Hi friends! In honor of Better Speech and Hearing Month, I have teamed up with Katie from Let’s Grow Speech to bring you a fun and information-packed series called Playing With Language designed to highlight easy ways to stimulate language that you can do at home with your little one!  In case you missed them, so far in this series I have shared  fun ways to Build Language with Sensory Play,  tips on Building Language with Small World Play, and all about Building Language with Music.  Today’s post covers one of my favorite topics- language and ART!

My twins (age 2) have recently begun to demonstrate interest in art activities (yippee!), and I am finding lots of ways to encourage language development while we get creative. Art activities provide lots of opportunities for language stimulation, from vocabulary development all the way to critical thinking and reasoning.

Choosing Your Activity

Younger children remain engaged longer when presented with process-based art projects, which focus more on the act of creating art rather than the finished product.  Open-ended art activities allow you to follow your child’s lead during the process, which is ideal for encouraging spontaneous speech.  Messy art projects such as finger painting allow you to take advantage of the benefits of sensory play for language stimulation.  I am also fond of large-scale art activities that use oversized canvases, such as a sheet or a giant cardboard box, to encourage gross motor movements- these are great for engaging active toddlers (especially energetic little boys like my son) and the large motor movements often stimulate speech production as well.

Here are some examples of art activities we have done recently that were great for language stimulation:

    Finger Painting a Giant Cardboard Box

     Clay Nature Collage

   Wire Basket Sculpture

Click HERE for more tips on getting started with toddler art!

AND…I have an awesome Toddler Art Pinterest board full of great ideas HERE!

Building Vocabulary

Art activities are packed with opportunities to practice existing vocabulary and introduce new words.  Art can be described on different levels depending on where your child is at in their development.  At the most concrete level, children can talk about the sensory aspects of the process, including the sights, textures, and if you’ve added these elements, even smells and sounds they encounter during their experience!  They can also expand and practice using verbs by describing their actions.  For example, a fun multi-sensory art activity might be taping a white piece of paper to the bottom of a box, dipping jingle bells in paint scented with essential oils or extracts, placing the bells in the box, and tilting/shaking the box (with lid on) to “paint” the paper with the jingle bells.  You could even take it a step further by using an edible paint recipe- talk about engaging all the senses!  Use expansion and extension strategies to build on your child’s spontaneous comments during art play activities.

Moving a bit beyond the process, children can describe the aesthetic elements of their art during and after they create it. They can talk about shapes, patterns, and lines they may see within their artwork, as well as colors and textures.  Including several different types of media expands the opportunities for a rich vocabulary experience as well. You can also take the opportunity to use vocabulary related to spatial relationships, size, and positioning when talking with a child about their art.

Storytelling and Sequencing

If an art project includes a multi-step process, a great way to encourage connected speech is to have the children retell the steps of the experience after they are done. Even though my twins are still in the emerging language stage, we do this quite often with the help of our family chalkboard.  We talk about the project we just did and I draw simple pictures and words based on what they say, and then they retell the steps of the activity to my husband when he gets home from work.  They love to be able to tell him about their day, and he loves having the board as a “cheat sheet” when he doesn’t quite catch what they are saying.  I love that they are practicing connected speech and storytelling in a meaningful context!  If you have children who are working on sequencing the steps of an activity, take photos of each step while the children are completing the project, print them out, and mix them up.  Have the children put them in the correct order and retell the story using the photos as a guide.

Symbolic Representation/Realism in Art

Children who are a bit further in language development may be able to take advantage of the symbolic nature of art and begin to label real-life objects that their art may represent to them. My twins have just begun to do this- what looks like a random nest of scribbles to me may be a tree, a bumblebee, or a tiger to them. At this point, a whole new world of language stimulation opportunities opens up because children are starting to understand symbolic representation and use it in their art.  Symbolic representation is crucial for language development as well (language is just an abstract symbol system, after all) so encouraging this type of thinking through art will help feed growth on the language department.

Problem Solving and Reasoning

Once children begin to make art that represents a real-life object or concept, you can begin to stimulate higher-level language skills by engaging in problem solving and reasoning exercises.  Children can discuss and negotiate what materials or mediums might be best for a particular project, what supplies they need to gather, and what techniques they might want to try.

Social Language

Art activities are a great opportunity for children to practice social, or pragmatic, language skills.  At the earliest level, setting up the environment so that children have to request items from an adult (only giving them small pinches of clay at a time, keeping supplies just out of reach, etc.) is a great way to practice functional communication.  If you are working with a group, you can engineer the activity so that children have to ask each other for items- set out a variety of different tools instead of the exact same thing for each child so that they have to ask each other for desired items and negotiate if necessary.  Please be sure your group is developmentally ready for this- I don’t always do this with my twins because it’s not worth the battle quite yet! However, it was very helpful for my social groups in elementary settings that needed to practice sharing and turn-taking in a meaningful environment.

One thing I have noticed is my twins complimenting each others’ (and my) work recently…just yesterday my son told me, “That’s COOL, Mommy!” during a clay smooshing session, and my daughter told him, “Great job, Bubba!” several times.  I love that they are mimicking my commentary during their activities and using it appropriately. Plus, it’s just too darn cute for words

I hope you have enjoyed our fourth installment of the Playing With Language series.  Be sure so come back next Thursday to learn about Building Language in the Kitchen, and in the meantime, please hop on over to Let’s Grow Speech to see her latest fantastic post- Building Language with Stories! She’s got free printables and a great roundup of storytelling ideas from other awesome moms, too.

If you liked this post, please consider subscribing by email so you won’t miss a single fun activity…much more to come!

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You can also follow us on Google +, Facebook, and Pinterest, and I share even more ideas daily on Instagram.

Hi friends! Today I’m over at Train Up A Child sharing this fun painted flagstone color matching game! The twins have had so much fun with this game, and I’m happy to report that the Patio Paint has withstood several crazy Texas storms since these photos were taken.  Click HERE to hop over and check out the whole post.

Why do I love this Board?

If you have been following our adventures, you have probably noticed that I love writing posts that incorporate developmental information into the descriptions of our activities.  I enjoy sharing practical ways to stimulate development with parents and professionals, and I like to share background knowledge on why and how these activities work. The Early Childhood board is full of thoughtful posts written by knowledgeable professionals on topics ranging from communication skills and picky eating to early literacy and potty training. I felt like I hit the informational jackpot when I started reading through all the articles, and I pinned about half the board in one sitting. You may have noticed that if you already follow me on Pinterest. Ooops

Who are The Specialists?

Here is a list of the contributors that have bios up on the board. Click on the text links to check out their websites.

Kim Rowe from Little Stories

Alisha Grogan from Your Kid’s Table

Melissa Taylor from Imagination Soup

Deborah Stewart from Teach Preschool

Katie Yeh from Playing With Words 365

Christie Kiley from MamaOT

Laura Huchison from PlayDrMom

Amanda Morgan from Not Just Cute

and….me! Stephanie from Twodaloo!

Talk about coincidence- the very next morning after finding this fantastic board, I got an email from Kim asking if I wanted to become a contributor.  I am so honored to be included in this group of amazing bloggers and look forward to adding resources to this awesome collection.  So, to wrap up, if you enjoy thoughtful posts that include helpful information on how you can better understand and stimulate your child’s development in early childhood, hop right on over and follow this awesome board!

**Click HERE to view board**

Hi friends! In honor of Better Speech and Hearing Month, I have teamed up with Katie from Let’s Grow Speech to bring you a fun and information-packed series called Playing With Language designed to highlight easy ways to stimulate language that you can do at home with your little one!  In case you missed them, last week  I shared some fun ways to Build Language with Sensory Play and some tips on Building Language with Small World Play.  Today’s post is all about language and MUSIC!

Come Play With Us!

Using Music in Speech Therapy

I first realized the awesome power of using music therapeutically when I was interning at a stroke rehabilitation center back in graduate school.  One of my favorite patients was a sweet man who had lost the ability to speak after a massive stroke. He had expressive aphasia, and it was very difficult for him to verbalize anything beyond a few fragmented words here and there, and even this took considerable effort.  Because he had retained quite a bit of receptive language skills, communication was very frustrating for him because he knew what he wanted to say, but couldn’t get it out.  On top of that, his stroke had also left him unable to use his hands, so written communication was out of the question.  After a few sessions with this man, my supervisor suggested I try Melodic Intonation Therapy. Without going into great detail, I was to choose a few commonly used phrases, add a simple (two-note) melody, and practice singing them with him.  After only two sessions and lots of practice with his wife, my patient surprised me one morning by singing “How are you?” as his wife wheeled him into the therapy room.  We all cried. And I was officially a believer.

Since those early days, I have integrated elements of music into therapy with patients of all ages with a wide variety of disorders.  Children with autism and children with emerging language (i.e. young toddlers) tend to respond very well to the addition of rhythm and melodies to language routines.  I’ve seen music help ease transitions from activity to activity, teach vocabulary, reinforce social concepts, improve articulation, and increase connected speech (putting words together to form phrases and sentences).

Why Does Music Help Build Language?

Research has shown that music and singing stimulates multiple areas of the brain, which is great for language building.  For example, the reason Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) works for severe stroke patients when other therapies don’t is because adding melody to spoken phrases activates the right hemisphere of the brain. Language is typically a left-brain function, but if the language centers in the left brain are damaged, there are areas of the right brain that are also capable of language if they are stimulated.  Another part of MIT involves tapping the patient’s left hand along with the rhythm of the phrase, which also serves to stimulate the right hemisphere.  In children without brain damage, singing engages both hemispheres of the brain, and adding movements such as tapping, drumming, playing instruments, or dancing enhances brain engagement even further by stimulating the frontal lobes (Brewer & Campbell, 1991).  Think of it as making spoken language a multi-sensory process, and we all know sensory stimulation is food for the brain!

In addition to stimulating their brains, when you sing songs with your children, they are learning to hear the similarities and differences between sounds (also known as auditory discrimination), which is important for language learning and pre-reading skills. You are also teaching them new vocabulary, modeling phrase and sentence structure, exposing them to the concepts of rhyming and alliteration, and strengthening their memories.  Music provides repetition, which is important for learning new concepts, and it breaks words down into sounds and syllables so that your child is better able to process them.

What You Can Do At Home

You don’t have to be musically trained (or even be able to carry a tune, for that matter) to incorporate music into your activities at home.  Believe me, I am no American Idol!  Here are some simple ways you can use music to help your little one develop speech and language skills:

• Add melody to words and phrases. If you are modeling words or phrases to a young child, singing the word may help them attend and be more likely to repeat that word back to you.  Singing words slows them down and helps the child hear each syllable, and adding a higher pitch on stressed syllables helps the child understand where to put the emphasis when speaking the word.  Adding a gesture or sign to the word helps even more. I speak primarily in a singsong voice when I do therapy with very young children, and used the same technique when my own children were first learning to speak.
• Add rhythm and melody to multisyllabic words that your child has trouble pronouncing.  One fun way to do this is by using rhythm sticks (two wooden spoons or dowel rods work just as well).  Just be sure to keep your melodies uncomplicated (two notes is ideal) and place the emphasis on the correct syllable by singing it a bit higher.  This is also great for pre-literacy skills.
• Make time for childhood songs and fingerplays. There are lots of commercially available music CDs and books of children’s songs if you are stuck. You can also find free songs to try on preschool/early childhood websites and YouTube.
• Use songs to signal transitions, remember steps to a routine, or learn new information.  The popular “clean up” song or “This is the way we wash our hands…” are great examples of songs used to help children with transitions and remember steps to routines.  And who doesn’t know the alphabet song?  But you don’t need to spend hours searching for songs that have already been written; feel free to make up your own songs to meet your needs.  They don’t have to be fancy; just use a tune that you already know and add your own words, or come up with a simple melody that catches your child’s attention.  Sing the same every time you do a particular action with your child (cleaning up, etc.) and your child will begin to associate the song with the desired action, which serves to help them understand what’s coming next, what’s expected of them, and increases their independence in completing tasks.
• Use songs to help teach social skills. In one developmental skills class I worked with, the teacher sang a simple song each morning at circle time about the proper way to greet people.  Then they would practice the skill with their friends.  Those kiddos were great at walking up to me, sticking out their right hands, looking me in the eye, and saying “Hello!”
• Make your own instruments. Creating simple instruments with your children is a fun activity that also lends itself to language stimulation opportunities. Once you are done creating your instruments, use them while you practice your songs and fingerplays, repeat words with melodies, or just have a dance party or jam session to your favorite tunes!  And don’t forget about adding play scarves or streamers…these add an added gross motor component as well as visual stimulation to musical play.Here are some fun and easy instrument crafts to do with your little ones at home- click on the text links for instructions, and please pin from the original author of each craft!

 DIY Rain Stick at The Imagination Tree

Fancy Egg Shakers at Mama Smiles

Colorful Kazoos at Buggy and Buddy

Recycled Outdoor Music Station from My Nearest and Dearest

For more fun musical activities and craft ideas, you can check out our Music and Movement Pinterest Board.

That’s it for today! Next Thursday’s post will be all about building language with art. Please hop over to Let’s Grow Speech and see what Katie has in store for you…looks like fun!

If you liked this post, please consider subscribing by email so you won’t miss a single fun activity…much more to come!

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Resource:  Campbell, D. & Brewer, C. (1991). Rhythms of learning. Tucson, Arizona: Zephyr Press.

Linking to: Stress Free Sunday at Fun-a-Day

*This post contains affiliate links for your convenience*

On one of our many trips to Michael’s, Will spotted a Safari Ltd In The Sky Toob and was enthralled by the miniatures inside.  I’m kinda partial to them too…the colorful set has a variety of planes, a helicopter, a blimp, and even a hot air balloon!  Naturally, I have been brainstorming a fun sensory activity for them ever since.  It’s just how my brain works

To create our “blue sky” sensory bin, I gathered some shiny materials from my stash- shaving cream, glitter, gems and decorative stones, and four mirror tiles.  The twins also helped me make some blue ice, which I’ll show you in a sec.

My idea was to design the bin so that it made the twins feel like they were “playing in the sky.”  I knew we would be doing the activity outside, so I decided to line the bottom of the plastic container with mirror tiles to reflect the clear blue sky- I couldn’t think of a better way to bring it down to Earth and into their play! I’ve had these tiles for about five years (they had been sitting in a box in the attic) but you can find them at any craft store.  If you are worried about them breaking, you can always find acrylic or inexpensive plastic mirrors like these, or you can use what you have and reinforce the backs of the mirrors with duct tape (shown above) which should keep the mirrors from shattering into a zillion pieces if they get broken.  I also rolled up pieces of the tape and used them to stick the mirrors to the bottom of the container.

I had been pondering this idea for several weeks, but I was stuck on how to represent clouds.  Nothing I thought of seemed quite right!  But then I saw this awesome dragon small world post by Fun at Home with Kids for Nurturestore and I loved how Asia created clouds by turning over cups and covering them with shaving cream.  I tried it, and it was fantastic! I was able to add great big fluffy clouds to my play scene and keep them elevated over the water (at least for the setup).

After I made the clouds and added a few inches of water and some gems and stones for color, I gave the twins some blue and silver glitter and let them add it to the water as they pleased. And then I let them fly their sky vehicles right into the big puffy clouds.

Although there was lots of pretend play that happened during this activity, the twins’ favorite part was definitely playing with the shaving cream.  Here, Sydney is saying, “Fluffy clouds all over me, Mommy!”

 They rubbed clouds on their tummies.

And clapped globs of them between their palms to see the droplets fly.

NOTE* Be sure to keep a wet rag or paper towel on hand to wipe smudges and droplets from around little eyes and mouths.

Will even rubbed them into his hair. Sigh. Thank goodness for the water hose!

If you are looking for ways to extend the time your child engages in sensory play experiences (I mean, why go through the trouble if your child plays with it for five minutes and then loses interest, right?), one thing that works for us is to not introduce everything at once.  The twins were happy playing with the shaving cream, gems, and little figures for a good while before they started to lose interest. At that point, I brought out the blue ice cubes that we made together before nap time (just water and blue food coloring) and let the twins add them to the goopy mixture.

This incited a frenzy of stirring (using the wrong end of the bulb syringes I had set out for them to play with) as they watched the water turn blue as the ice melted.  They liked watching the melted shaving cream “clouds” swirl as they stirred them, revealing the blue water and mirrors underneath.  I loved the addition of the mirrors to the bottom of the tub- it added a whole new dimension to the play and the twins didn’t mess with them at all.  It was really neat to just pour clear water into the tub before adding the shaving cream because you could see all the bubbles reflected in the mirror.

After more stirring and flying around in the water, it was off to the water hose for a good rinse and then into the house for dinner.

All in a day’s work!

Resources:

For more information on the developmental benefits of sensory play, check out “Sensory Play, is This Really Necessary?”

For tips on turning sensory and small world play into language-building activities for toddlers, read “Sensory Play and Language” and “Building Language with Small World Play.”

Finally, hop over to my Pinterest Board  ”Sensory Play for Kids” for a great collection of ideas for your little ones that I add to every day!

If you liked this post, please consider subscribing by email so you won’t miss a single fun activity…much more to come!

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This post includes affiliate links for your convenience.

I’ve caught Mimi admiring our Painted Nature Collage on more than one occasion, and the twins absolutely loved creating that particular masterpiece, so I thought we’d do a version of it just for her using dyed seashells.  The idea for dying seashells with Easter egg dye came from this post from the Educator’s Spin On It, so hop on over there for instructions (after you finish my post, of course)!

Will and Sydney were SO excited to be making something for Mimi.  They kept running to the front door to see if she was here, and Syd held entire conversations with an imaginary Mimi throughout the process.  Seriously. She was narrating her actions the entire time! “I pushin’ down the clay, Mimi! Look at tha hands! Eeew, it’s dirty, Mimi! Mommy gotta washit!”

Just like in our original nature collage, we removed the glass from an ordinary white picture frame and then pressed Crayola Air Dry Clay into the blank space where a picture would normally go.  Unlike last time, this time I removed the thin cardboard backing and replaced it with stiff foam core board.  Then I used Gorilla Tape to secure the board to the back of the frame.  Hopefully this will prevent the clay from cracking as it dries.

After we got the clay all pushed down, the twins proceeded to poke holes in it very meticulously with their fingers.  Pure concentration!

After that was taken care of, I gave them a box of shells that we had dyed together earlier in the day and let them have at it.  They were both extremely focused on this task, and Sydney especially had to have each shell “just so.”  She would often place a shell carefully on the clay, stare at it, and then say “Nope” very matter-of-factly and move it somewhere else.

It was really adorable to watch.

“Knowing”

My son is twelve days old and I am holding him for the first time. I can feel his tiny heart beating against my naked chest, and the landslide of emotion that engulfs me is indescribable. We’re cuddled together in a rocker in the NICU, tethered to monitors and machines by a tangled mess of wires and tubes. Only a flimsy white screen shields us from the rest of the room, which teems with doctors and nurses and parents of the babies stationed in their isolettes around the perimeter, everyone speaking in hushed voices so as not to disturb each other.

As I share these precious moments with my son, I hear a new baby being brought into the room, and he eventually occupies the formerly empty station next to us. His exhausted mother is wheeled in a bit later to see her new baby and talk with the doctors. I try not to listen to their conversation, to focus on my son in my arms and my daughter sleeping nearby, but snippets of dialogue manage to penetrate my reverie.

Looking really good, I hear the doctor say. Just need to get him breathing and eating well and he will be home with you before you know it. I hear the mother thank the doctor with a shaky voice, thank you so much for taking care of my baby. She’s trying to keep it together, to reassure her husband and herself that she’s fine, the baby will be fine, it’s all going to be okay.

I know because I’ve been there. I’m still there.

So I wait. I wait for the doctor to leave, for the mother to be alone with her husband and the nurse. I can hear it in her voice as she asks questions, her defenses are falling away, the pain and fear and unfairness of the situation are becoming too much for her to keep inside, and she begins to cry.

I know he’s going to be okay, she sobs. I just, I just wish my body could have done what it was supposed to do. I feel like I failed him. Just look at him. This is all so wrong.

Her husband and the nurses are quick to console her, but I know. I cling to my son and my own tears flow silently down my cheeks, joining in the pain of this woman I have never laid eyes on but know better than anyone else in the room in that moment.

After a little while, the nurse crosses the room to check on another baby, and the husband steps out to make a phone call. I can see the mother now, sitting in her wheelchair beside her baby’s bed, looking so small and lost and afraid as she stares at her new baby that she cannot touch. Should I say something? I wonder. I don’t know this woman. How do I tell her that I know exactly how she is feeling? That I understand the guilt, however irrational, the crushing knowledge that you failed at your fundamental job as a mother, to keep your baby safe inside your womb.

I decide to reach out. She is so alone. I push back the screen just a bit, enough so she can see me in my little world with my two tiny babies, born too soon but so full of life. It gets better, I say. It’s hard, but it gets better.

She looks over at me, startled at first, but then we lock eyes and somehow I am able to tell her without words that I know. That I understand. And that she will survive. And after a few moments, she says thank you, I needed to hear that.

Then her husband returns to take her back to her room to rest, and I retreat into my own private world once again.

Some cuddle time with my little guy.  Although this photo was not taken on the day I wrote about in this post, it still brings a tear to my eye when I see it!

I am pleased to be participating in Motherhood: Celebrating the Difference, a blog hop conceived and hosted by Inspired By Family Mag. Each blogger will share a parenting story on a topic of her choice. Stop by to laugh, cry and be encouraged in your parenting journey.

Each blogger will share a parenting story on whatever topic of her choice. Stop by to laugh, cry and be encouraged in your parenting journey. We hope you walk away encouraged!

Celebrating the differences of Motherhood is brought to you by our host, Inspired by Family, and by the following contributing blogs: Kids Activities Blog, Rainbows within Reach, Powerful Mothering, Fun-a-Day, The Pleasantest Thing, Royal Baloo, Laly Mom, True Aim Education, Kids Stuff World, Milk and Cuddles, The Imagination Laboratory, Smiling like Sunshine, Teach Beside Me, JDaniel 4’s Mom, Kitchen Counter Chronicle, My Nearest and Dearest, Nate and Rachel, Two-Daloo, Mamas Like Me, Mama Miss, One Mommy. Martys Musings and Mothering From Scratch

If you are a blogger and you have a story or something to share on how you celebrated motherhood, feel free to add a link to your post so we can read your story as well. Note: by sharing you give us permission to feature you (attributing of course).

Hi friends! In honor of Better Speech and Hearing Month, I have teamed up with Katie from Let’s Grow Speech to bring you a fun and information-packed series called Playing With Language designed to highlight easy ways to stimulate language that you can do at home with your little one!  In case you missed Tuesday’s introductory post, I shared some fun ways to Build Language with Sensory Play.  Today I am going to talk about one of my favorite activities, building language with small world play.

As a speech-language pathologist, I was (and still am) frequently consulted by concerned parents of “late-talking” two-ish year-olds.  After asking the necessary questions regarding frequent ear infections, second languages, etc., the first thing I did was sit back and observe the child at play.  More often than not, I was able to reassure the parents that language was on the horizon based on the presence of symbolic play, which is simply when children begin to use one object to represent another during play.  This is why, as a parent of preemie twins who were at risk for developmental delays, I was overjoyed the first time my son zoomed his carrot around on his high chair tray, pretending it was a car.  Table manners? Meh. He was doing SYMBOLIC PLAY!!!

Symbolic Play and Language

Why does the presence of symbolic play signify language readiness? It’s simple, really- in it’s purest form, language is just a system of abstract symbols (words) that represent objects and concepts in our world.  If a child is able to use a wooden block (or a chunk of carrot) to represent a car, this means that he/she has the cognitive ability to understand symbols, and this is a necessary skill for language learning.  And that’s not all- researchers have documented that the development of symbolic play parallels the development of language, so as your child’s pretend play sessions become more sophisticated (i.e. involve multiple characters, steps, and scenarios), his/her language will follow suit.

What is Small World Play?

Which brings me to today’s topic- using small world play to build language.  Small world play is when children use miniature items such as toys, found objects, or replicas to act out scenes or ideas from real life, stories, or books.  Small worlds often include sensory elements (examples to come) which adds an even more depth to the experience and creates more opportunities for language stimulation (see my post on building language with sensory play).  Creating small worlds for children is a fabulous creative outlet for adults, too!

Pig pen from our Farm Small World

Choosing Your Subject

I can’t say enough about how much I love small world play for language building.  Small worlds are versatile- they can be simple or elaborate, small or giant scale, and incorporate toys or natural items, which is a personal favorite of mine.  But what they all have in common is the potential for allowing children to practice using language in a meaningful context,  another concept that I cannot stress too much.  Choose small worlds that replicate environments or scenarios that your child has experience with- this is especially important with early language learners.  Good first small worlds often involve animals, since this is a subject that most children have some knowledge of, whether it be through pets, a trip to the zoo, or a visit to a farm.

Creating Your Small World

Once you have chosen your subject, you can create your small world, but do keep a few things in mind.  If you are creating it for a very young child (children are generally ready for small worlds around age two, when the average child has begun to demonstrate early symbolic play), try to keep it simple.  For example, if you are creating a farm scene, limit it to a barn, 2-3 animals, and one sensory material.  Too many elaborate details and characters will become overstimulating and distracting to your child.  As your child’s play becomes more sophisticated, you can begin to add more elements and characters to your play scenes.   Take your child’s motor skills into consideration as well- large, chunky pieces may be easier for little hands to manipulate than more delicate replicas.  If you are using a commercially created toy as part of your small world, be sure that any sounds or flashing lights are disabled.  Get rid of those batteries!

Playing With Small Worlds

And now for the fun part…play!  When you first begin small world play with your child, you will probably need to do a fair amount of modeling.  Even if your child has had experience with the scenario, you may have to show him/her how to reenact that experience within the miniature world.  For example, if you are playing with a farm world, make the animals walk around the fields, eat their food, and go to sleep in the barn.  Have the tractor plow the field.  Talk about what you are doing as you go using simple language.  Make animal sounds. Have fun with it! Pretty soon, your child will join in, and as he does, back off a bit and  follow his lead.  Just as you would scaffold on his early speech, you can scaffold on his play actions.  If he makes his animal eat, make yours eat, and then take a drink of water.  If his animal gets a drink, make yours get a drink and then jump in the water for a bath!  If he loses interest, that’s ok, too. You can return to the small world later or on another day, and chances are he will show interest once again.

As your child grows and develops, so will his interest and involvement in small world play.  Additionally, you will be able to create more abstract scenes for play, including scenarios that your child may not have had first-hand experiences with.  Many small worlds are based on scenes from books- wouldn’t these Truffula Trees made from pipe cleaners and pompoms by I Can Teach My Child be fantastic in a small world based on Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax?  More advanced children will use small worlds to act out or create stories.  At this point, the play will be mostly child-led, so do more listening than talking and interact with your child through characters in the play scene.  Small world/dramatic play is an ideal time for children to practice social interaction, so a play date is an excellent opportunity to set one up!  Although it is often fun as a parent to create small worlds for your child, don’t forget that there is real value to having the child help.  Even younger children can help select materials and set up the play scene- I was surprised by how involved my two-year-old son was with the creation of this dinosaur garden inspired by Play Create Explore!  While we worked we got some excellent practice on prepositions (“You put the rock BESIDE the stick”) and problem solving (“This book shows dinosaurs eating leaves off of tall trees. Which plant looks like a tall tree for our dinosaur?”).  Older children will love brainstorming what items could be used to represent elements in their small world environments!

Examples of Small Worlds

Here are a few small world set-ups from around the web:

Shaunna from Fantastic Fun and Learning describes how her children’s small world play evolved after reading books about pandas.

Panda Small World at Fantastic Fun and Learning

This small world from Fun at Home with Kids includes a super-fun science element…fizzing sea shells with hidden animals inside!

Fizzing Hidden Ocean World at Fun at Home with Kids

My twins would LOVE this construction site with special play dough dirt from My Nearest and Dearest!

Construction Site With Play Dough Dirt from My Nearest and Dearest

I love the natural elements included in this frog pond small world from One Perfect Day.

Frog Pond Small World at One Perfect Day

Another animal scene incorporating natural elements from Creative Playhouse.

Creative Playhouse Reptile Small World

I hope you have enjoyed our second installment of the Playing With Language series.  Be sure so come back next Thursday to learn about Building Language with Music, and in the meantime, please hop on over to Let’s Grow Speech to see her latest fantastic post- Playing with Language Outdoors! Psst…there’s another free printable!

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Sharing at:  The Kids’ Co-op

Did you know that May is Better Speech and Hearing Month?  In honor of this occasion, I am thrilled to be teaming up with Katie from Let’s Grow Speech, another talented SLP mommy, to bring you a month of language-building activities for young children!

What to Expect from the Playing with Language Series

As speech-language pathologists and mothers of young children, we are always thinking about ways to turn our kids’ activities into more language-rich experiences.  What we want you to know is that language-building activities don’t have to be elaborate or time consuming or costly…you are probably doing lots of them already without even knowing it!  Katie and I put our heads together and came up with our top ten ways to play with language and we will each share five of them over the next four weeks.  After today, the rest of our Playing with Language posts will run on Thursdays, so be sure and visit throughout the month of May so you don’t miss a single information-packed article!

Today’s Topic: Sensory Play and Language

What is sensory play?

Sensory play, sometimes known as “messy play,” is simply play that encourages children to use one or more of the senses, including sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, balance, and movement. Sensory play appeals to children of all ages and is full of opportunities for language enrichment. For more information on the benefits of sensory play, see my post here.  Some of our favorite sensory play activities include playing in tubs of colored rice, dry pasta, or pinto beans with kitchen utensils for dumping, filling, pouring, mixing, and transferring. We also LOVE anything that incorporates water!

How does sensory play build language?

As children engage in sensory play, they are gaining valuable, hands-on input about the world around them. Since we know that young children rely on sensory input to learn about their environment, sensory play opportunities are an ideal time to focus on language stimulation in a meaningful context, which is crucial to early language learning.

How can I provide language stimulation through sensory play at home?

Providing language stimulation during sensory play activities doesn’t have to be complicated.  Here are some ways I use sensory play to build language with my two-year-old twins at home:

Vocabulary expansion- During sensory play activities, I provide lots of language modeling by commenting on what my twins are experiencing.  We talk about how things look, feel, smell, move, sound, and sometimes even taste! We also describe actions such as stir, pour, drip, and splash.  Since my little ones are very verbal these days, I also do quite a bit of waiting and listening to their spontaneous speech and using language -building strategies to build on what they are saying.  Here are some great tips on how to expand and extend your child’s spontaneous utterances from Playing With Words 365.

Pretend play- Sensory experiences are wonderful opportunities to model and engage in pretend play with your little ones, which is wonderful for cognitive and language development. I will be talking more extensively about the relationship between pretend play and language on Thursday.  My twins love to “cook” with sensory materials and happily “feed” the results to me, themselves, and all their toys.  If you have a little transportation enthusiast on your hands, a few construction vehicles added to a simple sensory bin provides hours of fun!

Social interaction- Engaging in sensory play activities with siblings and/or peers is a great way to practice social language skills.  I use sensory play activities to help my twins learn to take turns, politely request things from each other, and engage in early conversations.  For more examples on facilitating social language through sensory play, check out my color lab sensory play date post.  Plus, you will notice that your little ones often learn more language from interacting with peers than they do from all of your carefully crafted efforts!

I hope you have enjoyed our first installment of the Playing With Language series.  Be sure to come back Thursday to check out our Small World Play post, and in the meantime please hop on over to Let’s Grow Speech for some great tips on expanding language using a childhood staple…playdough!

If you liked this post, please consider subscribing by email so you won’t miss a single fun activity…much more to come!

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You can also follow us on Google +, Facebook, and Pinterest, and I share even more ideas daily on Instagram.

To set up, I took an old builder-grade mirror that I picked up at a garage sale for $3 a few weeks ago and propped it up against our picnic table on top of a much-loved picnic blanket.  I squirted some fingerpaint into an old muffin tin, set up a tub of water for cleanup nearby, and let the twins loose!

Their first few strokes were exploratory, but they quickly got into the swing of things.

As usual, Will made his a full-body experience.

Sydney enjoyed the feeling of the paint squishing through her fingers this time and kept clapping her hands together to make splatters.

After the mirror was suitably covered, we ended up turning it into a sort-of nature collage by adding dandelions from the yard and rose petals from the garden.

Having the water tub nearby was great for cleanup and also provided another opportunity for sensory play.  When we were done with the mirror, I was able to easily hose it down and store it in the garage for our next art session.

All-in-all, it was a great day!

Looking for more fingerpainting ideas for little ones? Click here!