speech language and communication activities eyfs

• EYFS Activity

19 Communication and Language EYFS Activities for outstanding early years language development

The past 2-years have been incredibly challenging, affecting our children the most. Nurseries and schools have worked tirelessly to support all children and their families through the lockdowns and restrictions. However, the impact is still unknown for our youngest children, who have sacrificed vital interaction and communication opportunities.

We have 19 activity ideas to develop speech, communication and language in your setting. Plus, we  explore why, now more than ever, communication and language is important in the Early Years.

19 communication and language activities to develop effective communication and language provision in your nursery

As communication and language as a core area of development and learning is so broad, it is useful to create subgroups of activities to ensure full coverage of all aspects. We have collated 19 activities for you to try in your nursery setting to target all areas of communication.

Speech, vocabulary, and discussion

Most commonly, activities designed to develop interaction with peers and adults fall into this category. Encompassing all games where discussion is encouraged, these are excellent short burst games at any point in the day.

Nursery rhymes

Nursery rhymes and repetitive songs with actions are an excellent vehicle for changes of intonation in voice and encouraging simple actions. You can find more information on the developmental progress stages here.

Include all the favourite toys and teddies in their own tea party. This can be including measuring and pouring different levels and liquids for some practical life skills as well as having discussion topics and taking turns when joining in with the conversation.

Would you rather?

Needing no resources, just an imagination, these questions can be as serious or silly as you like. You can begin to see preferences and interests shine through with these questions and they are perfect for any new starters that may be a little nervous. Here are a few to get you going: Would you rather be a monster-sized ant or an ant-sized monster? Would you rather have hands for feet or feet for hands? Extend their vocabulary skills with explanations.

Microphones

These can be attached to a sound system, a plastic microphone or just a prop. Regardless of the resource you decide on, they have a stage to fill!

Surprise Box

This activity is an excellent discussion starter, it can be the hook into an organised phonics or literacy activity. Inside a box, place a mystery object, it can be linked to your story. Give the children clues about what may be inside. They can talk as a group or together with a partner.

Makeshift phone

An age-old activity, using the middle of a toilet roll or a plastic cup, attach some strong string to the end of the cup/roll. Repeat this at the end of the string to have a 2-way telephone. You can extend this by giving partner one a simple set of instructions to deliver to partner two down their new telephone.

Pompom avalanche

Requiring patience and fine motor skills, this activity includes pompoms (or any small item), chopsticks and a colander. Place the sticks in through the holes of the upturned colander and pour the pompoms on top. The children will carefully pull the chopsticks out watching the pompoms fall.

There are many different types of play , roleplay can include an end goal (catching the baddie), use of imaginary weapons or having a real-life purpose (shopping for food). Ensure your fancy dress box is fully stocked, using different textures of material for open-ended play .

Picture stimulus

Online free websites such as Once upon a picture are excellent starting points for discussions and vocabulary acquisition missions!

Comprehension of vocabulary

Story stones.

These can be made by the children themselves or can be purchased, here is an example of a story stone pack for purchase . They can be dotted around your setting for the children to find and create a story as they go.

Truly testing their comprehension of vocabulary, instructional drawing is an activity to develop fine motor skills and listening ability. This works well in small groups, an adult (or child) will choose an object, you can add additional adjectives for extension. They will call out the object and the children will try to draw what they think that object looks like.

Find me the…

When setting up for tabletop activities, you can increase back and forth conversation by engaging the children in the process. Naming the objects you will need in a list and extending the length of the list each time can also increase their working memory capacity.

A timeless game, where vocabulary understanding is key to being able to describe it well. Remind them they can use their senses by linking to rhyming sounds.

This activity works well when the children can physically see the item you are describing. The aim of the game is to guess the object in the least about of clues- the clues will get progressively easier. For example, the first 3 clues for a pencil may be: You can hold me in your hand, I can be sharp, and artists use me.

Senses and concrete experience

Musical statues.

Why not link in different cultural music to link with your focus topics? You can play the music very quietly to require quiet feet and careful listening, also working on core strength and balance for the statue pause.

Using your surroundings, find some objects that they are familiar with (you can link this game of I-spy to their current alphabet and phonics learning ). You can give clues whether the object may be up high or down low.

Feely boxes

Linking to their senses and concrete experience, place an object with texture (spikey ball, jelly, water snake) in a box that is covered with only a slot for their hands to feel. Cue the squeaks and squeals as they find the jelly texture.

Listening bottles

This is an ideal use for those recycled plastic bottles. Fill the bottles with dried rice, pasta or beans. Listen to the sounds they make; can they begin to make connections with what the sounds remind them of?

Guess the sound

Allow the children to play with a number of noisy objects (foil, recycled plastic wrapper, pasta in a bottle, wooden blocks). If they are comfortable, they can wear a blindfold and guess which item you make a noise with. This is linking their concrete experience with their senses helping the information to move into long term memory.

Why is communication and language development important in the Early Years?

The importance is visible across all new statutory documentation, the EYFS framework highlighting speech, communication and language as a prime area of learning and development . A misconception surrounding the Early Years is that it is preparation to begin formal schooling.

Although this is considered when increasing lengths of time concentrating and eventually table-top activities, the founders of the Curiosity Approach passionately explain that Early Years is a learning time in its own right.

These crucial years should be filled with exploration, measured risk-taking and interaction. Developing language and communication skills are essential for success beyond the nursery into adult life.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is currently in the spotlight for Ofsted , educational reform , and Special Educational Needs (SEN), finally recognising the positive impact these vital years have on progression. Language acquisition and practice increase confidence for children to engage in conversation, prompting the knock-on development of vocabulary growth and social skills.

What does communication mean in the Early Years?

Communication is so much more than talking; it is the transfer of information from one person to another. You may have heard the phrase, communication play , this is where the main features of the play itself centre around communication: role-play, joke-telling, mime games, and charades.

It’s important to create language-rich learning opportunities to support all aspects of interaction at an early age.

How to organise an outstanding speech, communication, and language provision

Organising a learning environment where communication and language can flourish doesn’t need to be expensive or difficult. There are simple ways to ensure your setting is optimising all possible opportunities for effective interaction.

The learning environment must be purposeful, with areas for role-playing and exploration regularly changed to meet the needs of the children. Outstanding nurseries follow Ofsted’s 3 I’s (Intent, Implementation, and Impact) when designing and reviewing their nursery environment. Question the role-play opportunities; are they supporting different types of play such as independent, small group and larger group play?

Ensure language-rich activities are a high priority with your team members, running personalised CPD sessions on this can be an excellent refresher for all nursery staff. For staff members who are new to the setting, possibly apprentices, organise for them to shadow an experienced staff member who can model back and forth interactions effectively.

Finally, the activities, consider all aspects of communication when planning engaging activities for the children. You may find it useful to unpick a planned session during staff meeting time or encourage your apprentice to use some of their 20% off the job hours to reflect on the even spread of communication activities. Are there enough opportunities to develop non-verbal communication, potentially dipping into easy Makaton to learn with your children?

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10 EYFS Communication and Language Activities

With Famly since

In a rush? Here's a quick breakdown

• Young children are introduced to a variety of new skills all the time. One of those important skills is communication, speech and language development.
• Speech, communication and language skills include learning new words, literacy, developing language skills, body language, facial expressions and the ability to listen.
• Here are some EYFS communication and language activities for your Early Years setting.

10 communication and language activities that are EYFS approved

1. practice turn-taking and talking with the pom-pom avalanche.

Pom Pom Turn Taking Game by Onetimethrough

What you need for this communication and language activity:

• Around 50 coloured pom-poms
• Wooden barbecue sticks or pipe cleaners
• A large colander

Trap the pom-poms in the colander using the wooden sticks or pipe cleaners and then turn it upside down. Next, the children take turns to carefully remove one stick or pipe cleaner each, until all of the pom poms fall down like an avalanche!

Why it works:

Children are able to practice turn-taking (as you do in conversation) in a fun way, and support their fine motor skills to boot. Plus, there's plenty of opportunity for new vocabulary when talking about what's happening in the game.

2. Develop attention with a classic memory game

Paper Plate Big Alphabet Memory Game by Frugal Fun For Boys and Girls

• A Dozen Paper Plates
• Marker Pens

A kingsize variation of the good old pair-matching game. Take several paper plates and markers and write some letters if you want your little ones to practice literacy or draw shapes, animals and other items if it’s time to build their vocabulary.

‍Why it works:

Another opportunity to hone those turn-taking skills and practice paying attention. Children can also help one another out, using their broadening verbal and social skills to support a teammate. This is also a great way to throw in some positional vocabulary, to extend sentences like "that one there."

3. Get talking on the DIY telephone

Make a cup phone by Engineering Emily

• Plastic Cups
• String or Rope
• Paint for Decoration

This simple, crafty telephone will engage children for hours. All they need to do is paint some plastic cups, poke a hole in each of them, and thread string through the bottom. You can experiment with various speaking activities but we recommend the old-school game of telephone where kids whisper to each other and pass the message around.

While phones with cords may be a thing of the past, a good old natter on the phone is likely to be something the children in your setting are familiar with. Whether it's role-playing being a parent or carer on the telephone, or passing messages to one another, the more opportunities to talk and communicate with one another, the better.

4. Practice careful listening with a game of dance freeze

Game of the Week: Dance Freeze by Playworks

• A Music Player
• An Open Area Free of Obstacles

Dance when the music’s on and freeze when it stops - just like musical statues. You might know it as some ice-breaker entertainment for a birthday party, but it’s also great for an attention and listening exercise. If you’re not sure what to play, check out this video with some lovely, cartoon characters that sing and guide their audience.

Communication requires good listening and, like any other skill, those listening skills need careful development. Making a game of listening carefully, and responding appropriately when a sound starts or stops, is a great way to practice using those all-important listening ears.

Get 50 free EYFS activities

5. Tell a tale with some story stones

Homemade Story Stones by Happy Hooligans

• Small Stones
• Stickers or Mod Podge and Magazine Pictures Cut-Outs

First, you'll need some flat and smooth stones from a craft shop, beach, or your setting's garden. Next, you and the children decorate them with individual pictures, that can prompt part of a story. Choose one of the stones and start a tale based on the picture on it, then encourage your preschoolers to draw more stones and continue the story.

Story stones are essentially very simple prompts for narrative play. "Tell me a story about this sun, painted on the stone," is far easier instruction to hear than just "Talk to me about something!" If you want the children in your setting to talk, give them something interesting to talk about.

6. Get chatting about fashion with this dressing-up activity

Free Let’s Get Dressed Game by Teaching Talking

• Free Printables

Simply print the free templates and cut them out.

As above, children are inspired to communicate about something that interests them. These neat printables encourage your little fashionistas to use vocabulary about clothes and colours and can support talking about personal care routines, differences, and preferences.

7. See and say with "I Spy"

72 ways to play "I Spy with my little eye"

• Nothing, actually!

At the link, you'll find 72 (!) variations of ‘I Spy’ game to mix up the old classic.

‍‍Why it works:

I spy is fantastic for communication and language. Within the game are opportunities for children to practice thinking about questions they can ask (and listening to the answer), turn-taking, remembering what's been asked before, and of course, social interactions.

8. Talking practice for pre-schoolers with Tabboo

Taboo Pack for Kids by Way to Master English

• The free printables from the link above

Each card consists of a picture that players have to explain to each other without using the three words listed underneath. It’s an amazing, playful activity that takes vocabulary development to a whole new level and encourages creativity.

T‍his game is perfect for older children who are developing a broader vocabulary. The game forces the players to think beyond the 'taboo' words listed, to describe an object in a way that their friends will understand and recognise it.

9. Nursery Rhymes for nursery children

10 Nursery Rhymes to Sing With Babies by Rainy Day Mum

• Music Player or Some Instruments

These ten all-time classics are great for singing and adding a little music to your day.

Nursery rhymes tend to be simple and repetitive, so easy for little ones to pick up, remember, and repeat, while practising pronunciation and intonation. You can also learn more about adding music to your curriculum here.

10. Plain and simple story time

World Book Day: 11 Books from Around the World by Famly

• A Cosy Reading Nook

Toss The Very Hungry Caterpillar aside for a moment and check out this list of classics from all around the globe.

‍We have entire articles on how to make the most of story time, as it's such a key feature of good quality early years provision. For more inspiration, why not check some of them out :

• Once upon a helicopter story
• It's OK To Read Sad Stories to Children
• 9 Stories to Help Children Process Tough Emotions
• 8 activities to go with 'We’re Going on a Bear Hunt'
• To Make Sense of This Year, Read Picture Books

The big ideas

Official Danish Government Reopening Advice

Guidance from the Danish Health Ministry, translated in full to English.

UK Nursery Covid-19 Response Group Recommendations

The full recommendations from a working group of over 70 nursery chains in the UK.

Please note: here at Famly we love sharing creative activities for you to try with the children at your setting, but you know them best. Take the time to consider adaptions you might need to make so these activities are accessible and developmentally appropriate for the children you work with. Just as you ordinarily would, conduct risk assessments for your children and your setting before undertaking new activities, and ensure you and your staff are following your own health and safety guidelines.

Zuzanna Stańczewska

Zuzanna Stańczewska works at Famly, finding the best hidden gems from across the web and delivering them straight to you on social media and our blog.

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• Areas of learning
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Exploring language

Tips for best supporting language development in an early years environment.

Contents on this page

Why exploring language is important

What the eyfs framework says, what this means in practice, suggested activities, other activities, what other nurseries and childminders are doing.

Children’s speech develops from babble, to words, to simple sentences through hundreds of hours of interactions with adults. Studies show that once babies begin to understand words their vocabulary increases quickly:

• by age 1, children recognise about 50 words
• by age 3, children recognise about 1,000 words
• by age 5, children recognise about 10,000 words

Having a large vocabulary helps children learn more. Words allow them to make sense of the world around them.

Communication and language is a EYFS prime area which means that it’s one of the important building blocks for all the other areas. If it’s not developed early it’s difficult to achieve later.

Children’s language skills are connected to their overall development and can predict their educational success. As speaking and listening develops, children build foundations for literacy, for making sense of visual and verbal signs and ultimately for reading and writing.

Children from more disadvantaged backgrounds may have fewer chances to develop their vocabulary. However, research shows that lots can be done in the early years to avoid inequalities in children’s language development.

Removing this inequality should be a priority for you. You can work towards this by providing a language rich environment full of stories, rhymes, songs and play with words that are of interest to children. Children can make good progress with early language development with the right support.

There are also lots of benefits from learning more than one language (including sign language) for example, understanding of grammar, spelling, creativity and story-telling skills.

In this video, an early years expert explains the importance of exploring language in the early years foundation stage framework. There are also some tips on how to support children in this area.

Through conversation, story-telling and role play, where children share their ideas with support and modelling from their teacher, and sensitive questioning that invites them to elaborate, children become comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary and language structures.

Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage , page 7, childminder EYFS, page 8, group and school-based EYFS.

Children develop strong language skills when they are involved in playful, language-rich environments with opportunities to learn new words. Hands-on experiences encourage learning and provide a context for new words to be explored. For example, it’s easier for children to learn vegetable names when they are touching or tasting them.

Songs and rhymes offer fun ways to explore the sounds and patterns of words. Poems with actions and repetition help children listen to the structure of spoken language and explore new words.

Reading stories aloud and sharing books supports children to develop language and understand new concepts. Encouraging children to notice pictures and understand words, will strengthen their language skills and widen their vocabulary.

Non-fiction and high-quality texts such as story books, encourage children to make sense of the world around them using language. Encouraging talk when sharing books is an excellent way to support communication and language.

Children extend language with pretend play and acting out stories. By offering props and ideas you can deepen the learning. This may include imaginative play with small world resources such as dolls houses, farms or garages, open ended materials (those which can be used in more than one way) such as blocks or loose parts. You can encourage language development through creativity and problem solving during activities like:

• observing nature

Story scribing

Children are born communicators and often practice their developing language skills by engaging in story-telling, through role play, small world and made-up games.

You can encourage and support this exploration of early language by scaffolding children’s learning and writing down exactly what children say, in the form of story books, for them to enjoy over and over again. Young children love repetition and this type of activity will offer important opportunities for them to feel their voice has been heard.

For younger children story scribing may involve creating picture books of recent experiences, such as trips to the park or birthday parties, with key people and phrases included. These can be created using pre-made photo albums or simply by stringing together printed photographs. Often these can be contributed to by parents or carers and allow practitioners to gain a deeper understanding of a child’s home learning environment, including key vocabulary.

For older children, you can transcribe more elaborate and creative experiences such as children’s own interpretations of familiar stories, superhero play adventures or the ‘rules’ of a game the children have invented. Again, these can be made into a paper story book or displayed as storyboards for children to return to and follow.

Often children enjoy re-enacting these stories with practitioners and their peers, so a simple marked out ‘performance area’ or cardboard box ‘theatre’ may support children to share and enjoy these ‘stories’ further.

How the activity links to the other areas of learning

This activity links to children’s personal, social and emotional development and literacy , as they share stories and interact with others. It also provides opportunities for children to engage in expressive arts and design .

Sensitively narrating children’s play

Children learn language when it is introduced to them sensitively, at a time it is relevant to them, in manageable amounts, and with plenty of time to process. One way of encouraging children’s understanding, and later use, of verbal language is to offer examples to them as they play. Narrating children’s play in these ways:

Commenting, or describing what children are doing, as they are doing it. Using simple, repetitive phrases and pausing in between. This is particularly helpful for complex concepts, for example things you cannot hold, like ‘red’, ‘bigger’ or ‘tomorrow’ and should never feel like you are overwhelming the child with words without meaning.

For example, during block play: “your tower is getting taller and taller”.

Expanding on what children say as you reply, adding one or 2 words. This shows children you are interested and supports them to begin linking words and ideas in play. It can also be helpful to remember that, if you ask a child one question and they are unable to reply, you may demonstrate responding by offering 4 comments.

For example, ‘what have you got?’ (question) Pause ‘It’s a car’, ‘It’s a red car’, ‘It’s a red, fast car’, ‘It goes vrroomm!’ (comments).

Recasting, or modelling, back what the child says, in the right form, but without openly correcting them. For example, in the role play area, if a child said ‘the baby sleeped in the bed’ you might say ‘oh, shhh, the baby’s sleeping in the bed’ to support the understanding of the complex relationships between grammar and vocabulary.

Pausing, allowing children extra time to respond, before speaking again. This supports language use as children’s brains develop and fine-tune those important connections which enable them to receive and understand messages, before forming and expressing their response.

For example, when talking to a child about their play, say something but then wait several seconds (count to 7 in your head) and keep looking at them so that they know you are interested and listening for their response.

Be flexible and responsive to different learning situations and interact in an authentic way having been invited into a child’s play. This will help to make sure that thinking is not interrupted and there is a sense of equality between you and the child.

This clip shows a practitioner tuning in to a young child singing and joining in with the words, following his lead to acknowledge his interests and being a playful communication partner.

“Central to our practice is establishing a shared context to start the conversational journey. Planning learning experiences through the ‘lens of accessibility’ with lots of ways for English as an additional language children to attend, participate and communicate without needing words. Visual signs, simple language and familiar routines all help. Children develop the motivation of being valued members of the group and can share their knowledge and interests with us, even if we do not share their language. Familiar objects to model telling a story create a point of shared understanding and new vocabulary can be introduced. Natural, playful repetition found in all good story telling supports learners to thrive”.

Jet, St Pauls Nursery School and Children’s Centre, Bristol

• Language development in the first years of life is important to later educational success.
• Communication and language is a prime area in the EYFS and is difficult for children to develop later on.
• Language development is best supported in a playful language environment full of stories, songs, rhymes, signs, talk and imaginative play.
• You are important in narrowing the word gap and supporting all children to make good progress.
• You can be a skilled communication partner with children to support their language development.
• Consider how having an understanding of typical communication and language development stages could further improve your practice.
• Review how you meet all children’s communication needs, including non-verbal learners.
• Strengthen partnerships with parents and carers, and professionals to support children’s speech, language and communication.
• Review your curriculum to ensure you cover the requirements in the EYFS for this area of learning.

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Unlocking Voices: EYFS Activities

by Parenta | May 1, 2021 | Parent advice feed , Running a setting | 1 comment

With the changes to the EYFS , the Literacy part of the Early Learning Goals have gone from 2 items to 3, with ‘comprehension’ being added. In last month’s article on International Children’s Book Day, we gave you some ideas on how to use books to help children’s learning in more ways than just reading, and we understand that before children learn to read, they have to learn to communicate, which is why we’re keen to help you encourage speech and language in your setting which leads on to better literacy and understanding too.

It goes without saying that to encourage speech and language, you need to actually speak and communicate with children. This means actively talking to them and not just responding; verbally pointing out as many physical things as you can including colours, shapes, numbers, letters, people and things, as well as more abstract things such as emotions and ideas; and asking questions that lead and extend their thought processes.  

1. Use the 5 Ws – Who? What? Where? When? Why?  

And you can also use ‘How?’. These questions are great to use in stories to check a child’s comprehension and understanding of what they have heard, and to develop conversation skills, but you can also use them in other situations too, such as exploring a garden habitat, or looking at pictures of different situations.  

2. Repeat after me  

Start encouraging children, especially babies, to make early sounds with their voice as a way of communicating. You can make different sounds with your voice whilst changing a nappy, or sing a nursery rhyme or go through different rhyming sounds with slightly older children, encouraging them to repeat the sounds they hear. Remember to keep your focus on the child or children so that they are drawn into the ‘conversation’ with you, even if it is at the pre-word stage.  

3. Describe what you do more often and in more detail

This is a simple way to help children learn new words and is an important way to help decrease the word gap that is now developing in many of our children. All you need to do is describe what you are doing more often with the children. If you are going outside to play, instead of just opening the door and saying “Playtime”, say “Let me open the door for you, it’s playtime and the sun is shining” instead. The children will hear more words and make more meanings from them. Try to vary your words and vocabulary too, so next time you could say “Let’s push open the door, and exit into the garden this way”, or something similar. The wider vocabulary you use yourself, the wider will be the vocabulary of the children. If you are moving around the setting, then try doing it in different ways and use adjectives such as “Let’s skip slowly”, “walk proudly”, or “run quickly”. You could also sing it or make it into a rhyme such as, “We’re getting off the floor, and marching out the door!”

4. Encourage conversations with peers

With older children, you can lead a ‘pair and share’ time where you actively encourage children to talk to each other or have some team word games where children have to come up with words that start with a particular letter, similar to I-spy or that rhyme with each other. Make it fun and physical by getting one child to hide an object and the other one has to ask questions to find out where it is.  

Remember that you should be talking to the children as often as possible and using imaginative play, more formal educational sessions, playtimes, lunch breaks and transitions to engage the children in oral speech and language as much as possible.  

For EYFS maths activities, read our handy blog here !

We hope you enjoy these EYFS activities!

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Communication and language activity ideas as part of the revised EYFS framework

There’s no question that interconnectedness will continue to play a vital role in child development. That’s why we were pleased to see it highlighted as a key area in the EYFS reforms that officially come into force from September 1.

If the last 18 months have taught us anything, it’s how important it is to maintain consistency in how we all help early years children to build communication confidence, develop a social skill set that fosters positive relationships, and utilise language so they begin to understand their emotions and feelings on a much deeper level – all of which can support them in their learning journeys.

As the framework states: “ the number and quality of the conversations they [early years children] have with adults and peers throughout the day in a language-rich environment is crucial .”

There are plenty of ways in which practitioners can focus on communication specifically. For example:

• Commenting on what children are interested in or doing, and echoing back what they say with new vocabulary added
• Reading frequently to children and engaging them actively in stories, non-fiction, rhymes, and poems. Also, providing them with opportunities to use new words in a range of contexts
• Encouraging storytelling and role play where they feel comfortable to share ideas with you, and even making mistakes on purpose so they can correct you
• Using sensitive questioning which invites them to elaborate and tap into a rich level of language structures.

All the above will help towards children achieving early learning goals such as listening attentively – and responding with relevant questions – joining in small group interactions confidently, offering their own ideas, expressing their feelings about experiences using past, present, and future tenses, and more.

As you continue in your EYFS reforms preparation, and beyond, we’ve pulled together some activity ideas to further develop communication and language skills, that you might want to use in your setting:

• Play games which involve listening for a signal

Birth to 5 Matters recommends starting a game of ‘Simon Says’ or something with a ‘Ready, steady, go!’ beginning – such as a race to build or knock down a block tower. By doing this, you’re also able to step into the role play and can help children to concentrate, wait, react when required, and support them throughout the completion of the activity.

• Make a post box

Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust’s ‘Having Fun With Language’ pack recommends creating a post box and then getting children to put the correct pictures inside it. For example, in response to ‘where’s the apple?’, the child would pick this photo up and pop it in the post.

As language progresses, you should use more complex sentences such as ‘the girl running’ and the children find the relevant image. It could then move into the territory of ‘what are they doing in this picture?’ to invite more depth to a child’s answer.

• Planting seeds in the vegetable garden

Not only will this help children to begin to understand more about their environment and where food comes from, but if this activity is done in groups, it can build team communication and leadership skills. You could assign different jobs to each child – for example, one digs, one puts in the seeds, the other waters the soil – and encourages them to communicate with one another throughout.

You could even keep a diary – or use a whiteboard/display – and get children to select different words to describe their garden’s progress. For example, what the weather is like, what day of the week it is, how they feel that day, and so on.

• Playing ‘pairs’ or a memory game

Using picture cards or items with hand-written letters/numbers/words on them – such as paper plates – place them face down and get children to find matching pairs. This will not only help them to retain information and focus their attention, they’ll also get into the rhythm of when to take their turn, and can even invite their teammate to have the next go.

As language progresses, we’d recommend you introduce longer words or pictures that – when they get a matching pair – the child has to describe in a bit more detail. 

It’s important not to bombard children with questions as you explore ways in which to bolster their communication and language skills. Instead, it’s better to invite and encourage meaningful interactions through play, so it supports their development and keeps them engaged.

Make sure you adapt each of the activities above to ensure they’re accessible, too. For example, if you introduce touch and taste elements to these ideas we’ve suggested, they can support children of all learning abilities.

We have several ways and plenty of guidance to help you as you plan in line with the EYFS framework.

For more on our Communication and Language series, head here:

• 5 Ways to Support Children’s Communication & Language – From Childminder, Chloe Webster.
• Communication and Language in the Early Years

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Parent's Academy › Activities for Kids › Language Activities › 21 Kids Activities to Encourage Speech Development

21 Kids Activities to Encourage Speech Development

SAHM Blogger, Masters in Psychology , Dallas , Texas

Jan 15, 2022 From day one, your baby is listening to you intently to eventually communicate with you. Those listening skills will then turn into eye contact, cries, smiling, giggling, babbling, and more. In fact, your baby’s first communication begins with crying.

Have you ever noticed your baby cries differently for different needs? Different cries are baby’s way of communicating with you!

But how do a baby’s cries develop into speech? By the age of one, your baby will develop both nonverbal and verbal language skills to communicate. To help your baby develop essential language milestones, here are 21 kids’ speech activities to foster listening skills and speech development for your baby!

One-Year-Old Speech and Language Milestones

During year one, most babies develop the following language milestones:

• Recognizes familiar voices
• Responds to familiar voices by smiling and laughing
• Coos, squeals, shouts
• Has different cries for different needs
• Communicates through gestures (points to a bottle to tell you he/she needs more milk)
• Repeats sound or actions/gestures
• Responds to simple instructions (“Come here please”)
• Repeats words
• Recognizes the names of common objects
• Shows interest in reading books

Take this free cutting-edge 3-minute quiz . You will find out if your child is on track with his milestones and receive a free report with a personalized plan of learning. Speech Blubs is full of activities to encourage speech development!

Let’s Encourage Your Child’s Speech Development!

Take this quiz and get a report on your child’s milestones and a personalized learning plan to start progressing with Speech Blubs!

21 Kids Activities for Speech and Language Development

1. animal jam.

Simply say phrases like:

• A cow goes ‘moo’
• A duck says ‘quake’
• A chicken goes ‘cluck’

This helps your baby recognize the names of common animals along with their unique sounds. The best part about Animal Jam is it can be done anywhere, even in the car!

2. Sound Stories

Storytime is a wonderful time to bond with your baby. But it is also a way to enrich your baby’s language development. To learn speech skills, your baby also needs to learn nonverbal communication and sounds in response to everyday things. Instead of reading through a book,  make reading fun by adding facial expressions, voice inflections, sound effects, and animal sounds .

3. Talk Back

Babies communicate by crying, cooing, and squealing to get your attention.  When he/she is communicating with you, start talking back.  If your baby coos, coo back. If baby smiles at you from across the room, smile back while saying ‘Hello’ and waving.

Babies learn through imitation. Over time your baby will not only smile, but say ‘Hello’ back to you while waving.

4. Name That Color

Everything is made of color. To help foster early color recognition,  say the colors of everything you see .

For example: Name the colors of cars passing by while taking a walk to the park; tell your baby what color clothes he/she is wearing, toy colors, and more!

Whether you can keep a tune or not, your baby doesn’t care!  Singing is a perfect way to provide a language learning opportunity  that includes voice inflections, new words, and facial expressions. So go ahead and make a silly face while singing at the top of your lungs!

6. Monkey See, Monkey Do

“Monkey see, monkey do” is all about facial expressions. Facial expressions are an important aspect of speech development because they convey emotions. Research suggests that nonverbal forms of communication like facial expressions make up 60 to 65% of communication.

To encourage increased emotions through facial expressions,  hold your baby in front of you and mimic his/her facial expressions . When your baby smiles, smile back. Better yet! Stick out your tongue, make a silly face, and watch to see if baby repeats your expressions.

7. Mirror, Mirror

Since tummy time is an essential part of a baby’s physical development,  take advantage of tummy time by using a mirror . Not only will baby enjoy his/her reflection, but each time a coo or giggle is made your baby can see where the sound is coming from and his/her facial expressions when ‘speaking.’

After a diaper change or anytime your baby is on his/her back,  take baby’s legs in move them in bicycle motions  while singing a silly song or reciting a nursery rhyme. The bicycling motion will allow baby to focus on your face while you sing or speak to her/him.

9. Face-To-Face

Face-to-face is one of my favorite fun activities for promoting speech development! Lay on the floor with your little one and face each other. Point to areas of her/his face while naming the parts of the face. This will help your baby not only learn hand/eye coordination, but early recognition of parts of the face.

Better yet, take this activity one step further by doing the following example:

• Point to baby’s nose and say ‘nose’
• Take baby’s hand and touch your nose while saying ‘nose’

Having baby touch your nose allows her/him to understand that everyone has similar body parts with the same names.

10. Repeat after Me

This simple game works best when facing your baby.  Start making babbling sounds AKA baby talk  (especially with vowel sounds) and wait for your baby to repeat them back to you. Some common coos and babbling sounds include: Oohh/aww; mamma/dada.

This type of speech normally does not develop until four months of age. So don’t be upset if your one-month-old is not catching on, just give it time. Before long you and baby will be chattering back-and-forth.

11. Say My Name

One of the biggest language developments a baby will make is learning/recognizing his/her name! While it’s different for every baby, most babies will recognize and respond to their names between 3 to 6 months of age.

To help baby along with this language development, say your baby’s name whenever possible. Some fun ways to say your baby’s name include:

• Adding his/her name to a silly song,
• Asking a question with his/her name,
• Replacing the names of book characters with your baby’s name.

To develop language babies need to repeat or ‘echo’ words. A great way to include new words and increase language skills is by adding expressive phrases to everyday situations.

For instance, if your baby drops his/her bottle on the floor say, “Oh no!”

I’ve found this activity also helps develop speech by adding sound effects to baby’s activities.  Each time your baby jumps while holding him/her, add a sound effect like “ boing, boing .” While trying to calm your crying baby, rock him/her back and forth while saying, “swoosh, swoosh.”

Over time, baby will begin to “echo” what he/she hears.

I know it seems silly, and that’s because it is! Echo is meant to be a fun learning activity for babies, so the sillier you get with sound effects and funny phrases the more baby absorbs new words, sounds, and phrases.

13. This Little Piggie

Next time, your baby is laying on his/her back, grab a foot and start saying the rhyme “This Little Piggie.” Since this game doesn’t number each of the five toes, the rhyme needs to be modified to help baby learn numbers.

Instead of saying “This little piggie went to the market” say, “The first little piggie went to the market; the second little piggie stayed home,” etc.

Another I’ve done the rhyme to help with number recognition is by saying the rhyme the following way:

• “One little piggie went to the market”
• “Two little piggies stayed home”
• “Three little piggies had roast beef”
• “Four little piggies had none”
• “And five little piggies cried wee, wee, wee all the way home”

While this may give the rhyme much more little piggies,  it still allows your baby to hear each number and count the number with each toe .

14. Carpool

Carpool is an activity that’s perfect for crawling babies! While baby is crawling, get down and your hands and knees and teach baby how to push a car or truck as she/he is crawling. Your baby doesn’t have to keep a constant hand on the car, just a little push in between crawling motions.

To include speech development,  add car sound effects ;  tell a funny story  about the car ride;  sing  “Wheels on the Bus/Car/Truck”; etc.

15. Roll-A-Ball

This game if perfect for babies who can sit unsupported and have decent hand/eye coordination.  Simply take a (medium- to large-sized) ball and roll the ball directly toward him/her.  Incorporate language skills by saying phrases like “Here is your red ball!”

Roll-A-Ball can become more advanced by helping baby understand simple instructions and responding to those instructions. Try rolling a ball over to him/her and asking him/her to roll the ball back. 

16. Count with Me

You can help your baby with learning numbers by counting out loud to him/her every day. This activity doesn’t require extra effort on your part, simply start talking and counting out loud.

The following are great ways to include number counting each day:

• Count each stair step as you carry baby upstairs,
• Count how many bananas you bought at the store,
• Count baby’s fingers and toes.

17. Disappear, Reappear

Instead of playing a regular game of peek-a-boo, try playing with your baby’s favorite toy or stuffed animal.  Hide his/her toy from view. Wait and few seconds and say “ peek-a-boo .” You can also incorporate more speaking skills into the game by adding some creative dialogue!

Examples: “Peek-a-boo! There you are . . . Mister Bear missed you so much! Thank goodness you found him!”

18. Finger Puppets

Small finger or hand puppets are an amazing way to help develop language skills for your little one! By using finger or hand puppets to tell a story you are showing baby the following language and speech skills:

• Different facial expressions  to show emotions when speaking
• Creative dialogue  between two or more puppets (similar to speaking between two people).

19. Fruits and Veggies

Much of a baby’s speech development has to do with repetitive hearing and use of everyday words. One way to help with word recognition of common fruits and vegetables is by  playing pretend with plastic fruits and vegetables .

Although baby will need to be supervised with pretend plastic food because of small pieces, he/she will learn how to recognize a banana, carrot, pear, and more! 

Also, don’t forget to count your fruits and veggies for number recognition!

20. Picture This

One of the easiest ways to help develop language skills in babies is through flashcards. Flashcards with pictures and writing  help your baby begin to recognize what the picture or action is on the card  along with the corresponding word or phrase. 

While your baby won’t say the words out loud for a while, it helps him/her to recognize the picture with the associated word. 

21. Build a Tower

Building a tower with blocks is perfect for developing hand/eye coordination. But this activity can also be used for encouraging language development in babies.

As you watch or directly help your child stack blocks,  say the color of the block along with counting the blocks  as the tower is being stacked. Many available baby blocks also have pictures in which you can describe the picture to your baby. For instance: If you have blocks with animals pictured on them, name each animal along with the sound the animal makes.

It’s a Process

Speech development is more than speaking words. It is a complex system of verbal and nonverbal communication. To express emotions and thoughts you baby will first begin to cry to communicate his or her needs to you.

After communication crying, the sky is the limit for speech development and your baby! 

But your baby needs your help along the way! The best way to develop language skills by year one is through imagination and play. 

Each of the 21 activities above combines:

• Imaginative play,
• Simple instructions for you and baby to follow,
• Activities involving both verbal and nonverbal speech.

So start playing some of these fun speech and language activities to give your baby a head start before he or she turns one!

Read more on  how to utilize kids activities  to reach developmental milestones! If your toddler already reached their wonderful twos, consider  using  Speech Blubs App  in combination with offline games for kids to build their vocabulary .

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The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not necessarily reflect the views of Blub Blub Inc. All content provided on this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for independent professional medical judgement, advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.

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Children’s speech development – How to support it in Early Years

• Written By: Mandy Grist
• Subject: Language
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We look at why it’s important to support young children’s speech development in the early years and provide tips to try in your setting…

Children are hardwired to communicate from birth. However, they all need help to learn to talk. Though it can seem like it, children’s speech development doesn’t just happen on its own.

Needless to say, making sure we properly support children’s communication skills is crucial. This article aims to explain some of the ways early years practitioners can do just that.

Why is it important?

Research has consistently shown that good speech and language skills have a huge impact on educational attainment. When considering the importance of supporting children’s communication in the early years, some of the most eye-catching findings are worth restating:

• Vocabulary at age five is a very strong predictor of the qualifications children achieve at school leaving age and beyond (Feinstein and Duckworth, 2006).
• Children whose language difficulties were resolved by five-and-a-half are more likely to go on to develop good reading and spelling skills (Conti-Ramsden, 2009).
• Early speech, language and communication difficulties are a very significant predictor of later literacy difficulties (Snowling et al 2006).

Studies have also shown that children from disadvantaged backgrounds have additional issues to overcome.

We know that, on average, a toddler from a family on welfare will hear around 600 words per hour. There’s a ratio of two prohibitions (“stop that”, “get down off there” ) to one encouraging comment.

A child from a professional family will hear over 2,000 words per hour. Here, there’s a ratio of six encouraging comments to one negative (Hart and Risley, 2008).

In some parts of the UK, particularly in areas of social disadvantage, upwards of 50 per cent of children start school with delayed language (Locke and Ginsburg, 2002).

Other consequences

What’s more, we don’t only see the impact of poor communication skills in a child’s educational achievement:

• 59 per cent of language-delayed three-year-olds have behaviour problems. This is compared to only 14 per cent of non-language-delayed children (Richman et al 1975, Silva et al 1987).
• Children with speech and language difficulties experience more frequent bullying . This is partly because of the way they speak. However, they also often lack the skills to negotiate social situations (Conti-Ramsden, 2003).
• Two-thirds of young offenders have speech, language and communication difficulties. These were only identified before the offending began in five per cent of cases (Bryan, 2009).

So, we know that those who struggle to communicate are likely to have other difficulties to overcome. But we also know that many children who have difficulties with communication at an early age are able to go on to develop the good communication skills they need in life. This is if they have the right support and encouragement.

Supporting speech

Learning to talk relies on several underlying skills and practitioners can support these from birth. Indeed, the support provided for young babies is just as important as activities with toddlers and preschool children when it comes to children’s speech development.

The following tips are a great way to ensure that you’re helping children to become the best communicators they can be:

• Look at the child you’re working with. Show them that you’re switched on and ready to listen. It also encourages them to look at you. This is easier to do if your eyes are at the same height. Get down to their level or bring them up to yours.
• Dummies get in the way of learning to talk, so keep them for sleep times. It might help if your setting had a policy on dummies so that parents know what the rules are.
• Talk in short sentences. This helps children understand what you’re saying. It also gives them a chance to copy the kind of sentence you’re using.

More tips for encouraging good communication

• Understanding words is a skill that’s acquired slowly. Build on what each child says: when they say one word, you say two. (“Bus”, “Red bus”.)
• Children need time to process language, so give them a chance to respond. Resist the temptation to jump in too quickly.
• Children learn to modify the sounds they use by listening to adults, but they can’t necessarily change the way they say things straight away. If a child attempts a word, say it back to them. For example, if they say “Dod”, you say, “Yes, dog” ). Don’t make them say it back to you afterwards; they’ll do this when they’re ready.
• Children’s speech takes several years to mature. They learn through playing, so encourage them to play with sounds, by making animal noises and so on. Nearer school age, playing can involve rhyming games or making up words.

Organising your environment

Of course, getting the most from children’s communication isn’t only about being actively involved with an individual child.

It’s also about making sure the environment supports children’s speech development too. This means making sure your setting is geared up to encourage good communication skills.

A communication supportive setting is one that, amongst other things:

• has staff with an understanding about children’s speech development and how to support it;
• enables children to learn through means other than language. For example, you might use visual timetables, gesture or communication systems such as Makaton;
• has set routines for the sessions so that children know what’s going on;
• has a quiet area with few distractions. Children can go there to learn to listen to what is being said to them.

In conclusion, we can make sure we’re supporting all children’s speech development through a combination of strategies:

• repeating and reinforcing new vocabulary
• supporting songs with actions and objects
• using appropriate language styles (for example, using simple, repetitive language during everyday activities)
• using suitable approaches (modelling activities, using questions that invite conversation)

Mandy Grist is communication adviser at charity I CAN .

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Supporting children’s early communication skills.

Tips for supporting communication skills in children aged 18 months to five years.  

How can I help my child develop their communication skills?  

In typical development, children learn to talk and understand words gradually. They learn best from listening and talking to other people. You – as the child’s family – play an important role in helping your child develop their early communication skills. The tips below can help develop your child’s skills.  

Get down to your child’s level: Children learn a lot from looking at your face and body language when you talk. Make it easy for your child to see you by getting down to their level and talking and playing face to face.  

Get your child’s attention before talking: It can be difficult for children to pay attention if there are a lot of distractions or background noise. Turn down music or the TV when talking or playing together. You can get your child’s attention by calling their name or gently touching their arm. Wait for your child to be ready before you begin talking.  

Use simple language and repeat words: Children need to hear words lots of times before they can understand the words or use them to talk. Keep your sentences short and say important words several times (e.g. ‘Spade. That’s a spade. A green spade. Spades are for digging’).  

Add one word: Help your child use longer sentences by adding one word to what they say. So if your child says ‘I got teddy’, you could say ‘Yes, you’ve got a fluffy teddy!’. You can find more ideas for learning words here.    

Pausing: Pausing gives your child extra time to think about what they want to say. If you ask your child a question, pause for at least ten seconds to let them answer- this can seem like a long time! Pausing can also allow your child to join in with a song, rhyme, or word without feeling under pressure. For example, ‘Jack and Jill went up the … (hill)’, ‘I’ve got one, two,… (three)’.  

Use comments not testing questions: Testing questions are questions that we already know the answer to. For example, we might ask ‘What colour is that?’ or ‘What’s this called?’ even though we already know the answer. Testing questions can make children feel under pressure and they might respond with just one word, or no words at all. Comments put less pressure on your child because they can choose how they want to answer. For example, if we comment ‘Wow I love this purple car’ your child might tell you about their favourite colour, their car, or something else completely!  

Choices: Choices are a great opportunity for your child to practice the words they are learning. Show your child two things to choose between- ‘shoes or wellies?’, or ‘milk or water?’. Your child can show you what they want by pointing or by trying to say the word.  

Follow your child’s lead: Children learn words most easily when the words they hear match what they are paying attention to – so it is easier for them to learn the word ‘ball’ if they are playing with a ball. Join in with your child when they play. For example, if your child is driving cars around the walls – you could do the same with your cars. Following your child’s lead can help you notice when they are ready to hear a new word, and when they are busy playing and don’t want to be interrupted! If your child looks towards you, points, or shows you something- say the words you think they need. For example, if your child shows you their car going backwards, you can say ‘Reverse!’ ‘Our cars are reversing’.  

Songs, nursery rhymes, and music: Children can learn words and actions through songs and nursery rhymes. Listening or moving to music can also help get them ready to notice sounds which can be important for learning speech sounds. Share songs, nursery rhymes, and music with your child in any of the languages that you use at home.  

Share stories: Looking at books together is a great way to help your child learn new words. Start by simply talking about the pictures that your child seems interested in. See our information on book sharing .  

When should I use these tips?  

Your child is learning to communicate all the time. It is most helpful to use these tips to support them during your daily routines, rather than on a one-off occasion. For example:  

You might also find it helpful to take a look at our top 10 toys here.  

Useful websites  

BBC – Tiny Happy People

NHS – Helping your child learn to talk

Words For Life

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Early Years Careers

How practitioners can support children with speech difficulties

1st September 2016 by Kelly Leave a Comment

5 top tips on how practitioners can support children with speech difficulties within the setting

Many children who have speech difficulties attend a childcare setting; these children are supported in varies way depending on the level of support needed. Often practitioners will attend outside training courses to acquire the necessary skills to help support the children within the nursery. If practitioners are not qualified enough to support these children outside agencies such as  Speech and Language Therapists  are invited in to give their advice and support.

To support children’s language and communication development within the setting you can use  Together Let’s Talk Communication and Language Tracking Tool . This support tool can be used by practitioners to determine whether children require further support in this area of development. Sometimes sharing your concerns with parents can often be difficult. As parents are with their child all the time they may not necessarily notice any difficulties with their speech, and this can often mean that they don’t share the same concern as you. It is fundamental that the key person works closely with the parents to help support the child both at home and at nursery. 

Here are five tips for on how practitioners can help support children with speech difficulties within the setting

• Gathering observations and evidence – Having a collection of  observations  and evidence can help when it comes to referring a child to an outside agency such as a Speech Therapist. Don’t forget to carry out observations at different times of the day and during different situations.
• Give children time – Never rush children when they are talking and complete their sentences. Give them plenty of time to finish what they are saying. If an adult finishes a child’s sentences, this can cause frustration for the child, sometimes leading to them becoming reluctant to talk.
• Use pictures and gesture to support language – Use pictures and gestures to help children convey their meaning, point to the picture and repeat the word and wait for the child’s response. Always use language alongside using the picture cards and gestures as this helps model the correct spoken language.
• Never correct children – When a child says something that doesn’t sound right don’t correct them just repeat back the correct spoken word, role modelling is more effective than correcting the child. Also by always correcting the child this can often lead to low self-esteem.
• Incorporating simple listening and attention activities – It can be beneficial to all children if simple listening and attention activities are incorporated into the day, this can be as simple as listening to sounds out in the garden, etc. By integrating these activities, it can help improve children’s listening skills which are an important part of helping them to communicate.

Don’t forget to approach your setting’s SENCO for further help and advice. When referring a child to an outside agency for further support first ensure you have parental consent and involve your SENCO in the referral process.

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