Welcome to my second post in this series about playing with various toys to encourage speech and language development with your child. In this post, I will talk about playing with blocks! If you missed my last post about puzzles, check it out here. Articulation: If your child is working on producing final consonants (the last sounds in words), he could say “block” or “on” or “up” each time he stacks a block in a tower. Before he can knock down his tower, he can say “push” or “down“. These words can also be placed into phrases or sentences, depending on your child’s level. If you have the ability to write on your blocks or put stickers on them, you could put items that begin or end with your child’s target sound on each block. He would need to say the word or put it into a sentence before placing the block on the tower. If your blocks can’t have things written or stuck to them, you could have a list of words or various pictures of items with your child’s target sound. To reverse this game, you could play with Jenga blocks or other toppling blocks. Before removing a block, your child must say his target sound. Language: Playing with blocks is a great opportunity to work on requesting and combining words together. For example, your child must say “more”, “more block”, “I want more blocks”, etc. depending on her level. She could also follow directions such as “put the red block on before you put the blue block on” or “after I put my block on, you put your block on”. There are many vocabulary concepts that can be addressed while playing with blocks. These include up, down, on top, under, on, off, tower, some, all, none, few, many. You can also work on counting, shapes, and colors. Some blocks already have pictures on them, so vocabulary can be expanded by labeling these. Be creative, let your child use his imagination, and encourage turn-taking, interaction, and fun!
Enrichment Therapy & Learning Center has locations in Johnston and North Liberty, IA, with virtual services also available. We provide individualized speech-language therapy, dyslexia and reading intervention, academic support, and executive functioning services to help children build skills and confidence. Contact us to learn more about how we can support your child.
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