Develop Summer Fun for Your TODDLER: Five FREE Tips and Activities for Parents this Summer!

PLEASE NOTE: This is not in lieu of a speech language pathologist. The VERY FIRST THING you should do if you suspect an issue with your child’s speech is call SAGE Speech & Learning Associates. As with all health and wellness concerns, each child’s situation is different, so please work closely with a professional. 

Speech development is a fun and challenging part of childhood.  

Don’t miss any opportunity to use your time for fun and engagement.

With so many different sounds to create, it’s no wonder kids often struggle. After all, toddlers have plenty of exploring to do. They don’t have time to sit around and think about how to say words correctly. They’d much rather run wild and push boundaries that scare their parents.  Or paint some sharpie pen drawings on your good sofa.

While your 2-year old is starting to talk a lot more, you still can’t understand him or her. Everything he says sounds like gibberish to anyone outside of your immediate family and that can make your child frustrated. 

As you vacation, or stay at home, incorporate these easy activities to help your child:

Treasure Hunt: Whether at the beach or at home, bury laminated pictures or objects in sand. Items should target a sound your child is working on, or concepts such as "under, in, out".  If you don’t have laminated pictures on hand, try using what you find on the beach: crab, shell, shovel, etc.

Blocks: Blocks are a wonderful way to develop motor and cognitive skills, but it can help to develop language too! Old school blocks are the best and the cheapest. Name the pictures on the blocks, talk about concepts - big, little, up, down. Build castles, houses, even farms. Once your masterpiece is built, create stories out of your play animals and people.  This can work on vocabulary development and early narrative structures (possibly the MOST important skill to have). Also, by playing this game with your child, you are teaching the concepts of little, big, tall, etc. When your child learns these important concepts through block play, and then plays again later in the day, learning is reinforced! 

Narrate Your Day Out Loud: And ask your child to narrate with you! Narrating out loud is easy and something many people don’t think to do. Everything you do, no matter what you’re doing, you should narrate aloud to your baby. Here is what we mean: “Mommy is emptying the dishwasher right now. See how I take the fork out of the dishwasher and put it in the drawer where it belongs?” 

Now depending on the age of your baby, this could be an invitation to help, or simply just a description of what you’re doing. By narrating your actions aloud, you are teaching your little one about the daily “programs” in their life. This is how they learn what it means to wash dishes, put on shoes, walk the dogs, etc. This is also is a foolproof way to build their vocabulary exponentially.

Have a Dance Party on a Rainy Day: Make it fun, invite your child to join you for a date night/dance party.  Make a play list in advance with fun, new and challenging songs like “Lollipop” by the Chordettes that will teach your child new words and sounds besides their normal Disney music.  Make it music you love too!

Ask Your Child to Put You Down for a Nap:  Wait, what?  No, seriously!  This is just pretend play, but before his or her naptime, pretend it is your naptime and let them “read” you a book, tuck you into bed, and snuggle.  Ask them to recite all your routines back to you.  Mostly give the opportunity to play and model the act of reading the book to you.  Of course, you will need to get back up, but it can make them feel accomplished and help them try to vocalize your grown-up phrases and sayings!