Helping develop your child's speech through play.

We're always told not to compare children. They're all different and all do things in their own way, in their own time. In fact, a favourite quote of mine is,

"Not all children are ready to learn the same thing at the same time in the same way." 

- Kathy Walker

However, even knowing and understanding all of this, when my son did not start to communicate verbally in a similar way to how his older sister had, I admit that I felt quite concerned. 

I'd done everything the same. He'd been read to since birth (a lot), talked to and chatted with constantly. 

We made sounds, did rhymes, sung songs and played together. 

But, unlike his sister, he did not choose to naturally communicate verbally and would refuse to mimic sounds or try new words. 

His non-verbal communication was spot on and he was always able to get across what he wanted (which was encouraging) but oral language was not something that came easily to him.

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Music plays a big part in our household. My kids have listened to a wide variety of music since before they were born, our car is a rotating music station where we enjoy singing along together with all our favourite tunes and we love to dance at every chance we can get.

I find that Music is fabulous for learning rhythm, tone, language development, memory, creativity, engagement, pitch, volume, movement, gross and fine motor skills and so much more!

Maddie (aged 3) just loves to dance, so getting her moving to music is no trouble at all. 

But, if your child isn't so passionate about dancing, how do you get them up and moving to music?

With games!

We were inspired to GET UP and MOVING by this great CD that we were recently sent 

(which you can read more about at the bottom)

Here we share "5 Fun (and easy!) Games to get kids 

Up and Moving to Music"

1) Musical Statues

A classic game that can be played with 1 or more people of all ages.

Dance to the music. When the music stops you must FREEZE! 

Children love trying not to wobble or giggle.

You can eliminate people that move to find one winner, or just play for fun like we do with different "Statue Champs!" each round that manage to stay still. 

When the music starts again, it's time to keep moving!

2) Musical Chairs/Cushions

Another classic game for 2 or more players of all ages

For the first round, set out enough chairs or cushions for each player.

Dance to the music. When the music stops, players must rush to sit down on a chair or cushion.

With each round, remove one chair/cushion and then have the remaining player who misses getting a chair/cushion join you as the judge! 

(Some people do not like games that encourage exclusion, winning or 'losing'.. As an alternative, rather than removing the player left without a chair/cushion you can allow multiple players per seat or just have a little group of winners for each round but let everyone back in with each new round)

3) Move like the Music

This is a great way to get children considering Emotions and Actions and can be played by 1 or more children of any age

Listen to the music together and talk about how it makes you feel. Happy? Sad? Cross? etc. Then talk about what actions go with these emotions. A happy song can make you feel "bouncy," "boppy" etc. If the song is slow and makes you feel sad, perhaps the appropriate action would be "swaying" etc.

4) Animal Dance

This imaginative game is suitable for one of more people of all ages.

Download and Print out my FREE ANIMAL CARDS

Let children pick a card at random and have them dance to the music as that animal. Consider, talk about and encourage things like the typical types of movements of each animal. Does the animal usually move fast/slow, with big/small movements, quietly/loudly, on all fours? etc.

However, if they happen to be a snake that doesn't just like to wriggle on the ground but is also partial to the cha-cha... well, who are we to hinder creativity and imagination? Plus, who knows what snakes get up to when we're not around.... ;)

5) Dancing with Props

A great way to get kids really moving their bodies and manipulating various items. Play this game with one or more children of any age

Provide a selection of props and have children choose one at a time to dance with. Talk about how each item changes or influences their movement. Extend this by allowing children to search out and find their own props to dance with. Can they dance with a partner while still using their prop.

Here are a couple of the things we recently used to dance with

What extra props would you add? Little beanbags, hoops? etc...

Here are some more great children's activities involving Music

Make your own Sound Effects (Learn with Play at home)

I am Special song for Preschoolers (Teach Preschool)

Make a Water Xylophone (Smiling like Sunshine)

Music for Toddlers (Mama Smiles)

Big Rock Candy Mountain CD

We really enjoyed playing these games with our new CD, "Big Rock Candy Mountain" which is a compilation of the Greatest American Folk Songs. I had a lot of fun singing along to the well known tunes and was pleased to be able to introduce my kids to some classic folk songs from another country.
Artist: Catherine Britt / Jay Laga'aia

Album: Big Rock Candy Mountain 
Label: ABC Music / Universal 
Release Date: 20/07/2012  
Purchase: ABC Website 

As a big fan of Jay Laga'aia, back from his days on Home and Away, Water Rats and of course now on our favourite kids show, Play School, I was really interested to hear this CD. 

I can safely say that Jay has a fabulous voice that is really easy to listen to and I also enjoyed hearing the vocal talents of Catherine Britt who was unknown to me before. Together they deliver a really fun and great sounding CD that will be sung and danced to for many years to come in our household.

***Disclaimer. I was sent this CD to consider for review. I was under no obligation to post anything about this CD and all comments and opinions are my own. I was not paid to write this post.

Happy dancing and playing,
Debs :)

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Open Ended explorations for Children are vital in their development and constructive play is a great way to encourage this.

Children love to physically explore and manipulate materials as it helps them to gain a better understanding of their world and gives them the control to move, question and create.

Today M (3.5) and a mini mate, took on the role of 'Builders' and got cracking.

Ages- 2-6+

The Set Up

Creating an "Invitation to Play" is as easy as setting out a few materials to set the intention of the play and then let the kids go for it.

Materials: Empty cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes. Any play construction toys such as hard hat, hammer, drill, measuring tape etc

I also popped a "broken" stool in for them to hone their fix-it skills

The Play

First it's fixing time

Then time to build. Notice the added containers/boxes that the kids gathered themselves?

Their minds were working hard and were set on their task.

The ever evolving construction site. Builder J is busy drilling the front.

This type of play is fantastic for Collaborative play. 

Working and playing together with their peers leads to skills such as sharing, taking turns, compromising, working together, language development and so on.

Checking to ensure it's been built to specification. 

Note the addition of measuring skills, number recognition and so on.

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by simply providing the basic materials and letting the children loose on it. You could assist younger children with the building process. Talking with them about how to balance the items, which are best for the base, etc.

- Extend this activity by giving your child/ren a "brief" on what's expected. Join the role play fun by being a contractor who is calling in a building team for a particular project. Perhaps you need a building of a particular height, width etc. Add toy telephones to call your workers and explain what's needed. Be sure to add in other materials such as measuring tapes, spirit levellers etc. 

- Talk to your child about what they are doing/building in order to develop their cognitive skills (thinking) and language development. Not to forget the important bonding that takes place between you both.

- Giving children a different scale to work with or a different surface, etc, will affect their behaviour and will involve problem solving processes that they're unaware they're even using. They require concentration and identification. eg. These kids were building on a soft surface which makes their process slightly different to if they were building on a flat, solid surface

- Repeat this activity with different materials, in a different location, with different specifications... etc. Children need to be exposed to experiences more than once and mixing it up will ensure that they are focusing on, gaining or using different skills each time.

- If you don't have "pretend tools" etc... then make some! Let children use their imagination to find something or create something they think could be appropriate for the job.

Looking for more Pretend/Imaginative Play Activities?

Here are some of our favourites

Pretend School

Pretend Washing Up - Water play

Pretend Shop. Learning Numbers

Happy playing,
Debs :)

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One of the best ways to consolidate learning in children is to have them share their understanding with others. Peer learning is an extremely valuable tool in the classroom but often at home, especially with your eldest, there is no one else for them to 'teach.'

This is where a Pretend School for Imaginative Play can come in and it's so easy to set up.

Kids love pretending to be adults and getting to turn the tables and be in charge. Imaginative play gives children a chance to practice language skills, develop their imagination, look outside their immediate role and explore other options and possibilities. (Amongst other things)


You will need. Soft toys for students, chairs/tables for them to sit at and a chalkboard/whiteboard for the "teacher" with appropriate writing tools. (If you don't have a chalkboard/whiteboard, try taping a large piece of paper to a wall or window to use instead)

For maximum impact set up a Pretend Classroom for your child before they get up or while they are otherwise occupied. 

Talk to your child about what they are teaching all their "students" today.  

Offer them some props to help teach like some button magnets for counting, numbers, grouping etc or some magnetic letters and help them where appropriate.

Helping one of her "students" count.

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by joining in the play yourself. You could be a "student" in the class and aid your child in leading the play by asking them appropriate questions. ie. "What are we learning today?" "Can you teach me how to count to 10?" etc. They could pretend to read a story to their class. The options are unlimited.

- Extend this activity by helping your child extend their "curriculum" to include ideas and concepts they might be interested in or might be needing extension in. ie. If they struggle with backwards counting you could encourage them to teach backwards counting to their "students." Explain different school subjects and let your child choose an area to teach.

- Play too. Get into character yourself, especially if your child doesn't do a lot of imaginative play. Addressing your child as Mr or Miss and helping out with things like ringing the school bell etc will help your child get into character and show them how people engage in imaginative play.

- Suggestions. Let your child lead with their interests but if they can't think of anything perhaps offer some simple suggestions to teach such as counting, the alphabet, read a story, talk about dinosaurs, organise a field trip, learn about healthy eating

- Listen to your child talk as they go through their experiences. This will help you determine where they are at with their learning, knowledge and understanding and help you to develop the activity (or future activities) to their level and interests

Happy Playing,

Debs :)

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On top of the sensory experience, this playdough imprinting activity also encourages development of fine motor skills, language skills, processes, exploration and textural differences. All important for children learning about the world around them.  

Ages: My 3 year old loved this activity but it's suitable for toddlers through to school age.

 Materials: Playdough and a variety of different materials collected from around your house that will create different textures and patterns.

I set it out here as an Invitation to Play.

 Imprinting with Rubberbands, Pipecleaner, Comb and strip of Packing material (polystyrene wrap)

 Imprinting with Beaded Necklace, Bubblewrap, Duplo brick, Foam

 Straight into it

 Realising that it should be flat first

 It made a slight fuzz texture and the rectangular shape. She wasn't all that impressed

 How about the duplo?

 One side looked like that. What about the other side?

 Oooh, this looked cool! We noticed how the thin yellow playdough appeared green on top of the blue mat

 We assumed this one would just come out with holes in it. The extra textures inside the holes was unexpected and delightful. She noticed each one was different. These were due to the creases

 The beads made different prints depending on how they were pressed into the playdough

 Because of how thin this material way, the biggest imprint was from fingers!

 Here we talked about grooves and ridges. It also made dots. Very cool

 This left quite a fuzzy texture and she noted the imprint could be in any shape she desired

 I wasn't expecting her to put the rubber band on like this

 She enjoyed looking at and touching the variety of patterns and textures. They were all so different

 Ask your child, which was their preferred/favourite pattern/texture. Why?

 Then I sent her on a hunt to find things around the house that she wanted to test the pattern and texture of. This is what she returned with.

 So many exciting and varied prints. The ideas that came to mind from this were endless...

How else can you play with these materials?

Handy Tips:

- Extend this activity by asking your child to predict what they think the imprint will look like. What different textures and patterns can they achieve with the same material?

- Create a picture or pattern using the different indentations from various materials

- Use new language and descriptive words like, "textures," "grooves," "ridges," "indentations" etc This will help with their language development.

-Ask questions to help connect their understanding using vocabulary to give them words to describe what they're experiencing, eg. "What pattern do you think this will leave?" "What shapes can you see on this material?" "What would happen if you pressed the other side in the playdough?" "How could you make a different texture with this material" etc

- Listen to your child talk as they go through their experiences. This will help you determine where they are at with their learning, knowledge and understanding and help you to develop the activity (or future activities) to their level and interests.

- Repeat. This activity can be repeated time and time again with a different end result each time. Mix around and change some of the materials that you provide each time to inspire new ideas


Debs :)

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Never underestimate the incredible learning that goes on through Imaginative Play. This is a chance for children to practice various skills, rehearse and use different and varied language and vocabulary as well as using their mind for problem solving, making assumptions and trying new things. (Plus heaps more!)
And, the best thing about imaginative play is that you need very little, (sometimes, if any) materials at all.

Today after reading some books on our flavour of the month, Pirates (!), we created the simplest Pirate Ship ever that you could also make at home.

You need a toy bucket/chest/container (hey, anything you can empty and fit a child in, they don't care!); a broom mast; a flag (we used a library bag) and supplies (We had pirate dress ups, a cardboard tube telescope and a skipping rope anchor(not pictured..this idea came after I'd put the camera away))

Imaginative play for children does not need to be fancy... remember, they are using their imagination too!

Handy Tips:

- Simplify this activity by "making" a "Pirate Ship" yourself and then letting your child role play

- Extend this activity by making the parts for the ship with your child first. Eg, Make and design a flag, make a telescope, search for something appropriate for an anchor, make a pirate hat etc.

- The language development is an important part in imaginative play like this. Talking with your child and introducing new language that is relevant to the role play will increase the learning. Talk about some Pirate sayings or words and what they mean,eg. "Pillage," "Ahoy, me hearties" "Shiver me timbers" etc

- Make your activity more relevant by first reading and sharing books and stories about Pirates

Debs :)

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