Help Your Child Talk: Telling Stories Your Toddler Will Love

Welcome  to  Help Your Child Talk and Grow Smarter: this week's extract from the SpeechContacts Kindle and your chance to learn more about the way your child learns to talk. 

This week, there's more about making up stories for your child. It's so easy. Enjoy watching as your child uses his own creativity to join in with your storytelling.

One of the great things about toddlers is they just love repetition. So use the same words and sentences in your story: the more you repeat, the more he'll love it. 

 

Here's a story designed to encourage short phrases. It's built around the phrases "teddy eats" and "eats banana/cake/etc". When you make up similar stories, just follow these rules:

1. Keep the phrases short.
2. Repeat the same words many times.
3. Tell the story often.
   

Hungry Teddy

Teddy is hungry. Mummy gives him a banana. 

Teddy eats the banana.    Teddy is still hungry. 

  













Mummy gives him a cake. Teddy eats the cake. But Teddy is still hungry.

Mummy gives him a biscuit. Teddy eats the biscuit. But Teddy is still hungry.... 

And so on ... Then make a big finish:    

                          

Teddy is full right up and he isn't hungry any more.

When you make up your stories about everyday objects, why not take photos of the objects, print them out and stick them in a book. Hey presto, your child has his very own story book. Or you can download pictures like the ones here, from dreamstime.com 

More storytelling posts here:

Storytelling for Toddlers

Five Simple Ways to Improve Your Writing

Help Your Child Talk: From First Words to Sentences

Welcome  to  Help Your Child Talk and Grow Smarter: this week's extract from the SpeechContacts Kindle and your chance to learn more about the way your child learns to talk. 

This week's extract highlights some of the words and phrases you're likely to hear your child use when he's 1 - 3 years old. He's learning fast during these months. Remember that he has to hear your speech repeated many times before he uses any of these words or phrases himself. 

Listening comes before speaking

The first words your child uses are labels for things. “Cup” “shoes” and “teddy” are simple labels called nouns and they represent the things he finds familiar. 

During his second year, he uses quite a collection of single nouns, until by his second birthday he has as many as two hundred words in his vocabulary.

First phrases

Single words are not the end of the story. We don't usually talk in single words. We use sentences. After a few months of naming things, your child moves on to putting 2 words together.

A 1 year old often uses groups of words, such as “up we go” or “here it is”. These, though useful, are not true 2 or 3 word phrases, because he’s learned them as though they were one word. 

They only have one meaning. He uses them appropriately in one context, but doesn’t yet split the words up and use them in other phrases.

His big step forward comes when he start to say, “Teddy cup”, “Mummy cup”, “Daddy cup”; or tries “hat on”, “coat on”, and “shoes on”. These short phrases of only 2 words together, are first steps towards proper sentences.But they don't have a verb.

Sentences

Action words, or verbs, are at the heart of the sentences we use as adults. Every complete sentence contains a verb. As your child begins to use action words he takes a giant stride into talking. 

He starts with the actions that he hears you say most often, such as “cry”, 'eat', “sleep”.  He combines these with his single word labels to produce miniature sentences. “Dolly sleep”, “eat biki” and “baby cry” are typical 2-word combinations at this stage.

Encourage his 2 word phrases by using them yourself.  Remember that modelling good patterns for him helps him to learn more quickly. 

You can use a few words in many 2-word phrases.  For example, “eat” can be used with a huge variety of other words in such phrases as “eat dinner”, “teddy eat”, “doggy eat”, “eat cake” and so on.

In the same way, you could build a whole series of 2 word phrases around a colour or a size.  “Big car”, “big boy”, “big dog”, “red hat”, “red boots”.

If you like this, you may want to read the rest of this Kindle book. Download How To Help Your Child Talk and Grow Smarter in seconds for only £2.09 (new reduced price - September only)