Supporting Language Development

From the moment that your little one uttered out their first word, even if they said ‘dada’ instead of ‘mama’, or visa versa, you couldn’t wait for the next word, sentence, or full-blown story. It is such an exciting time to watch your child soak in the words that they hear and begin to understand how to use them and express their feelings and personality. Language development is, of course, incredibly important during your child’s young age, and parents play a pivotal role in helping them advance their skills. In this blog post, we will provide you with a few activities and ways in which you can help them during their journey. You can rest assured that Compass Child Care will provide assistance as well! 

We are proud to offer the best early childhood education in Blaine and Coon Rapids in a fun and safe environment for our students! If you would like to learn more about the curriculum that we offer such as STEM, art, dramatic play, and more, or are looking to enroll your kiddo, then feel free to contact us today!

Talk!
For the real little ones that are just learning how to speak, and even those that are starting to get a grasp on it, it’s really important that you keep the conversation going. This can be as easy as narrating the activities you guys are doing each day. Explain the steps that go into making breakfast, point at things like street signs and explain their meaning, make up stories on the go. Anything helps! Also, make sure that you are having conversations with them. As young as they are, a lot of children don’t like to be spoken to as ‘kids’, so ask them about their day, have them talk about their favorite part of their day at child care and what they learned. They’ll love knowing how much you care about them and what is going on in their lives.

Read
Children follow their parents’ lead, so you need to make sure that you are encouraging them to work on their language skills. Reading is a huge part of this. In a previous post, we offered some advice on helping your child develop a fascination and love of reading, it is so important! Remember that it is never too early to begin reading to your little ones. Even babies are learning while you read a story to them! Make sure that you take time every day to either read to them or have them read a storybook out to you! To further enhance their language skills, have them explain what the story means to them, what their favorite character is, etc. Visits to the local library are also a great way to boost their interest in reading.

Be Careful With Screen Time
In this day and age, it is pretty impossible to ignore screens. Whether tablets, smart phones, the television, or computers, these devices are everywhere. And children love watching shows or playing games on them. We understand that it will be difficult to avoid, but it is best for your child’s development to have them watch TV or play games sparingly. When you do give them access, make sure that it is educational. There are some wonderful programs and educational games out there, but nothing compared to having them read a book or have an actual conversation!
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Music
Enjoying music with your child is not only fun, but is very beneficial to their language development as well. Sing children’s songs with them while driving around town, dance around to their favorite tunes, even encourage them to create their own silly songs! This will also encourage them to pursue the arts and work on their creativity.

In future posts, we’ll cover more ways in which you can help your little one develop their language skills so that they will be better prepared for their classes and also for their future careers! We’ll help them as well! Each and every member of our staff is committed to providing the best care for our students and you can rest assured that they are having a great time when they are with us. Contact us today to learn more about our child care center and the early childhood education that we provide in Blaine and Coon Rapids.