto-narrative development to emergent literacy. In Children's play: The Roots of reading, ed. Edward F. Zigler, Dorothy G. Singer, and Sandra J. Bishop-Josef, 143-158.

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The Power of Pretend Play in Language & Literacy Learning | Expert Advice | The Genius of Play

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Myae Han, Professor at the University of Delaware, shares why it's important to support pretend play.

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CBeebies | Do You Know Songs | Sinking and Floating

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The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers - Read Aloud

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Kent Libraries Registration and Archives

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Animated Storytime | Sharing a Shell by Julia Donaldson and Lydia Monks | Picture Book Animation

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太好玩了！《拍拍手碰碰脚》奥尔夫音乐游戏，适合小班感知身体！

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兒童有聲繪本故事《數學繪本· 一樣多才公平》|經典繪本|有聲繪本|睡前故事|中文繪本|晚安故事

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0:00 / 2:49•Watch full video

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彩虹的约定《音乐律动手语》

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Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes with DJ Raphi

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Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes with DJ Raphi

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Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes - Exercise Song For Kids with DJ Raphi

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I've Got Love [ACTION SONG for Kids] by Lindsay Müller

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Book by Latashia M Perry

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👧🏽👩🏾👦🏾 Skin Like Mine Read Aloud Story For Kids

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做懂礼貌的好孩子  绘本动画片《说谢谢真好》

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【听故事，学中文】😊Whose Shadow Is This? 《谁的影子？》🐕儿童绘本故事🦄睡前故事📕Mandarin Read Aloud📕Learn Chinese For Kids

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【有声绘本】《幸运的鸭子》“英国插画奖”作品

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优秀绘本中文阅读《1,2,3 到动物园》｜ Award winning picture book reading in Chinese “1,2,3 To The Zoo”

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碰碰狐 鯊魚寶寶 (兒童兒歌・故事)

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從一數到十 | 數字兒歌 | 碰碰狐！兒童兒歌

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对不起没关系儿歌/礼貌歌/对外汉语儿歌/中文儿歌

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The Boundaries Song - "That's a Boundary."

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La Cucaracha (The Dancing Cockroach Video) by DARIA

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La Cucaracha (The Dancing Cockroach Video) by DARIA

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La Cucaracha (The Dancing Cockroach Video) by DARIA

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Airplane Song: Music + Movement fun with transportation!

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NDP 2024 Theme Song - Not Alone [Official Music Video]

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Going on a Dragon Hunt: GET UP AND MOVE WITH Bari Koral

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Diversity Song For Kids | Kids Songs & Nursery Rhymes | Multicultural Family Song | Inclusion Song

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It’s hard to find a website or pamphlet today about child development that doesn’t say something about the importance of reading with young children. But what exactly is it about books that makes them such a powerful tool for promoting children’s development? And what are some things you can do during book reading to ensure that your child has the best chances to learn?

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Why do some kids learn to talk earlier than others?

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Why do some kids learn to talk earlier than others?

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Science & Tech

Christy DeSmith

6 min read

Global study by new faculty Elika Bergelson finds three key predictors of language development. They may surprise you.

Growing up amid a swirl of Russian, Hebrew, and English fed Elika Bergelson's passion for language development.

Her parents had emigrated in the 1970s from the Soviet Union to Israel, where they began their family. Bergelson and her youngest sibling were born in the 1980s after the family settled in Columbus, Ohio. Even back then, she noticed generational differences around grammar, accents, and vocabularies that left her asking how the kids had outpaced the adults.

"What is it about language acquisition that makes younger minds - which are usually less good at everything - actually better at this particular process?" she remembered wondering.

"What is it about language acquisition that makes younger minds - which are usually less good at everything - actually better at this particular process?"
Elika Bergelson

Today, the newly appointed associate professor of psychology studies how infants and toddlers learn language from the world around them. The developmental psychologist specifically strives to parse the various theories that account for the onset and eventual mastery of language comprehension and production. Bergelson's latest paper, published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, takes a global approach to developing and testing such theories, with the results refuting common critiques of low-income parents and caregivers.

"Our results question some of the received wisdom, certainly in the American policy space, that families in certain socioeconomic circumstances are providing less or less 'good' language input to their kids," she said.

As a language scientist, Bergelson has a history of generating such myth-busting insights. Her first experiments on early word-learning, performed 15 years ago when she was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, revealed that comprehension begins at a far younger age than previously thought. "Around 6 or 7 months, babies are starting to understand some really common nouns," she said.

Baby's language milestones

Research by Elika Bergelson over the years has revealed that comprehension begins at a

younger age than previously thought. Here are some key points for the average child.

Scientists have long acknowledged the burst of word production that occurs around age 18 months, Bergelson explained. In follow-up studies, she and her colleagues found a similar qualitative improvement in language comprehension near a child's first birthday, around the time the first bona fide words arrive. It's as though children around age 1 go from just barely grasping the mechanics of language to suddenly becoming true communicative partners.

Could this be because parents talked more or differently to older babies? Bergelson investigated this theory as a postdoc and research professor at the University of Rochester, where she led the creation of a large naturalistic data set that tracked babies from 6 to 18 months old with audio and video recordings, eye tracking, and more. "It doesn't seem like there's something fundamentally different in how parents or caretakers interact with 6- versus 12-month-olds," she concluded.

With a grant from the National Institute of Health, Bergelson's new Harvard lab recently embarked on a project designed to test what she calls the "better learner models" of language acquisition. The comprehension tipping point is ascribed by these theories to the baby's growing social, cognitive, or linguistic abilities, rather than just their accumulation of more input from caretakers.

But what, exactly, are the skills that support word learning? Bergelson and her colleagues plan to test comprehension indicators that appear sooner than talking itself, such as pointing or looking in the direction of a mentioned object. This research holds the long-term potential of improving early interventions for children who struggle with language acquisition.

Bergelson has the additional goal of growing the pool of children whom language scientists study. "One really important shift in the field recently has been a much more serious reckoning with the fact that we tend to study white, middle-class Americans," she said.

Her recent PNAS paper, written with senior co-author Alejandrina Cristia at France's École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, is based on a large sample of 2- to 48-month-olds. Daylong audio recordings captured the babbling and baby talk of 1,001 children representing 12 countries and 43 languages. Financial support for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others.

Daylong audio recordings captured the babbling and baby talk of 1,001 children representing 12 countries and 43 languages.

Analyzing the recordings was completed with the help of machine learning. Bergelson called it a "coarse-grained" approach to studying the topic. "It's the algorithm's estimate of how much speech the kid is hearing or producing," she said. "But I think it's a complementary approach to what otherwise is very, very time-consuming and sample-limiting work."

The results show that the main predictors of language development globally are age, clinical factors such as prematurity or dyslexia, and how much speech children receive from the world around them. In contrast to previous research, no effects were found related to gender, multilingualism, or socioeconomics.

"There's been much debate and discussion in the literature in recent years about how socioeconomic status does or doesn't link to language input and language output," noted Bergelson, who is immersed personally in early development baby babble, having given birth to her second child last year. "We looked in many, many, many different ways ... In no form did we ever find evidence that moms with more education had kids who produced more speech in these tens of thousands of hours of recordings from daily life."

Mother: 'Where's the elephant"

With a grant from the National Science Foundation, Bergelson is also pursuing new research on language development in children who are deaf or blind. The case of blindness is especially interesting, she noted.

"Blind adults' language skills are largely indistinguishable from sighted folks'," she said. "But a lot of our theories about early language learning rely on children seeing others to refer to things in the world. So there's a mystery - how does that happen? And what does that tell us about how language develops for everybody?"

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Why do some kids learn to talk earlier than others? - Harvard Gazette

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Global study by new faculty Elika Bergelson finds three key predictors of language development. They may surprise you.

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Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books

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Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books

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Brannon, D., & Dauksas, L. (2014). The effectiveness of dialogic reading in increasing English language learning preschool children's expressive language. International Research in Early Childhood Education, 5, 1-10.

Flynn, K. S. (2011). Developing children's oral language skills through dialogic reading: Guidelines for implementation. Teaching Exceptional Children, 44, 8-16. doi: 10.1177/004005991104400201

Stephenson, J. (2010). Book reading as an intervention context for children beginning to use graphic symbols for communication. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 22, 257-271. doi: 10.1007/s10882-009-9164-6

Swanson, E., Vaughn, S., Wanzek, J., Petscher, Y., Heckert, J., Cavanaugh, C., Tackett, K. (2011). A synthesis of read-aloud interventions on early reading outcomes among preschool through third graders at risk for reading difficulties. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 44, 258-275. doi: 10.1177/0022219410378444 | Full article

What Works Clearinghouse (2010). What Works Clearinghouse intervention report early childhood education interventions for children with disabilities: Dialogic reading. Washington, DC: Institute for Education Sciences. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/InterventionReport/136

Whitehurst, G. J., Falco, F. L., Lonigan, C. J., Fischel, J. E., DeBaryshe, B. D., Valdez-Menchaca, M. C, & Caulfield, M. (1988). Accelerating language development through picture book reading. Fischel, J. E., DeBaryshe, B. D., Valdez-Menchaca, M. C, & Caulfield, M. (1988). Accelerating language development through picture book reading. Development Psychology, 24, 552-559. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.24.4.552

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Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books

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Dialogic reading involves an adult and child having a dialogue around the text they are reading aloud together. Learn how to use this strategy effectively to help kids build vocabulary and verbal fluency skills and understand story structure and meaning. Downloadable handouts to help guide parents in using dialogic reading are available in English and 14 other languages.

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Supporting Language Development in the Early Years

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Supporting Language Development in the Early Years

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Speech, language, and communication are critical areas of development for children. They play a vital role throughout our lives, helping us to understand what is going on around us, communicate our basic needs and feelings, hold conversations, think and learn, develop relationships, solve problems, and more. They also support many other aspects of development, including cognitive, social, and literacy development.

Research has found, however, that in some areas, more than 50% of children entering reception have language levels below what is expected for their age. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, this statistic has likely worsened as language development has regressed for many children, leaving them behind their peers.

Both parents and early years workers could play a significant role in helping to improve children's language development and outcomes. To aid you in doing this, in this article we will cover the stages of normal language development, why it is so important, how to recognise potential speech problems, and what you can do to support young children's language.

The contents of this article are as follows:

What Does Normal Language Development in Early Childhood Look Like?

Speech and language development involves four main components:

Phonetics and phonology: learning to pronounce speech sounds, as well as understanding the rules about which sound sequences occur in the language.

Semantics: learning vocabulary and understanding how concepts map onto words - for example, does 'dad' mean any man? Or any man with a beard? Or just one particular man?

Syntax and morphology: the rules for how to arrange words in sentences (for example, a verb normally comes second, rather than last), and how to change things like tense, voice, or number - for example, is the plural of 'sheep' 'sheeps'?

Pragmatics: learning social rules for using language, including adapting your language for who you're talking to, taking it in turns to speak, and staying on topic. This also includes learning non-verbal communication - including facial expressions, gestures, and tone of voice - and how this interacts with the words we're saying.

As you can see, learning how to communicate is quite complicated. The good news is that children are programmed to be able to do it, but they do need lots of input from adults to be able to kickstart this process. This also needs to be direct, face-to-face input from a real human being; children can't learn language effectively from TV or computer games, even if they are 'educational' (Kuhl, 2007 and others). As a result, the more you talk to a child (or baby) and support their language, the more progress they will make.

We use milestones to get a sense of what normal language development looks like - this is a more accurate way of measuring than attempting to compare one child with another, because all children are different. Understanding each milestone of development will help you to choose the right strategies to support a child with their speech and language.

Ages and Stages of Language Development

Babies start learning to recognise language even while they're in the womb. Research has shown that they remember stories that they were read while they were in utero, as well as recognising their mother's voice (DeCasper and Fifer, 1980, 1986; Kisilevsky et al., 2003).

Once they're born, their development tends to progress through the following stages:

We have only mentioned a few aspects of each stage here - for a more detailed list, see our article 'Why is Child Development So Important in Early Years?' or take our course on Supporting Speech and Language Development in Early Years.

Communication and Language in the EYFS

If you are an early years worker, you can also use the Early Years Foundation Stages (EYFS) to measure a child or baby's development. The early learning goals for communication and language are:

Listening and attention - including the ability to discriminate sounds and maintain and monitor attention in a shared context, and being able to anticipate key events in stories.

Understanding - first words in context, then phrases, and gradually more complex sentences, as well as questions like 'how' and 'why'.

Speaking - being able to express their feelings, needs, wants, thoughts, ideas, past experiences, and pretend play events.

Children are expected to achieve these goals when they have turned five years old. Ofsted inspectors will check to see whether early years practitioners are using adequate strategies to help children develop their communication and language skills. We will provide some ideas of strategies you can use later in this article.

Why is Speech and Language Development Important?

We have already mentioned that speech and language development is vital in a child's life, but a more detailed list of the benefits associated with it includes:

Providing a foundation that they can build on at school. Children need to develop their speech and language before they can learn to read, and language is the main way that information is transferred from teachers to students, learnt, and understood.

As a result of the above, children's early vocabulary is a predictor of their later educational outcomes, particularly reading comprehension and decoding (e.g. Bleses, Makransky, Dale, Højen, & Ari, 2016). Smaller vocabulary sizes in the early years lead to worse academic performance later on.

Language development is hugely important for children's overall development - for example, it supports cognitive advancement.

It helps children to form friendships. Using language facilitates them having meaningful interactions with those around them.

It enables them to communicate their needs better, reducing frustration (and, in turn, tantrums or outbursts).

Children are able to make more sense of the world around them. Language is tied to our thoughts and the way we perceive the world - when we are able to describe what is going on around us in words, this helps us to understand it.

As a result, it is important to do whatever you can to help the children and babies in your care to improve their communication and language skills.

Our course on Supporting Speech and Language Development in Early Years explains what typical development in this area looks like, discussing a range of support strategies approved by speech and language therapists, and going into detail about speech, language, and communication needs - including what causes them, warning signs, and how to help children who you know or suspect might have them. Have a look at our course library to see this and other courses that we offer.

How Do I Recognise Speech Disorders in Children?

As with all types of development, things can go wrong when children are learning to communicate. This could be due to difficulties with learning, cognition, hearing, or sight, or a poor learning environment with little interaction with adults. In this section, we will describe the different types of language problems, their symptoms, and what you should do if you suspect a problem.

Types of Language Problems

Children might experience any of the following issues:

Language delay - where they are developing along the normal lines, but are slightly behind the average in achieving each milestone. This is the most common developmental delay in children, and more than half of language delays in children under three resolve themselves.

Developmental Language Disorder - where they have problems either understanding language (receptive language delay) and/or using words themselves (expressive language delay). This might be misdiagnosed as poor behaviour, poor listening, or inattention.

Speech sound problems - where children find it difficult to produce a certain sound - for example saying 'wadio' instead of 'radio' (articulation disorder) - or they make a pattern of sound mistakes, such as consistently saying only one syllable in a word, like 'bay' for 'baby', or changing certain consonants in lots of different words, such as 'tat' for 'cat' and 'toffee' for 'coffee' (phonological process disorder).

Fluency - where children stutter or stammer. This might happen at the beginning of a word, such as 'li-li-like', could involve speech having to completely stop, or could be the repeated interruption of speech with 'um' or 'uh'. Children under five quite often stutter as they're learning to speak, and this comes and goes. However, one in five children have a stutter that is more severe.

Attention and listening problems - where children are unable to concentrate on speech and filter out background noise effectively, leading to them ignoring speech, interrupting, or being easily distracted.

Being aware of the different types of language problems will help you to communicate the problem to a professional, if necessary, as well as giving you an idea of how you can help in the meantime.

Symptoms of Language Problems

Symptoms that could indicate a language problem include:

Lack of attention when being spoken to - easily distracted.

Failing to carry out simple tasks or instructions (when old enough to understand these instructions).

Poor eye contact.

Speech that is extremely difficult to understand - only comprehensible 50% of the time.

Uninterested in being read to.

Repeating the same thing over and over again.

Avoiding conversations.

Consistently making speech sound errors over a long period of time.

Not speaking at all by 18 months of age, or not understanding speech by this age.

Not recognising or labelling common objects.

Difficulty learning nursery rhymes or simple songs.

It is not always a problem if children do not meet milestones 'on time' - there is a huge range within normal development. However, if you are worried that a child is behind where they should be, making a list of when they do achieve each milestone will help you see whether there is a pattern.

Be aware that language development will be slightly different for English as an Additional Language (EAL) children. Having less exposure to English will mean that they develop more slowly - they are not necessarily delayed, they just haven't heard enough of the language to learn it yet. Learn how to support EAL students in the classroom here.

What Should I Do if I Suspect a Problem?

It's important to act if you suspect a language problem, because delayed language development can cause frustration for you and the child, as well as difficulties learning and making friends, and behavioural problems. On the other hand, early intervention can be extremely helpful and mitigate any effects of the delay or disorder.

If you are worried about a child's language development, the first step is to talk to your GP - if you are not the child's parent, you may wish to tell the parents your concerns and suggest that they book an appointment. You don't need to try and diagnose the problem that the child is experiencing, but giving the GP or parents an idea of the symptoms would be useful.

The GP will refer the child to a speech and language therapist, if necessary. The speech and language therapist can decide what can be done to help, and what the potential for change is (their speech therapy goals). They might give parents exercises to do with the child, or have one-to-one sessions with them.

There are often long waiting times for intervention, so in the meantime it's important that you use all the strategies we will list in the next section to ensure that the child has as much support as they possibly can. Try to understand the problem thoroughly so that you can be empathic and make it easier for the child.

Strategies to Support Language Development

We have put together eight strategies that you can use to encourage children to develop their language. You may already use some of these strategies, or may need to change what you are doing slightly to maximise the learning opportunities you give to the children and babies around you. Whatever you can do will be helpful in giving them the best outcomes possible.

1. Be a Good Role Model

Since children often learn by observing and copying adults, you need to ensure that you are modelling good speech and language skills as much as possible, including:

Speaking slowly, so that children have time to process the information you give them, as well as clearly and calmly.

Using short sentences so that they aren't overwhelmed with language

Making eye contact, getting down to the child's level if necessary.

Modelling the right pronunciation and sentence structure, making sure to enunciate each word and sound - for example, it helps children learning to speak if you say 'going to' rather than 'gonna'.

Not using 'baby words' - children will need to learn the adult version from somewhere, and if you model it for them, they'll learn it more quickly.

Labelling objects and actions around you to teach them more vocabulary - for example, 'look at that dog!'.

Listening carefully when children are talking to you - give them your full attention.

Not interrupting when they are speaking.

Giving them opportunities to respond by leaving pauses after your sentences - this helps them learn turn-taking in conversations, but also gives them time to think and anticipate your next sentence.

Making signs, gestures, or actions as you speak to help convey your meaning.

Using expressive language to discuss objects, actions, and emotions - for example, 'that's a beautiful picture!', 'look at that tall tower!'. This will help children to expand their vocabularies.

Being a good role model only requires you to adapt your behaviour slightly, and can have extremely rewarding results.

2. Read to Them

Reading in early years is extremely effective for language development - it also has many other benefits, as you can find out in our article 'Why is Reading Important for Children?'. Try to read books every day if you can - it is even useful for babies under six months, but is particularly effective as they get older.

When you read, point to the words as you say them. This helps the children link the spoken word to the written word, and will aid their literacy development later on. Talk about each page to encourage the child to speak - for example, you could say 'that's a lot of food - what's your favourite food?'.

Engage them in the book by using intonation, pointing to pictures, and letting the child guess what will happen next. Toddlers might want you to read them the same book over and over again - this is great for getting them to really absorb the language, and testing whether they can finish the sentences for you. Alongside their favourites, read children books on different topics, particularly as they get older, so that they broaden their vocabularies. Talk about words that they aren't familiar with, asking them if they know what it means, and explaining it if not.

3. Talk Together

Naturally, talking to a child as much as you can will assist their language development. It's important to talk to them even when they can't talk to you - from birth, you should chat about what you're doing and ask them questions, responding to any gestures or noises they make as if they've spoken a sentence. This teaches them how conversations work, and exposes them to lots of vocabulary and sentence structures to become familiar with.

To make your conversations even more impactful, think about:

Talking to infants in a singsong, high-pitched voice. They are more likely to tune into this and listen to what you're saying, thus accelerating their language development.

Addressing them by name to get their attention before you speak (and teach them their name!).

Expanding what children say by repeating and building on it. For example, if they say 'car', you could say 'yes, look at that red car over there'. Giving the child complete sentences helps them to learn more about grammar.

Using parallel talk and self-talk. Parallel talk involves talking about what the child is doing - for example, 'you are wearing a nice blue dress today' or 'you are playing with the toy giraffe'. Self-talk involves talking about what you are doing, such as 'I am tidying up the toys because it's almost time to go home'. This helps teach children to pay attention to cues and predict what will happen next.

Being positive. If children make an error with their language, you should still say 'well done' or 'yes' - it takes a lot of effort to learn to talk, and they will need lots of encouragement. You can then repeat what they said, correcting the error; they will learn gradually by hearing you produce the correct forms. For example, if a child says 'her got dog', you could say 'yes, she has a dog'.

Choosing topics to work on each half-term. Some vocabulary will come up naturally in conversation, but by choosing a topic (such as daily routines, animals, body parts, food and drink, or colours) you could teach children even more words! The repetition of the same topic over a number of weeks will also make it more memorable.

4. Sing with Them

Singing is particularly important for babies and younger children - it can really help their language development by supporting them in differentiating sounds, recognising rhymes, improving their memories, and broadening their vocabularies. Just as with reading, pause before the end of a song line, getting the children to fill in the gap - for example, 'twinkle, twinkle, little... (star)'.

You could make up your own songs, or ask older children to do so. If they're silly, the children might enjoy and remember them even more!

5. Play Describing, Guessing, and Turn-Taking Games

Games are great language activities that you can try out. You could try:

Getting the children to feel a hidden object and describe it so that the others can guess what it is.

Playing 'what am I?', where you describe an object and the children have to guess it - for example, 'I have four legs and I'm a pet, I like to bark'.

Playing I Spy.

Sitting in a circle and taking it in turns to pass something around, only speaking when it's your turn. You could get everyone to answer a question (such as 'what is your favourite food?') this way. It also helps to build attention and listening skills, which are vital to good communication.

Asking children to wait until you say 'go' to do something, such as knock down a tower or make lots of noise. Again, this improves their attention and listening skills.

There are also lots of other games that could be just as fun as these suggestions - see what you can come up with!

6. Encourage Pretend Play

Pretend play helps children to broaden their vocabularies - you could get them to dress up as characters from their favourite book, make up their own stories, or try role-play using some simple props.

During the play, encourage the child to name the objects that they're using and ask them questions like 'what are you doing now?', 'where's teddy's hat?'. You could give them simple instructions within the play, such as 'put teddy down', making them more complicated for older children ('make your dolly sit on the chair').

7. Explore Rhymes

Rhymes are key for language development, just like singing. In addition to helping children to differentiate sounds and learn more words, rhymes increase phonological awareness skills and prepare children for learning to read.

You could play games - such as coming up with a word that the children have to find lots of rhymes with - or make up poems together. Reading rhyming stories is another good way to incorporate it into everyday life.

8. Create a Language-Rich Environment

To maximise opportunities for language development, ensure that the environment around you is conducive to good communication. This means:

Keeping it organised and uncluttered. Research has shown that tidy rooms help children to learn better.

Having displays on the walls that are colourful, include words, and are interesting to look at (but not overwhelming). This is useful for older children who might be beginning to match the spoken word with the written word.

Having plenty of books available that are age-appropriate and appealing.

Ensuring it isn't too noisy or there are 'quiet spaces' available. To develop communication skills, children need to be able to hear properly - you could use tents or dens to create areas where children could talk to each other, as well as making sure the general volume isn't too high when you have conversations.

We hope that these eight strategies will give you a good starting point for supporting language development.
Language development in the early years is crucial for children's outcomes later on - by using supportive language strategies and learning to recognise potential problems, you can help them to achieve the best outcomes possible. We hope you have found this article helpful!
Further Resources:

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