Communication and Language

Activities to develop communication and language skills; Listening and attention, understanding and speaking

Use meal time and snack times as a ‘time to talk’ and provide opportunities to be involved in simple food preparation and or baking:

• Describe their favourite foods /drink giving their reasons

• Use vocabulary – both familiar and unfamiliar to talk about taste/texture/smell

• Talk about where the food might come from

• Ask questions about how food is prepared, where it grows or how it is made

• Talk through instructions on how to make their favourite drink or food

• Use this time for children to set the table, share out food /drinks

• Talk about quantities, size, shape, volume…..who would like the small apple? There are not enough plates, my cup is half empty, etc. Suggestions – fruit, vegetables, sweet and savoury foods, breakfast foods – toast, crackers, cereals, etc. Vocabulary – sweet, sour, bumpy, smooth, rough, salty, wet, dry, runny, hard, soft round, long, thin, etc.

• Talk through or give instructions on how to make a drink….cordial, milkshake, hot chocolate or other favourites

• Talk through or give instructions on how to make a sandwich, toast, a simple favourite meal or dessert

• Talk through preparing a simple make a fruit platter – peeling, chopping, slicing, cutting

• Follow a simple recipe for making cakes or buns and talk through the instructions. Use vocabulary including first, next, then…..; use the names of tools and equipment and the skills or processes involved, e.g. chopping, mixing, stirring, spreading.

Use story time to:

• Discuss thoughts & feelings of characters

• Talk about the features of different places within the story

• Talk about what has happened in the story so far….and what they think might happen next

• Give reasons why they like /don’t like the story

• Talk about different was the story could have ended or other things that could have happened to the characters in the story

• Let the children have time to look at the books and retell or read the book using the picture to their family members or their toys

• Share picture books, non-fiction books linked to the children’s interests to talk about facts and information - what do they already know and what have they found out?

Playing Games – Outside:

• Outdoor games such as 'what time is it Mr Wolf?’ ring a ring a roses, follow my leader, pirate ship, jungle game etc.

• Play games such as hopscotch, noughts and crosses, 10 green bottles, outdoor snakes and ladders, etc.

• Create simple treasure hunt games with clues and instructions to follow….let the children make up their own and then verbally give the instructions

and clues. This could include drawing and following a simple map or messages in bottles

• Setting up an outdoor gym with instructions for each station ….star jumps, running on the spot, arm lifts with water bottles, etc. Get the children to add their own

• Make a simple obstacle course with verbal instructions….ask the children to create their own using vocabulary such as under, through, over, around, in front of, behind. Daily Walks – at home or in the school grounds

• Talk about the features around them….human (buildings – school, houses, shops,) road crossings, signs, etc. and physical (field’s trees, hedges, hills, forest/woods, river, pond, etc.)

• Describe the plants, flowers, birds, trees, houses, buildings they can see around them….do this on different days and make simple comparisons.

• Take pictures on the walk and then share these together later – describe the journey and what they saw.

Playing Games – Inside:

 • Guess what’s in the box….put an object in a box and describe the object – what we do with it, what sound or letter does it begin with what word does it rhyme with? Etc.

• Simon says…… can be actions, finding things around the house/setting

• Kim’s Game….memory game – objects on a tray – then cover them up with a cloth and try to remember /name the objects

•Play board games – snakes and ladders, snap, bingo, dominoes, etc.

• Play indoor Shops – make a food shop with tins and packets; a clothes shop with clothes, shoes, hats, glasses, etc. Play the role of different people – shop assistant, customers, using different voices and forms of speech.