Children need to develop the ability to use language for thinking and learning. You can help by having discussions with them that include thought-provoking questions and explanations. Interactions like these encourage children to analyze, reflect and make connections. Here are some playful ways to get children involved in these more complex conversations.

Telling stories is a natural part of everyday conversations, and also helps children to understand written stories once they learn to read. At first, children may share events out of order or miss important details. You can help by retelling past events together, talking about stories in books, and making up new stories. Here are some ways to encourage storytelling.

When you expose children to more advanced vocabulary in your day-to-day conversations, you prepare them to learn subjects like science, history and geography. Here are some fun ways to include unusual words throughout your day.

Children’s vocabulary grows when they participate in conversations and hear new words. To help a child understand a new word, use strategies to highlight the word – e.g., say the word a bit slower and louder, pair it with a gesture and explain what it means. Here are some fun things to try in everyday situations.

Help build children’s language by adding words and ideas to what they say. When you respond to what a child says by making their sentence more complete, or by adding a new idea, you model more advanced language that they can learn from. Here are some fun things to try.

When children participate in interactions that go back-and-forth many times, they have more opportunities to hear and practice language. Children learn the most from talking about their ideas, so let the child take the first turn to start an interesting conversation. Then, follow the child’s lead to keep the interaction going! Here are some fun ways to build back-and-forth conversations.