By: Josie Denning, M.A., CF-SLP
The holidays are right around the corner! Not only can this be a fun time spent with family and friends, but there are plenty of opportunities to grow your child’s language skills. Here are five ways to incorporate language building into your holiday traditions!
Cook and Bake Together
Cooking or baking can be a real-life activity to work on language skills. Have your child help read the recipe and work on following directions. They can describe what they taste, see, and feel. You can even talk about your favorite family recipes! Ask your child ‘WH’ questions such as “What are your favorite holiday treats?” or “What shapes do you see?”
Sing Holiday Songs
Listening to music and singing songs can increase language development. Familiar songs provide repetition and rhyme that carry over into patterns your child can understand. This can help with letter and sound recognition.
Read Holiday Stories Together
Reading stories together is a great way to boost your child’s language skills. Whether your child is reading to you or you are narrating, reading together can build vocabulary, improve print awareness, and help reading comprehension.
Make Gifts or Go Shopping for Family Members
Whether you are creating gifts or buying gifts, preparing them is a fun and engaging way to build language skills. This is a great chance to talk about descriptive words like “soft” or “fluffy” while also working on creativity. Holiday shopping can help kids work on new vocabulary, remembering a list, and answering questions like, “What would your sister like?”
Help Decorate and Make Holiday Crafts
Helping decorate around the house is a good opportunity for using descriptive words such as “red”, “shiny”, and “sparkle”. This is a good time to work on asking ‘WH’ questions. “Where should we put this?”, “ What goes next?”, or “Who do you see?”
These are all quick and simple ways to add language elements to your holiday activities. Remember to have fun and enjoy the holidays with your loved ones!
Build Language Skills With Enrichment Therapy & Learning Center Today!
Unwrap the gift of language this holiday season! Our passion is to help kids achieve effective communication skills and gain academic success. If you think your child could benefit from one-on-one support, contact us to schedule a consultation today!
info@enrichmenttherapies.com
740 Community Drive, Suite A
North Liberty, IA 52317
319-626-2553
infodm@enrichmenttherapies.com
5530 West Pkwy, Suite 300
Johnston, IA 50131
515-419-4270
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