Happy Talk: Language Development Activities

This photo was part of our 1 year-old session with my dear friend, and very talented, Keesha at Kustom Keepsakes Photography! We had such a great time!

It's no secret that one of the best ways to help your child develop language skills is to read to them.
Of course there is a plethora of books out there.
So take your pick, find ones you enjoy reading and your children have fun with. But here are some tips and books we enjoy to help you get started.

Books with animal sounds like "Moo, Baa, La la la!" are always fun for reader and listener!

Book tastes progress to more interactive reading in the toddler stage (pointing out pictures, touch and feel, following directions.) 

Then as children become preschoolers, they can point out letters and fill in words during stories they've heard many times (and they will!)

Any activity can be turned into a rich language development experience.
One of my favorite blogs, Playing with Words 365 has some great suggestions for toys/materials that develop language skills and how to use them.
While playing we can use these strategies to get them talking:
Self talk: talking about what you are seeing or doing
Parallel talk: talking about what the child is seeing or doing
Expansions/Extensions: giving missing words or proper grammar to repeat and model a child's sentence.

Playing with play-dough or sand can be great experiences for using these techniques. During play you use descriptive words (squishy, soft, colors), prepositions and verbs (rolling, cutting, etc.) At the preschool level you can form letters and words or trace them with your finger in the sand.

I'm a words person (obviously) and could go on and on about language development because it can be promoted through so many activities. But, just bringing your awareness to what you talk about and how you talk about it with little ones will help them grow and they'll be talking like "big kids" before you know it!