littletalkers

LITTLE TALKERS VALENTINE’S DAY ISSUE

Spread the love and add some learning and speech/language fun!

Send your kids’ several day of LOVE NOTES!

Do a count down to Valentine’s Day by leaving a love note each day on your child’s door. Start the week (or even just a few days) before Valentine’s Day. Cut out 7 hearts and write down something you love about your child on each one (i.e. “You are a great big brother.”, “I love how you make me laugh.”, “I love your beautiful smile.”, etc.).

Place a new heart on their door each night until Valentine’s Day. Read them to your child when they get up in the morning. Kids love  to hear nice things about themselves. You can even point out different letters and the sounds they make on the heart. Let your child tell you where to hang the heart in the house.

Make the Heart on Valentine’s day extra large and maybe have a special treat or present waiting. Let them follow some clues or hint to find their present (i.e. “Look under the dining room table.” then the next note could say “Skip to the living room and look behind the couch.” ). This is a fun way to let them practice listening, following directions and learning prepositions (under, behind, etc).

Make some LOVE crayons.

Go around the house and find any old and broken crayons you can find. Count them out and talk about the colors. Also compare sizes of the crayons (“This one is longer than this one.”, “Oh the red one is really small.”). Peel off the old paper, this is good to help with fine motor skills. Then chop up the crayons into small pieces.

Place the pieces in a heart-shaped candy mold. This one was purchased in the dollar section at Target. Then bake it in the oven for 15 minutes at 230 degrees.

Then tadah! Now you have these cute heart crayons for your child to use. They are great for little hands to hold and terrific for fine motor skills.

Spend Some Special Time

Be sure to just spend a little extra time with your little Valentine. Really engage and enjoy some time reading and playing with your child. Turn off your cell phone, tv and computer and give your child some undivided attention. Children will talk and share more if they feel like you really want to hear what they have to say.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

HOLIDAY FUN WITH SPEECH AND LANGUAGE

 Wish List

Look through the Target ads, Walmart ads, etc. let the kids circle and cut out ( like we use to do with the Sears catalog- remember) things they might like- this helps work on fine motor skills. With the little ones you can just put them on your lap and label items ( oh a baby doll, look trains- it’s a little train). With the older ones talk about and describe the items, “oh you like that race car set. They look fast. I think it has a long track.  I bet Dad would play it with you.”  You talk about why something would or would not be good (Oh I don’t think a trampoline would fit in our back yard). You can also practice categorizing items (and make sure to tell them they don’t get everything on their list- these are just ideas )  these are all transportation or things that go(cars, trucks, trains), these are all for dolls ( clothes, a stroller, etc), these are all legos, etc.

Decorate a Gingerbread Man

This gingerbread man app is free and really fun. There is a lot of great vocabulary, it is good for following directions, sequencing, describing and answering questions. You can also take turns with your child to address social language skills.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/christmas-gingerbread-cookies!/id572422538?mt=8

What’s in the Stocking or the Mitten

http://littlewondersdays.blogspot.com/2010/12/whats-in-stocking.html

If you are working a specific speech sound (like “k” sound) or want to introduce talking about what sound items begin with (great for pre-reading skills), this a great way to get in some practice. Go around the house and fill the stocking with items (candy cane, car, candle, etc). Have your child reach in the stocking and tell you what they found. You can practice your target sound or talk about the sound at the beginning of the item. You can watch videos at www.littletalkers.com for cues on how to help your child learn to make sounds that are hard for them. You can also check out http://www.speechbuddy.com/parents. They have great tools to help you teach some of those tricky sounds like “l”, “s”, “r”, “sh”, and “ch”.

Enjoy

Don’t forget to take the time to enjoy your kids and the season. Read all the great holiday books, cuddle by the fire, go look at the lights, make some cookies and be present in your time together. Kids want to communicate more if they know you are listening and engaged. Have a great holiday!!!

Thanksgiving is Here!!

Enjoy time with family, eat, and sneak in some speech, language and learning.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It is such a great time to be with family and remember all the reasons we have to be thankful.

Here are some cute November activities with ways to sneak in speech, language and learning.

Turkey Cookies

These are so cute and cooking with your kids is always a great way to work on lots of concepts.

First, get out all of your ingredients and talk about them. We used a simple pre-packaged cookie mix that just needed one egg, butter and water.  We talked about all the ingredients and what we were doing while we mixed, poured and measured .  After  we baked the cookies, we let them cool (You will vary what type of language you use according to their level and age). Once they were cooled. I showed them the picture of the turkey cookie. We talked about the parts (feathers, beak, feet, eyes) of the turkey.

Vocabulary you can use (change it according to how old your child is): ingredients, bowl, egg, shell, measuring cup, water, butter, spatula, flour, sugar, oven, cookie sheet, frosting

Verbs: stir, mix, measure, bake, frost, spread, crack

Concepts: first (i.e. “First, we need to put in the mix), next ( “Next ,we need to crack the egg.”), last (“The last thing we need to do is put them in the oven.), counting 1:1 correspondence (count how many candy corns you need for tail).

Questions: “Where do we put the cookies to bake them?” , “Is the oven hot or cold?”, “Where does an egg come from?” ,  “What should we use to spread the frosting?”, “Where does the candy corn go?” “Who should we give cookies?”

Read Some Thanksgiving Books

You know I think reading is one of the most important things you can do with your child. It builds vocabulary, sentence structure and lays the foundation for them to become successful readers. Talk about all of the vocabulary and point out things that you are thankful for (family, pets, rainbows, ice cream, friends, soccer, etc.).

What Are You Thankful For?

Make a cute Thanksgiving craft like this turkey handprint. Record what your child is thankful for and every year pull out to see what your kids said in the previous years. So fun to see what they say every year.

There are fun ways to sneak learning in during all types of Fall activities.  Just be sure to engage, model and expand on language and comment more than you question- watch my free speech and language videos at www.littletalkers.com.

 Halloween is Here!

Have fun and sneak in some speech, language and learning.

With toddlers and those just beginning to talk, practice trick-or-treating. Read a book about Halloween.  Here are some books that I like

Let them know what to expect. Let them practice knocking on the door. Open it and have them practice saying “trick-or-treat”. Practice saying “thank you”. You can also practicing asking them “What are you?” and see if they can answer.

With preschoolers, talk about what they will be for Halloween and all the different costumes there are (i.e. firefighter, princess, dog, race car driver, pirate, etc). Talk about all the pieces of their costume and what they will need for Halloween (i.e, crown, eye patch, helmet, trick-or-treat bag, flashlight, etc).

Pumpkin Time

Make a fun “no carve” pumpkin face. I love this craft and have done it for years with my kids. You will need toothpicks and can use food and household items (ie. lettuce leaves, licorice, gummy rings, buttons, yarn, circus peanuts, onion slices, sliced peppers, ribbon, etc). Use the toothpicks to attach items to the pumpkins to make hair, eyes, a nose and a mouth. They turn out so cute and the kids love to make them but will probably need help with the toothpicks. There are so many great language concepts you can talk about. Talk about how some items are long (licorice), some are short (a pepper slice), how some are smooth, crunchy, flat, curved, etc. You can also talk about where items will be placed (on top, under, next to, etc.).

 Haunted House Fun

I got this cute Halloween haunted house at Target. You can talk about all the Halloween vocabulary (skeleton, black cats, spiders, spider webs, owl, pumpkins, bats, etc). You can also talk about sizes (big bat, medium size bat, small bat) and count items (how many stars are on the roof, etc.). Practice giving each other directions on where to put things (Put it on the roof, etc).  It is a great way to work on understanding and using language.

There are fun ways to sneak learning in during all types of Fall and Halloween activities.  Just be sure to engage, model and expand on language and comment more than you question- watch my free speech and language videos at www.littletalkers.com.

It is already August and time to start thinking of getting the kids ready for back to school. Here are some tips to help with a successful start to the school year:

Great Lunches- A healthy and yummy lunch will start things right. Do you get tired of the same old PB&J? This article has some great lunch ideas to keep it fun, fresh and easy- http://www.emmymom2.com/2012/01/easy-school-lunch-ideas.html

Let them help pack lunch while sneaking in some learning.

Get the kids involved in making their lunch. They will help them feel more independent, confident, empowered and they are more likely to eat it ! There are also great learning opportunities during this task:

Talk about all the food/kitchen vocabulary. “Let’s put in  a nectarine. I like nectarines. The nectarine is round. Nectarines are yummy.” (If this was a new word asking “What’s this?” does not teach the word but commenting models it many times – watch the www.littletalkers.com Comment versus Question video, some questioning is okay of course). You can even talk about categories (i.e these are fruits/these are vegetables, diary, etc.)

Sneak in academic skills like counting,  shapes, letter recognition.

“Let’s pack some crackers. These crackers are square.” (if you want to see if they know the shape you can ask, “What shape is this cracker?” or give a choice “Is this a circle or a square?”)

“Put them in the bag. Let’s count them  1, 2, 3 ….”.

“Now we need a juice box. Here is apple juice. Let’s look at the box. What letter does apple start with? “A” that’s right. Apple starts with “a” and “a” says “ah”.

If you are packing lunch in a paper bag, let them practice writing their name.

Read some books about school before it starts.

The Night Before Preschool and The Night Before Kindergarten are great books if your child is getting ready to start preschool or kindergarten for the first time. Make sure you talk about the pictures, school vocabulary and you can ask some open ended questions like “What do you think will happen next?”.

Picture Time

Here is an idea I love! You have to take pictures on the first day, of course. Capture your memories by having your child hold up a chalkboard w/ the date and the occasion (i.e first day of preschool, first day of kindergarten, 1st grade).

Capture your memories with a first day of school chalkboard photo

Hope this helps you get off to a great start. Enjoy the school year! Make sure to check back (at my main site http://www.littletalkers.com) for more tips and videos coming soon.

We love the Olympics in our house! We start with Opening Ceremonies and then watch our share of swimming, soccer, gymnastics and beach volleyball. It is a fun time for the family to be together. It is also a great way to sneak in some learning and fun with the little ones. Here are some ideas to try:

Make these fun Olympic rings at home.

http://easypreschoolcraft.blogspot.jp/2012/05/olympic-rings-paper-plate-craft.html

Try these cute Olympic rings at home. You will need five paper plates, scissors and crayons. Check out the easypreschoolcraft.blogspot post above for instructions.

Ways to sneak in learning: Colors- identify and label the colors of the rings. The different colors represent colors from all of the flags of the different countries. With older kids you can take a look at and talk about some of the different countries flags.

 Numbers- count the number of rings. Work on 1:1 correspondence (making sure they can count out 5 items and not just say 1-5). Each ring represents the 5 continents that participate in the Olympics (Asia, Europe, the Americas – North and South, Oceania- Australia, New Zealand, etc. and Africa). If your child is old enough take a look at a map and talk about the continents and some of the different countries.

Concepts- work on sequencing (first we color the plates, then we cut out the middle, etc.) and location (i.e. the blue ring is next to the yellow ring, the black ring is at the top, etc.)

Vocabulary- the vocabulary you can introduce is endless. What you choose to talk about will depend on the age of your child and their current language level. With younger kids just learning language model lots of simple words and sentences (“Swimming”, “the girls are swimming”, “we swim in water”). With kids that are older you can start to introduce more vocabulary  (i.e., goggles, lanes, swim cap, ceremony, gold, silver, bronze) and talk about the event and equipment that go with them (javelin, net, etc.). Remember questions test and  comments teach, engage and use triangle talk – to find out more about these great strategies to promote speech and language watch my free videos at www.littletalkers.com.

Olympic Food Fun

Check out this fun and yummy craft from livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com

You will need one Fruit by the Foot fruit snack and a vanilla sandwich cookie. Check out their blogspot post for specific instructions. Remember to sneak in vocabulary and learning!

Enjoy the Olympics!

    7 Super Ways to Work on Speech and Language Skills this Summer

Take a trip to the beach and don’t forget to work on speech and language.

1.   Unplug and Engage.  Turn off your cell and computer and really pay attention to what interests your child. Follow their lead and they are more likely to talk about what interests them.

 2. Get outside and play. Summer is the perfect time to ride bikes, go swimming,  hit the park or pool and talk about all the fun things you are doing. This is a great time to teach actions from the simple (swim, ride, push, run, slide, etc.) to the more complicated (stroll, glide, dive, plunge, etc.).

3. Take advantage of summer reading programs and read, read, read! Go to your local library and sign up for their summer reading program. Reading builds speech and language skills and gets them ready to learn.

4.  Give them something to talk about and get to the beach, park, lake, zoo or pool. Label new vocabulary and talk about what you are doing.

5.  Arrange some play dates  which work on social skills, turn taking and using speech and language with peers.

6.  Sing and Dance- Kids songs, rhymes and finger plays usually are filled with great vocabulary words. They also often help build skills (phonemic awareness) to get them ready to be readers.

7.  Watch Little Talker videos on Engage, Comment vs. Question, Teaching Concepts through Play, Speech Sound videos (k, g, s, r, l , etc), Reading and many more. These will help you learn how to work on speech and language.

Check Out Some of These Fun Items for Summer

Tootle Turtle Tote Set. Want to work in the garden this summer? Get your kids out there to help with this fun tote set. Check out my blog entry, Spring is here a Great Time to Work on Speech and Language, at https://littletalkers.com/blog/ You can find lots of great tips on how to promote speech and language while gardening.    https://store.littletalkers.com/educational-toys/tootle-turtle-tote-set/

Tootle Turtle

A House for Hermit Crab

Summer is here! It is a great time to learn and talk about sea life. Take a look at this great Eric Carle Book, A House for Hermit Crab. This a fun book about a crab that outgrows its shell and the friends it meets. Vocabulary to work on for younger kids includes: ocean, ocean animals, sea star, crab, shell, snail, etc. Vocabulary for older kids could include: anemone, sea urchin, coral, etc.

House for Hermit Crab

http://store.littletalkers.com/educational-books/a-house-for-hermit-crab/

After reading the story, decorate some seashells. You can use paint, glitter, sequins, and stickers. If you are able, take a trip to the tide pools and look for some crabs. You can also check out The Complete Online Hermit Crab Guide at http://www.hermitcrabs.cjb.net/

It is Spring! The sun is coming out and it is time to get outside. Spring is such a great learning time for little ones.  There are so many great things to do. One of the things we loved to do with our kids was plant a garden.

Planting a garden is a great time to bond with your child and sneak in a little learning, like new vocabulary, work on counting, and sequencing. With younger kids you can simply label all the great vocabulary items (tomatoes, seeds, shovel, dirt, digging, etc) and let them “dig” into the action. The best way to learn an action verb is by doing it. Let them “dig”, “plant” and “water” the flowers and vegetables.

With older kids you can target higher level vocabulary (i.e. names of different flowers, soil, gardening tools,  colors, etc.). You can also count out seeds and count how many tomato plants you put in the garden. This is a great time to work on sequencing (a precursor for reading). First, we need to dig a hole. Next, we spread out the roots and put it in the hole. The last thing we do is add more soil.

After you planted your garden go read some classic  books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Grouchy Ladybug  and The Carrot Seed.

Diyshp.blogspot.com/2012/03/16-must-make-easter-sweets

Cooking with your child is a great way to work on speech, language and learning. Try some of these fun Easter/Spring recipes at home.

Cooking with your little ones let’s you engage and interact. With younger kids, you can simply name ingredients (flour, butter, sugar) and talk about actions (pour, stir). They can help with some of the simple tasks. Don’t forget to model and expand on their language.

With kids that are a little older you can enrich the activity further by talking about categories ( butter is dairy,  cinnamon is a spice) and sequencing the activity (First, we pour in the flour, next we….). You can also ask some open-ended questions like  “Why do you think we have to stir it?”. Let them participate in the activity by cracking eggs, stirring and pouring.

Have a great time cooking and learning with your child! Enjoy some of these adorable Spring treats.

Where is the Shamrock?  How to work on prepositions.

Make a paper shamrock with your child and hide it around your house. Use prepositions to talk about where it is.  For younger kids, you can use simple prepositions like on, off  and under.

“Look, I found it. It is on the train. Let’s take it off.”  “Close your eyes let’s looks again. Oh  let’s  look again. I found it on the chair.”

For kids that are a little older/preschool age, they can work on lots of prepositions.

Hide the shamrock: next to, in front of, behind , under, in the middle

“Oh look, you found it behind the book.”

“Where was it that time?”  “That is right, it was next to the toy kitchen.”