The summer season is a great time to increase your child’s language and learning through play. Engaging in pretend play is very important for language development. Pretend and symbolic play help children gain higher level language skills. Below are some fun activities to try!
Car Wash
Time to set up a sprinkler, and get out the soap and bubbles! If your child has a toy car you can use that as an opportunity to have him/her drive to the car wash and have some fun! You can help elicit more language by commenting on what is happening and having the child request throughout the activity. Another spin on this is to use pretend small cars, shaving cream, and water guns. Have fun!
Let’s Go on a Picnic
Together with your child, look through toy food items and pack up for a picnic! Lay a blanket outside and use this time to request and name food items. This is also a great time to work on increasing the length of requests and utterances and describing. This can also be done with actual food items. The child can help make a lunch (making a sandwich together can also target sequencing!) and then take the lunch outdoors.
Water Play
Does your child have a water table? If not you can simply fill up a child size pool or a large bin with water. Using different toys will increase language opportunities in a fun (and wet!) way. Concepts such as big/small, up/down, fast/slow can also be targeted during this activity.
Ice Cream Shop
You and your child can set up a pretend ice cream shop. This gives the opportunities for requesting, paying with play money, and other possibilities to increase language. You can use play dough, pretend food items, or real ice cream. Let your child take the lead and have fun!
