What you are building · four activities, ages three and four
Getting the thought across
Children talk more when there is something at stake in being understood. A card that has to go in the right slot, a story that has to be told in the right order, a face that has to be named before the game moves on. The talking is a means to something here rather than the thing being asked for, and that is the difference between a child who answers in one word and a child who explains.
Two different jobs inside one word
The mouth. Speech needs breath control and muscle in the lips, tongue and cheeks, and this is genuinely trainable. Blowing a ball across a table through a straw is mouth work disguised as a race, which is why Straw Blow Ping Pong Race sits on the language shelf rather than the games one.
The message. Choosing words that another person can act on. Story Sequence Cards pushes on this directly: the cards are in order, and now the child has to say what happens, in sentences, with the joins in between.
All of this works in whichever language the child speaks at home. Sound games run on the sounds of that language, and a household that moves between Armenian, Russian and English can run the same activity three times with different cards. Pick the language the child is strongest in first.
What it looks like at each age
At three
Two to four word sentences, and a great deal of meaning carried by pointing. Will describe what is happening now much more readily than what happened earlier.
Ask about the thing in front of them, not about the day. Then add one word to whatever they said and hand it back.
At four
Tells a story with a beginning and an end, though often in the wrong order. Starts to notice when they have not been understood.
Say what you understood, honestly, and let them correct you. Being misunderstood on purpose is one of the strongest prompts there is.
At five and six
Explains a rule to another child, which is the hardest version of this and the best sign of it.
Hand over the explaining. Let them teach the game to somebody new rather than doing it yourself.
What is worth doing this week
Pick one thing that happens every day and make it a three-card story. Getting dressed, making tea, feeding the cat. Drawn in five minutes on the backs of envelopes, it gives a child a story they already know and a reason to put it in order.
Then spend one meal asking only questions you do not know the answer to. It changes the length of the replies more than any activity does.
The activities on this shelf
Each one gives a child something worth saying and somebody who needs to understand it.
- Cardboard Post Office and Sound DropPicture cards posted into letter slots3 yrs / 10 to 20 min / Household only
- Mirror Feelings CopycatFaces copied in a mirror, feelings named3 yrs / Under 5 min / Cards you draw
- Straw Blow Ping Pong RaceA ball blown across the table through a straw3 yrs / Under 5 min / Household only
- Story Sequence CardsCards put in order, then told as a story4 yrs / 5 to 10 min / Household only
Speech is the part of the library growing fastest, and this shelf will grow with it.
Nearby shelves
Communication runs alongside listening, remembering and reading another person.