What's Sneaky Language?
Here’s what it’s not:
It’s not trying to trick or manipulate your kid into doing speech.
Sneaky language is about making speech so fun and functional that your child wouldn’t even know they were practicing speech unless you told them.
Kids learn best when they’re having fun, which is why my favorite speech strategies and activities are ones that you use during play or daily routines.
Sneaky language activities ideas for how to do that.
Your child will be having so much fun, they won’t even know they’re learning!
1. Interactive Reading
Reading is one of the greatest ways to support your child’s language development. But don’t let it be a passive activity for your child, even if they can’t read yet!
Ask them to name or point to things in the pictures. Make predictions about what will happen next. Talk about how the characters feel when good or bad things happen.
Or, ask your child to tell you the story! Ask some guiding questions and help them reference the pictures to remember important details.
2. Building Skyscrapers
Or robots, or battleships, or princess palaces… LEGOs have endless possibilities.
Ask your child to tell you about what they’re building, what pieces they’ll need, what it’ll look like when it’s done.
Try building something yourself, and ask your child for help when you just can’t seem to figure something out.
Or try a game where one of you describes the pieces the other needs and how to put it together. Set up a book or binder in between – no peeking! See how close you can get to their idea.
3. Making Meals
If your child likes to help out in the kitchen, that’s a fantastic opportunity to get in sneaky language time.
Cooking is a great way to practice listening skills, because your child has to follow real-life directions (not hypothetical or made up for practice). They’re usually doing this with distractions in the background which makes it more challenging, and sometimes even while multitasking!
You can also ask questions about the recipe and have them give you the instructions.
4. Board Games
There are TONS of amazing board and card games that will strengthen your child’s language skills while they play.
But you can also include more communication in games they already love. Try narrating your moves (“You played a Red 1, so I’m going to play a Red Skip and Skip dad! Uno!“).
If you have extra people or younger kids, try playing on a team with your child. Ask them questions to get them talking about what they want to do and why.
5. Sculpting Masterpieces
With play-doh, of course. Play-doh has a lot of the same great flexibility for creative language tasks as LEGOs. But it’s better for younger kids, and comes with much less potential for pain if you accidentally step on it.
Practice listening skills and have your child copy you as you make your creation. Make sure you describe the steps while you demonstrate. Then switch and have your child show you how to make something.
Create your own ice cream shop or pizza shop. Practice colors and numbers by asking for “3 scoops of orange ice cream” or “pizza with 5 purple pepperoni”.
6. Pretend Play
Imaginative play is one of the best ways your child can practice language skills.
This can happen while they are pretending to be someone else, or while they’re using dolls, action figures, or other toys for pretend play.
Try to engage with your child in the play, join them in their adventure. Encourage as much dialogue as possible between the “characters”.
Find out where you’re going. Are you on a mission? Where do they think the bad guy’s hiding? Help develop the drama and keep them talking.
7. Craft Projects
Crafts are a perfect way to practice following directions and describing.
Give your child one to three steps at a time, depending on how much they can remember and how complicated each step is. Ask them about what comes next while they’re working.
Talk about the materials you’re using to make the project. What color and shape are they? How do they feel?
For less-structured art time, let your child describe what their finished project will look like while they’re working.
8. Playing Teacher
Next time your child is playing their favorite video game or phone/tablet game, say “That looks like fun. Can you teach me to play?”
Have your child explain the main idea and the rules. Ask them questions to encourage them to teach with words instead of just demonstrating (though expect lots of demonstrating too – this is a really difficult task).
Then play. Let them coach you through the first few levels. Have them problem solve when you get stuck or reach something new, and celebrate when you win!
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