Spring has sprung!

I love the start of a new year, a new season, a new month...they all bring opportunities for new themes and new vocabulary! With spring here, i'm reminded of plants/seeds, weather, and bugs. One of my favorite games is an oldie, but a goodie...Cootie! 

This is a game of my childhood and I am happy to share it with previous clients and my own kids. It is rich with opportunities for language growth. Here are just a few ways you can use this game in your home to help your little one expand his semantic (vocabulary), syntactic (sentence) and pragmatic language.

    - taking turns ("my turn" "your turn" "mommy's turn" "(child's name) turn")

    - naming body parts (eyes, mouth, legs, foot, ears, antennae, head, body)

    - naming clothing parts (hat, bow, shoe, skate)

    - descriptive language (silly, crazy, pretty, big, little, colors)

    - counting (the numbers on the die, numbers of legs)

    - modeling language to label the pieces you have ("I have the eye" "I have 1 foot") and identifying the pieces you need ("I need the mouth" "I need the ears")

This game can also be used as a positive reinforcement if you are working on a set of flashcards or practicing articulation skills. If the child answers so many cards or practices so many sounds, he may take a turn to play the game. This would be true for any game, but can be very motivating!