When parents and therapists model conversation in pretend play, kids start to imitate them and learn to take turns in conversation with their little toy pets or people.
Caroline’s mom had asked me what things she could be doing with 2 year-old Caroline to build language during play time. I told her to take a toy figure and and talk to the figure that Caroline was holding to model a conversation. Caroline has learned the art of conversing. I gave her some cute dog characters, called Randy Candy and Coco Coconut from PetCakes, stuffed dogs with a cupcake home and frosting tops. Caroline immediately took to the characters, grabbed one, gave me the other and commanded, “Talk!” She wanted me to start the conversation. My dog, Randy, said, “Hi,” and hers responded. Then she said, “You have a cherry on top,” which indeed he did on the top of his frosted head. I asked Coco what she would 
like to do and she said, “Eat a tea party,” so we proceeded to the little doll table where Caroline offered sprinkle cookies.
Kids learn to take turns conversationally but also expand the story telling as they request and comment to their pretend friends, whether they are a stuffed animal or Fisher Price little people character. When your child is carrying a favorite dinosaur, snake or Barbie, start up a conversation with the friend and see how your child responds. At first, you might need to model both sides of the conversation to give them the idea of how it works.
The opinions expressed in this review are solely those of the author. “Petcakes” were provided for review by Well Made Toy Manufacturing Corporation.”
When I was visiting 3 year-old Will, he requested that we have a “scavenger hunt.” Now I have been known for my “candy hunts” I conduct on family vacations where I send kids off with a set of clues to find the final tin can of candy. But, I wondered how Will knew what a scavenger hunt was. It turns out that he has been watching “Dinosaur Train,” a clever kids’ show that teaches about plants and animals from the dinosaur age through a set of interesting clues delivered in rhyme.
On the left are my clues. Next time I will give them in rhyme but I wanted Will to be able to “read” them. The final clue, “Go to the Rescue Center” is a little blurred because it was hidden in the bath tub! Will loved the adventure of going up and down floors and finding his clues to his prize. Try making up clues that rhyme, leave off the last word and let your child guess the rhyming word. Now it becomes a literacy activity too.
What stories do you have about kids bridging the information from a TV show to their experience? Share them below.
I get this question a lot. Just yesterday I was at a house and the mom asked me whether she should be concerned about her 3 year-old Eli’s speech. I asked about specific sounds, saying he should be able to say, t,d,p,b,m,n,w, but other sounds aren’t established until he is older, like s,l,r.
Often, parents are expecting too much of a preschooler–that he should be speaking perfectly and understood all of the time. The fact is, he isn’t expected to correctly produce all sounds yet and we shouldn’t correct him or call attention to the mispronunciations or he might feel like he isn’t a good communicator, and even start talking less.
In the case of Eli’s mom, she was noticing that he was mispronouncing sounds that she knew he could say. Mom said, “He says, nilk for milk, and I know he can say “m”. Sure enough, little Eli said he wanted more “nilk.” Sometimes kids hang on to random words that they have mispronounced since they were little and even though they are capable of saying those sounds, the word persists for a while. In this case, continue to affirm him with, “Yes, MMMilk.” Emphasize the mispronounced sound in your own speech. Later when you are brushing teeth or playing around, make some fun sounds and include the “m” with a few “milks” thrown in.
Never draw attention to these sounds that your preschooler can’t make. Maybe they are in a word as a blend which is much harder to say and will take a while for him to learn. If you are still concerned, find a speech language therapist through your school system, ASHA’s website or your pediatrician’s recommendations.
One thing I like about my job is that no two days are the same! Yesterday, I had a first. I got a message on my phone as I was going to Reagan’s house for speech therapy. Their house is on the market and a realtor had called to make an appointment to show the house during our speech time. Would I mind meeting the family at McDonalds for therapy? Sure.
I arrived and my little friends were waiting. I brought lots of games and toys for Reagan and a bag of dinosaurs for her 2 year-old brother (who would really rather play with us). At first Reagan was a little self-conscious but I told her to look around. I pointed out that it was a bunch of grandmas and grandpas in there with us and they probably really enjoyed seeing her.
We got chocolate milks for the kids and a vanilla shake for me and we were on our way. The session went very well and I would recommend McDonalds to anyone in a bind for a place to play with your clients.
Mom graciously took a picture with the golden arches behind us to mark the event!
I have several parents who encourage me with their application of ideas that I have taught them. I am always trying to teach parents what to look for in a toy that builds language and how to set up great toys so a child can narrate stories and play creatively.
Yesterday I was with one of my favorite moms who shows me she “gets it!” She had bought two little vehicles from the “Cars” collection–the helicopter and mail truck. She and her son had been playing with them before I arrived. She mentioned that they didn’t come with people which is one of my first criteria for an effective language toy. Children need people, animals or figures that they an animate to get the conversation going. They practice dialogue, taking turns, formulating sentences and questions and narrate solving problems.
This mom stated that there weren’t any people that came with the truck so they made their own. I looked over at the truck and there was a stick man drawn on a little piece of paper, sitting int he driver’s seat! If only toys manufacturers were so ardent about providing people for kids to play with.
One of the challenges of working with children on the autism spectrum is to model, encourage and teach flexible play. Children with ASD tend to get “stuck” on a topic, toy or animal so they want to continuously play with that object or play out the same scenario. Since I work with several preschool boys, I want to introduce topics that typically developing boys are interested in so my little clients can be appropriate play partners.
What boys aren’t fascinated with dinosaurs? One little boy I work with is very interested in marine animals, particularly sharks and seals. In order to move him to new topics, I started out playing with him on the playground as we acted out marine animals of his choosing. Then I told him we were going to be dinosaurs. I got out my little books that briefly described different dinosaurs and asked him to pick which one he wanted to be. Then I had him select one for me. WE read a few facts about each on so we could act out their life. I was to be the stegosaurus with the bony plates up my back and the spike on my tail. He was a T Rex, the large meat eater who I would have to watch my distance with since I was a plant eater. Our other play partner was a Triceratops with his “frill” which got caught on the beam above the slide when he was at the top, ready to come down. I was wielding my spiky tail if anyone came near me.
These little books offered just enough information to fill in our pretend play scenario and add some relevant information for this little boy to play with his peers. The next day we read about some other dinosaurs and added a new one to our group.
To round out the dinosaur theme, we read, I Wish I Had a Dinosaur by Anggabratra and When Dinosaurs Came with Everything by Lise Broach.
Kids’ dollhouses provide a wonderful backdrop for pretend play, as children re-enact their common experiences of eating, dressing, cleaning up, going out to play, taking naps and bathing. Dollhouses come in all sizes and levels of complexity. I have used Fisher Price’s “My First Dollhouse” with children as young as 2, moving up to “The Loving Family Dollhouse,” for realistic homes and figures to act out imaginative play.
Moving from people to animals, Calico Critters just introduced its Country Treehouse for the characters’ indoor and outdoor play, building on a child’s interest in acting out scenes from their lives.
Gather your furry friends for an afternoon in the treehouse. Don’t worry, there is plenty of room for everyone, big and small. With multiple play vignettes–a deck, hot tub, lake, pagoda, water slide or rooms with a view–several kids can play at once. Hop aboard the canoe to cruise the lake, drop the trap door to slip down the slide, munch on a picnic under the pagoda, or relax in the hot tub.
Add your own critter sets and furniture suites to the two monkeys and boat provided with the treehouse. Plenty of stickers are included to personalize your new woodland home. Hang your pictures, stack your books, display your best dishes, and throw down the “Welcome” mat and it’s time to invite friends over for imaginary play. Once the props are assembled, kids just rotate around the circular, three dimensional play land, lost in their world of pretend.
Check out the newest family of Hedgehogs who look quite at home in the forest. Kids love their stand-out hairdos and combs to tame their locks.
Mothers told me that the treehouse is best played with on a short, small table so several kids can play alongside each other, absorbed in one of the mini-scenarios. One side lended itself to outdoor play with the water slide, lake and alfresco eating areas, while the other side brought little hands indoors as they arranged and re-arranged furniture and accessories in the rooms.
Parents should be the producers of play, setting out the critters and their props, letting their child direct the action at the treehouse. Language and play skills are built and reinforced as kids are in charge of their play.
The opinions expressed in this review are solely those of the author. “Calico Critters Country Treehouse” was provided for review by International Playthings.
Recently, Heidi Stevens , the Features Editor at the Chicago Tribune contacted me because she liked my article on “Nine Tips to Get Your Child to Talk About Her School Day,” and wanted to interview me for an article she was writing on that topic.
Last week, her article, “Kids Won’t Talk About School? Experts Reveal How to Get Kids of All Ages to Talk To You About Their School Day,” ran in the Chicago Tribune and featured some of my suggestions as an expert.She mentioned my points that you should know your child’s friends, what they are doing in class (read up on the class Web site) so you can be an informed conversationalist about her day. Many kids say that recess is their favorite subject so be a student of recess. Know what games they play with the kick ball or what equipment is popular with your child. If snack is important to them, be able to talk snack.Avoid a lot of questions but start some open ended statements and pause for your child to fill in. One of the other experts quoted in the article, Jim Fay, of Love and Logic Institute, suggests a 30 mintue rule which I like. “Make your first half hour together question free.” Let your child relax, get a snack, unwind after his day. Then get the conversation going.
Respond to complaints by problem solving together and working through soluntions, giving your child the words to work through difficulties. If your child says, “I hate math, I’m no good at it,” you might respond by saying, “I’m sorry. I can see you are frustrated. Show me your math book and let’s see what is hard.”
After reading a book to your child, extend the experience with an activity–talk about how the story relates to your life and your child’s experiences, act it out with props or draw a picture.
Recently I read Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems, using the cute plush pigeon who yells, “Let me Drive the Bus” when you squeeze him. Little Elle loves Mo Willems books and has used them to learn to read. She got so excited when I finished the book, that she got out her markers and drew this darling picture (minus the toes on one foot!) I can tell what details she took away from the story by her drawing.
Use your child’s illustration to launch a discussion and re-tell of the book. Talk about what happened at the beginning, middle and end. What changed? What was the problem and how was it solved?
As we encourage kids to think about a good story in a picture book, the sequence of events and how they relate to one another, we are helping kids to think like storytellers and writers.
I was listening to WCBS News Radio this week and Charles Grodin did a piece on when you are going to tell about something bad that happened, start with the punch line that everything turned out okay.
So on that note, I will start by saying my husband is okay, thank heavens, but this weekend he was in a bike accident with his biking buddy. They were close to home after a ride, going relatively slow when their wheels collided and both fell. My husband landed on his back, hit his head and was unconscious for a few minutes. I got there when the ambulance and emergency personnel had arrived and were asking him questions (like who is the president of the United States?) He spent a night in the hospital for observations and was released by the neurosurgeon with a diagnosis of a concussion. The emergency room physician said the helmet saved his life. Thank you to Gyro for making such a safe helmet. We know where his head hit because the interior material is compressed and there is no mark on his head.
I found it ironic that as I was sitting in the ambulance waiting for the EMT workers to assess my husband, two teenagers cycled by without helmets. I wanted to yell to them, but they were gone before I knew it.
So let me yell out to whomever is reading this. PLEASE wear a helmet when you ride and make sure your kids always wear a well-fitting helmet whenever they get on a bike. You don’t have to be going fast to get injured.
