Banter Speech & Language

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pre-literacy skills

Parents of Preschoolers: Banter’s 2018 PreLit (preliteracy) classes are now open for enrolment

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Is your preschooler going to school next year? If so, help your preschooler prepare for school success with our 30-minute, weekly PreLit sessions.

What is PreLit?

PreLit is a systematic, skills-based early literacy program for preschoolers who will be (or might be) starting school in 2019.

The program covers many key predictors of school readiness, including phonemic awareness, letter-sound knowledge, print knowledge, and shared reading strategies. These skills underpin reading, spelling and comprehension skills, and are strong predictors of later school success.

Classes are available 1:1 or in small groups (3-5 preschoolers) on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays during term time.

To book, email us here or give us a call on (02) 8757-3838.

For more information about PreLit, and the evidence supporting it, click here.

Related articles:

Image: https://tinyurl.com/ybcer6ej

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

Reading with – not to – your pre-schoolers: how to do it better (and why)

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Most parents know that reading books with their kids is important. But many parents don’t know why exactly. And it’s not as if parents get issued with an instruction book about how to read books with their kids for the best language, literacy, social and academic results.

Consider this article a mini-instruction book – a cheat sheet – based on some of the latest evidence about how to get the most out of reading books with your pre-schooler.

1. Why read books with your pre-schooler?

The peer-reviewed research evidence is very clear on this:

a. Read books with your kids:

Reading books with your kids:

  • has a positive effect on later reading and maths skills;
  • increases sustained attention; and
  • reduces negative behaviours (Baker et al., 2013).

b. Read books frequently with your kids

Reading books more often with your pre-schooler increases:

  • interaction, language, and pre-literacy skills (Hill & Diamond, 2013);
  • reading, cognitive (i.e. intellectual), and numeracy skills until at least 10-11 years of age (Kalb & van Ours, 2014);
  • letter knowledge and phonological awareness (Manolitsis et al., 2013);
  • word recognition skills (Silinskas et al., 2012);
  • receptive and expressive vocabulary (Senechal; & Lefevre, 2014);
  • later literacy outcomes (Cunningham et al., 1997); and
  • self-regulation (Walker, 2014).

2. How to read books with your pre-schooler

a. Read books “with” – not “to” your pre-schoolers

Peer-reviewed evidence shows that pre-schoolers have better outcomes when they participate actively in reading (Britto et al., 2006). On the other hand, reading books in a non-interactive way does not work as well, especially for children at risk for language delays or reading problems (e.g. Dickinson & Tabors, 2001). Children do not do as well when they just sit on your lap or lie in bed half-asleep being read to or at.

Academics love to call interactive reading ‘dialogic’, which is a word that comes to us from Greek, via Old French and Middle English. In simple terms, it means we want reading to be a two-way conversation with your kids about the book, with each of you taking turns and responding to the other’s gestures, words and observations.

b. Practical tips for how to turn passive book-reading into an active conversation

  • Books are not just for bedtime, when everyone’s tired and you want your kids to settle for sleep. I love bedtime reading. But you should mix it up and read at other times too. For example, when my boys were younger, we loved to read books straight after breakfast on Sundays and then act them out in the back yard (especially books about emergencies and battles).
  • Let your child choose the book. Your child will learn more from a book if it matches his/her interests. A quick trip to the library will give you a good idea of the types of books your child likes.
  • Don’t forget about non-fiction books. Story books are great. But if your son or daughter loves dinosaurs, trucks, or trains, explore their interest! I find many young boys with language delays love books about cars and dinosaurs, for example. I had one client who loved to read about going to the dentist!
  • If your child wants to read the same book over and over, just do it!
  • Focus on what your child is looking at in the book and go at their pace.
  • You don’t need to read the book in order, or cover-to-cover. If your child loves a particular picture, spend more time there talking about it.
  • Don’t do all the talking! Hold your peace and wait for your child to say something. Say something about the book, and then be quiet for 5 seconds and wait expectantly. Give your child time to take a turn or make a comment, and then respond enthusiastically.
  • Don’t ask too many questions – especially ‘yes/no’ closed questions or ‘what’s that?’ questions. Kids (like all of us) hate being interrogated about stuff when they know you know the answer. Make comments about the book, and then simply wait expectantly. Instead of saying ‘What colour is that?’, or ‘Is he happy?’ or ‘What’s that?’, you could say ‘I like his green skin, it looks so slimy!’, or ‘I can see the frog swimming under the lily pad’, or ‘He looks so sad! I can see tears on his cheeks, poor frog!’ and then wait for your child to have a turn and respond.
  • At the end of each page, pause and wait for your child to comment (even if it’s simply: ‘Hurry up Dad, turn the page!’).
  • If your child wants to expand on what’s happening in the story, show enthusiasm and join in!
  • Don’t be afraid of using and explaining advanced vocabulary – especially interesting words, e.g. ‘deciduous’, ‘drenched’ and ‘destructive’, especially after multiple readings of the same book. With new words, say them slowly, make them louder and longer than other words, say them repeatedly in sentences, and tie the new word to other words your child already knows, e.g. ‘The bear hibernated – he went to sleep for a long time. He hibernated for weeks and weeks. He hibernated in his cave. He was very sleepy. He couldn’t wake up because he was hibernating!’. Here’s an example of how one of our amazingly creative clients learned about the word ‘catapult’ from Pamela Allen’s ‘The Pear in the Pear Tree’. Love it!

  • Act out the books. Use stuffed toys or puppets or Lego or action figures or dolls. I love doing this with books like Who Sank the Boat and There was an Old Lady who swallowed a Fly.
  • Read books that provoke or even irk your child into a response. My current favourite is ‘This is a ball‘, which never fails to get a strong response from even reluctant talkers!
  • When reading a book for the second (or 100th) time, help your child think more deeply about the story:
    • talk about the story elements: the main character, the setting of the story, the goal of the main character (or the problem he/she is tackling), what happens, and the ending and how it makes you feel.
    • think ‘out loud’ for your child’s benefit about what’s happening in the story and why, e.g: ‘I’m thinking that the frog is sad’, or ‘I’m wondering about when the bear will wake up’, or ‘I’m trying to figure out what will happen when the princess kisses the frog’.
    • ask open, more complicated questions, like ‘How does she feel?’, ‘Have you ever felt that way?’, ‘What would you do?’, ‘What do you think will happen next?’ and ‘Why do you think she’s happy?’. If, after waiting, your child doesn’t respond, answer your questions with what you think, then wait. Being a bit silly can sometimes provoke a response, e.g. ‘I think the princess will turn into a frog too!’. Connecting the action in the book to your child’s life can boost vocabulary development, comprehension and recall of facts (e.g. Aram et al., 2013).
  • With repeated readings of favourite books (or with alphabet books), bring your child’s attention to the printed words, letters and sounds to build their print awareness and phonological awareness:
    • help your child notice the letters and words to build their print awareness. Show them the cover page, the way the words are written across the pages from left to right, and how words are made of letters. Point out printed words wherever you see them during the day, e.g. on signs, cereal packets, and other books; and
    • highlight letters and explain the sounds they make to build your child’s phonological awareness skills, which are related to later reading outcomes.

Related articles:

Principal source: Greenburg, J. (2015). I’m Ready!: Coaching Parents to prepare their pre-schooler for literacy success. An eSeminar, which I attended on 10 May 2017. Many of the strategies highlighted above are based on this seminar, which, in turn, were derived from “I’m Ready! How to Prepare your Child for Reading Success” by Janice Greenburg and Elaine Weitzman of the Hanen Centre in Canada. 

Image: http://tinyurl.com/mvjc57v

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

Preparing your pre-schooler to learn to read: skills to focus on first

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What can we do to help our pre-schoolers get ready to read without being accused of helicopter-parenting?

A lazy Google search will confirm there are loads of courses and programs marketed to worried parents of pre-schoolers. Many are not supported by evidence. (I shudder when I see glossy marketing for some of the drill-based, flashcard-happy “school readiness bootcamps” currently targeting families of 3-5 year olds.)  And many of the best evidence-based “school readiness programs” run mainly in cities and cost a small fortune.

Too often, the kids most in need of help with pre-literacy skills can’t access it.

Skills that promote later reading outcomes

Four main skills are linked to the later development of word recognition and reading comprehension:

What does “print knowledge” mean?

The term “print knowledge” – also called “print awareness” – describes children’s:

  • interest in print (e.g. on signs and labels, in books and, increasingly, on screens);
  • knowledge of the names and distinctive features of various “print units” (e.g. alphabet letters, words, and sentences);
  • knowledge of the ways in which different print units may be combined in written language; and
  • sensitivities to the ways in which print:
    • is used for different purposes; and
    • is organised, e.g. in story books and other print genres or “text types”.

An important part of print knowledge is, of course, alphabet knowledge, which we’ve written about at some length before here.

Why bother with print awareness for pre-schoolers?

At “big school”, children are taught how to read. Evidence-based reading instruction includes phonics instruction. Phonics instruction emphasises the links between letters and sounds.

For children to make the most of phonics instruction in Kindergarten and Year 1, they need to know the letters of the alphabet. The more developed a child’s understanding of the alphabet during pre-school, the more success they tend to have (on average) in learning to read.

For example, one meta-analysis of the early predictors of later reading achievement showed that children’s knowledge of print – both print concepts and alphabet knowledge – was the most important predictor of later reading achievement. The study found that print awareness was more important than oral language and even phonological awareness (Hammill, 2004). There’s also a body of research showing that print awareness and phonological awareness improvements lead to longer term improvements in reading (e.g. Byrne & Fielding Barnsley, 1991; Piasta et al., 2012).

Which pre-school kids are most at risk for later reading problems?

As with reading generally, kids don’t set about acquiring print awareness and other pre-literacy skills on a level playing field. Some children are at a heightened risk of reading problems, including children:

What kinds of evidence-based supports are out there to help pre-schoolers improve their pre-literacy skills?

  • Evidence-based practices anyone can learn, e.g. interactive story book reading (e.g. Mol et al., 2009).
  • Commercial programs, e.g.:
    • Specific courses for pre-literacy skills such as:
      • Let’s Begin with the Letter People (Abrahm & Company, 2000);
      • Doors of Discovery (Wright Group, 2001);
      • Literacy Express Preschool Curriculum (Lonigan et al., 2011); and
      • PreLit by MultiLit.
    • Broader courses with a pre-literacy stream such as:
      • Head Start Research-Based Developmentally Informed Intervention (Bierman et al., 2008); and
      • Evidence-based Program for the Integration of Curricula (Fantuzzo et al., 2011).

Overall, there is some decent evidence showing that literacy programs for pre-schoolers may have significant developmental value (e.g. see Mashburn et al., 2016).

But many of these courses are expensive: both for educators and (as a result) for their students; and require lots of training and materials to administer properly.

Are there any other (less “commercial”) options?

Yes.

Read It Again-PreK! (RIA) is an evidence-based pre-literacy intervention designed by Drs Laura Justice and Anita McGinty and colleagues. RIA is a 60-lesson, “whole class”, story-book based program targeting vocabulary, narrative skills, phonological awareness and print knowledge. Best of all, it was designed to “scale” easily and is available worldwide as a free manualised download – and only requires about $150 of materials (popular children’s books, many of which could be sourced second-hand or from libraries in a pinch). Free online training for providers is available via the researchers’ website.

In 2016, Dr Andrew Mashburn and colleagues (including Drs Justice and McGinty), published the results of a cluster randomised trial on RIA involving 104 pre-K classrooms (506 students) in a rural area of the United States. The researchers found (among other things) that RIA:

  • had a statistically significant positive impact on children’s print concepts; and
  • did not, on its own, lead to significant gains in children’s alphabet knowledge or oral language skills.

The study had some important limitations. For example, it’s not clear whether the program – which was trialled on US kids from a rural background – would yield the same results with city kids or kids from another place (e.g. Australia).

Several outcome statistics were measured and processed in multiple ways, which increases the risk of bias/errors due to so-called “data dredging” or “p-hacking“. And the program was tested by a research group that included members involved in creating the program (rather than an independent group).

Clinical bottom line

To improve later reading outcomes – especially for children at risk for later reading problems – pre-literacy training programs for pre-schoolers should target the development of vocabulary, narrative, print knowledge and phonological awareness skills. Several evidence-based programs exist to improve pre-school print awareness and other pre-literacy skills. But many of them are expensive and inaccessible to the children who need them most.

There is some promising evidence supporting the inexpensive and scalable Read It Again-PreK! program as a “whole of class” pre-literacy skills intervention for pre-schoolers. The program may be an option for children that cannot access another program for economic or logistical reasons.

Related articles:

Principal source: Mashburn, A., Justice, L.M., McGinty, A., & Slocum, L. (2016). The Impacts of a Scalable Intervention on the Language and Literacy Development of Rural Pre-Kindergartners, Applied Developmental Science, 20:1, 61-78.

Image: http://tinyurl.com/kyy8de6

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

Learn to love being stuck in traffic with your kids: here’s how

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If, like me, you live in a city with limited public transport and terrible roads, you’ll spend lots of time in the car with your kids. For some of us, that time can feel wasted. Lost. Dead.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

With only a bit of planning, even painful gridlock with wailing kids in the back can be converted into enjoyable family time.

Here’s how:

Change your mindset – the advantages of family time in the car

Lots of car advertisements trumpet personal freedom: sitting in the car alone without a care in the world, tearing down a deserted highway with the windows and top down and the music up. The reality – especially for us suburban dads and mums inching our way through Saturday sports traffic in our SUVs and station-wagons – is very different. But, even when trapped with loved ones at close quarters strapped into your seats, a car is not a prison. As Igor Stravinsky said “the more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one’s self”. And, compared to home, cars have a lot of advantages:

  • Time. For Dads who work long hours, the school drop-off may be one of the best (or only) times available to chat with their kids during the week. And this is true of some Mums, grandparents and other carers too.
  • Fewer distractions. Travelling together in the car gives you uninterrupted time with your kids. While the purity of this “time alone” has been diluted by the increased use of smart phones, back seat DVD players and other devices, you’re still physically separated from the rest of the world together.
  • Lack of eye-contact. This may seem a disadvantage in light of the research about the importance of face-to-face interactions for young or language-delayed kids. But some children are much more likely to experiment with sounds, singing and even language without an adult directly looking at them (e.g. kids that get embarrassed easily).
  • Less physical parent intervention. I once glanced in my rear view mirror and beheld the sight of my son thrashing about with his jumper stuck around his head. Kids have to be more self-sufficient in the back of the car. If you’re a parent who rushes to anticipate your child’s every need, being physically unable to do so easily may give your child more opportunities to help themselves or to ask for help – to initiate more interactions with you, which is good for language development.
  • More interactions between siblings. This can, of course, go either way. But studies show that siblings interact with each other for longer and in more ways when they are stuck next to each other in the car. As most parents know, apart from squabbles, the back-seat/front-seat divide can also foster a cheeky “kids versus parents” dynamic that brings siblings closer together – even if at the expense of poor Dad or Mum!
  • Relaxation and time for reflection. After a hard day at school, a meltdown-tantrum at Grandma’s house, or a soccer win, cars can provide an opportunity to reflect on the things that have happened. For older children and young adults, car trips can also provide an opportunity for discussions about difficult topics. Again, I suspect the reduced eye contact in a car might be one reason sensitive topics can be broached more easily on the drive home, than face-to-face at the dinner table.
  • Changing gears. One rather poetic researcher talks about the car being a place “betwixt and between” social environments. In plain English, I think she meant that car trips often happen between the time we spend in the outside world with strangers and the time we spend at home with family.

15 activities to try out

  1. Sing songs and make up verses: For younger kids, try “Wheels on the Bus”, but add silly verses for each family member (e.g. the Dad on the bus went “shush shush shush!”, the Grandma on the bus went “no, no, no!”). For older kids make up alternative lyrics to their favourite songs or songs on the radio. The sillier the better!
  2. Listen and wiggle to music: For the little-lys, I favour old school nursery rhymes, like my retro-beloved Patsy Biscoe, with lots of actions and repetition. But, as with movies, music for kids is much more sophisticated these days. Personal favourites include the For The Kids album featuring artists like Tom Waits, Cake and Sarah McLachlan. I also like some of the independent children’s music “radio stations” you can stream from services like Pandora and Spotify.
  3. Name that tune: Take it in turns to hum a song, while everyone else tries to guess what it is.
  4. Opera-talk: Use a silly “opera” (or monster or fairy) voice to sing rather than say your words. To keep it simple, use the “na-na-na-na-na-na” tune kids use when they are teasing each other (e.g. “na-na-na-na-na-na-you-can’t-have-it”). Alternate comments and questions to avoid it becoming an interrogation and to keep it going e.g.:
    Dad: “I can see a tree-ee”.
    Mum: “I can see a green ga-ate. What can you see?”
    Child: “I can see a…”
  5. Listen to gripping audio-books: My little guys used to love Roald Dahl audio books and CDs – particularly Esio Trot, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me and The Witches – look for talented narrators like Simon Callow, Hugh Laurie, Geoffrey Palmer and Miriam Margolyes. But what captivated us the most were the old-fashioned Enid Blyton Famous Five mysteries. We’ve spent many a day-trip worried about the fate of know-it-all-Julian, second-fiddle-Dick, girly-girl-Anne, tomboyish-George and Timmy the Dog! It also helped get my first son into reading the “real book” at home.
  6. Podcasts: Whether your kids are into dinosaurs, trucks, beanie babies, or dolphins, these days you can download or stream podcasts on almost any topic from places like iTunes or Stitcher. Replace the inanity of FM radio with a podcast on your child’s favourite thing in the world, and you’ll have one riveted kid and something to talk about together. You might even learn something yourself.
  7. I Spy: An oldie, but a goodie, the “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with…” game has powered us from Sydney to Dubbo. As kids get better at it, start throwing in more difficult things to spot, e.g. parts of objects and less concrete nouns (I once flummoxed my kids with “shoelace”); and giving less obvious clues (e.g. it starts with a letter in the second-half of the alphabet, it has seven letters).
  8. Counting and sorting games: Start with competitions to spot the most white versus red cars, one kid to each colour. Then extend the competition to other features e.g. car make, number of seats, roof-racks, etc. Extend the game into counting and sorting other objects you might see on your drive (e.g. trees, buildings, power-lines, petrol stations, rest stops) and talk about attributes, e.g. colour, shape, textures, materials, tastes, size, sounds, smells. These games can morph in all sorts of directions, and, where possible, follow your kids’ interests. For example, armed with her trusty “What Bird is That?”, my sister became quite the twitcher as a young girl.
  9. Road sign bingo: search for all the letters of the alphabet in road signs. For older kids, get them to find them in order, or find each of the letters for their full names, or their weekly spelling words.
  10. Find number plates for every State and Territory of your country. (Good for interstate road trips.)
  11. Where are we going?: For young school-age kids, get them to spot street signs and local landmarks (e.g. the library). For older kids, print out a detailed map of your drive, and get the kids to chart where you have been.
  12. Can you beat Siri/Google Maps?: Let the kids pretend to be your GPS navigator to direct you using spatial terms and directions (first, next, last, left, right, turn). Will you reach your destination?
  13. Bumper sticker debates: This is for older kids. Start with simply reading bumper stickers. Then discuss what they mean literally, looking for double meanings, puns, famous sayings, jokes, etc. to discuss. Then imagine what kind of person drives the car and why they would want the chosen bumper sticker on their car. Start with simple ones (e.g. the clichéd “Child on Board” or much-maligned stick figure families). For older children, look for more complex stickers (e.g. for commercial stickers, ask “What are they trying to sell us?”) and controversial bumper stickers (e.g. on political, religious, social justice and environmental topics). Discuss what kind of bumper sticker each of you would get on your car and what it would tell people about them. Can your family agree on a perfect bumper sticker for the whole family?
  14. New trading card characters: Are your children into trading cards, e.g. Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh!? If so, talk about the different types of characters, e.g. Pokemon come in Electric, Metal, Grass, Fairy, Psychic, Dragon, Water and various other stripes. Who knew!? Take it in turns to add made up characters to each of the types, e.g. today we added bindi, whipper-snipper and water-fountain-feature to the Grass type.
  15. Awesome singing and jokes: In my experience, nothing is more likely to provoke a furious reaction from the back than Dad belting out a power-ballad or cracking a hilarious Dad-joke!

Principal sources:

(1) Huisman Koops, L. (2014). Songs from the Car Seat: Exploring the Early Childhood Music-Making Place of the Family Vehicle. Journal of Research in Music Education, 62(1), 52-65.

(2) Norton-Meier, L.A. (2004). The bumper sticker curriculum: Learning from words on the backs of cars. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 48:3, 260-283.

(3) Family experiments with brilliant Dad jokes and songs.

Image: http://tinyurl.com/jcpe5k4

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

Come on Dad! What we can do to help our kids’ language development

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As my wife and sisters tell me from time-to-time: it’s not babysitting when it’s playing with your own kids!

I’m not going to lie, though. Lots of the research on kids and language development assumes Mum is doing most of the work. And, in many cases, it’s a fair assumption.

But it’s certainly not always the case. In the last couple of years, I’ve noticed a growing number of stay-at-home, work-from-home, working part-time, job-sharing, and single dads who more than hold their own when it comes to raising their kids. Even in families where dad works long hours away from home, and mum is the primary caregiver, there are hundreds of simple things dads can do to help, too. In this article, I’ll share my best examples.

Before we get into it, when I talk about “dads”, I mean anyone in a child’s life that is a father figure. It can be an older brother, uncle, cousin, granddad, mentor, neighbour – any young adult or adult male who’s important to the child.

Some of these tips and suggestions are particularly useful if your child has a language or developmental delay. But most apply to all kids and all dads.

So here are some suggestions:

1. Rough-housing

This includes:

  • pretend fighting, e.g. superheroes v super villains, Kung Fu/Ninja masters, good v bad knights, Jedi Knights v Sith Lords, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles;
  • physically picking up your child and/or flinging them about (e.g. playing horsy, wheelbarrow rides, piggy-back rides, “aeroplanes”, and spinning around/upside down games);
  • play-wrestling;
  • creeping-up games (e.g. What’s the Time, Mr Wolf?) and chasing games;
  • jumping games, e.g. off tree stumps, into pools, down slip n’ slides, on trampolines; and
  • water pistols and Nerf guns.

Some research says that physical play can encourage risk taking within a safe and secure environment (e.g. Bretherton et al., 2005). Other research says that dads can challenge the child, complementing the mother’s role in caring and comforting (Roggman et al., 2002). Dads (on average) have a more active play style, which has been linked to helping children to control their emotions, calm themselves down, refocus and wait for things patiently (Volling et al., 2002).

2. Pretend reading and writing games

Literacy development starts when children are exposed to printed text, books and writing at home (Strickland et al., 1990). Fathers can play a big role in getting their kids into words and books from a young age (e.g. Saracho, 2008).

Dads can help by:

  • letting the kids see them enjoying reading (books, magazines, news on an iPad);
  • “reading” picture books together – follow the child’s lead – no need to stick to the page order or printed words;
  • working together on alphabet puzzles;
  • making shopping lists together, e.g. circling things to buy in a hardware catalogue or brainstorming ideas for presents for Mum;
  • engaging in pretend typing races;
  • playing scribble games; and
  • doing chalk-writing and drawing games, e.g. in the backyard.

3. Outdoor games that lend themselves to chatter/debate/hilarity:

  • hide and seek;
  • practising hitting balls off softball tees or with cricket bats;
  • tag/chasing games;
  • catch/kick games;
  • acting out favourite apps (e.g. Clash of Clans), or trading card games (e.g. Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!);
  • quoits;
  • frisbee play;
  • kite-flying;
  • digging in sandpits (e.g. for treasure);
  • velcro darts;
  • backyard bowling;
  • family tug-o-wars;
  • trench digging in the garden, including mud-pie tossing;
  • toy bow and arrow hunting expeditions;
  • pin-the-tail on the donkey;
  • tree-climbing and fort making;
  • hunting for worms, insects, frogs, etc;
  • butterfly catching;
  • making ant houses;
  • attempting to hatch Sea Monkeys;
  • “spying” games with binoculars;
  • wild science experiments with slime and smoke and foul stenches;
  • backyard camping nights in tents telling fairy tales and age-appropriate ‘ghost’ stories;
  • making shelters and nests with sticks and leaves; and
  • putting on plays for Mum in the backyard “theatre”.

4. Made up activities based on “active books”

Choose books that are age-appropriate but lend themselves to active play/games or active discussion. Can’t think of one to buy/borrow from the local library? Here are some suggestions, along with activity suggestions for each:

Of course, you don’t actually need the book to do any of the above activities!

5. Secret and other “missions”

These types of games help kids learn about the world. Here’s some ideas (and some props you’ll need to find/make):

  • emergency response units: clipboards, paper, pens, bandaids, cotton balls, gloves, paddle-pop sticks, toy stethoscope, toy people, toy vehicles;
  • restaurant: clipboards, paper, pens, table, tablecloth, plates and cutlery, menus, apron, chef’s hat, food;
  • woodwork: hammers, plywood, glue, buttons, nails, screws;
  • construction: toy trucks/diggers, sand/dirt, shovels, blocks/rocks, shells, toy people/animals/dinosaurs;
  • farming: toy animals, farm-house, “grass”, fences, toy tractors;
  • office: keyboards/computers, pens, paper, stationery, staplers, hole punches;
  • fishing: water, fish, fishing rods, boats, “sharks”, sea monsters;
  • spies: torches, walkie-talkies, secret ink (aka lemon juice), morse code and semaphore charts;
  • pirates: hats, flags, coins/treasure, hook-hands, planks (to walk), toy parrot/bird, eyepatch, cutlasses; and
  • Holy Grail searches: armour, horses, swords, lances, “grails”.

6. Songs and silly voices

  • You don’t need to be a good singer. Just ask my kids! (Although, secretly, I know I’m a good singer.)
  • With younglings, go for songs with lots of repetition and that you can act out, e.g. Wheels on the Bus, Humpty Dumpty (falling off walls) or the Grand Old Duke of York (marching up to tops of hills and marching down again). For older kids, get them to teach you their favourite songs, even if they pretend they’re horrified by your interest.
  • Don’t underestimate the comic effect of dad putting on a funny voice or ridiculous accent, especially for kids used to seeing a very serious/stressed dad going to and coming back from work during the week.

Some final language tips for dads when playing with their kids

  • Get down to their level – look at them eye-to-eye, even if you have to squat down or lie on your stomach to look them in the eye.
  • Follow what your kid does – not what you want to do or what you think is the “right way” of playing a game or reading a book. Start off by imitating their actions, sounds and words and/or wait for them to choose something to play with, then join in.
  • Focus on things the child is interested in. Whether it’s trucks, dinosaurs, Octonauts, princesses, fairies, trains, Pokemon, superheroes, cooking or tools, kids are more likely to pay attention to things they are into.
  • Make sure you talk about what you’re doing/what’s happening as you go.
  • Cut down or avoid activities where your kid doesn’t need any input from you and/or where he/she is so immersed he/she stops talking, e.g. some kids with Lego or blocks. Reduce activities with no face-to-face interaction with another human, e.g. watching TV or playing Minecraft.
  • As you act things out, use lots of specific verbs, e.g. lift, throw, catch, drop, hit, stir, grill, etc.
Principal sources:
 
  1. Stockall, N. & Dennis, L. (2013). Fathers’ Role in Play: Enhancing Early Language and Literacy of Children with Developmental Delays. Early Childhood Education Journal, 41:299-306.
  2. Wild experiments at home.

Image: http://tinyurl.com/z26zquv

Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.

Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language

Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.

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