Language is powerful. One of the foundational skills our little ones learn in life is how to communicate and the different methods available to them to do this. When babies are born, they naturally cry to communicate their needs. As time goes on, they are introduced to different ways of communicating – intentionally or not.

As we speak to our babies, toddlers, and young children we are role modelling oral language skills and are adding to their vocab dictionary. We can also communicate non-verbally through our body language in interactions. For example, when a baby leans forward toward an adult whose arms are held out, they are communicating that they want to be picked up.

At Buckle My Shoe we believe that a child’s ability to communicate well will not only support their learning but will also support their social and emotional competence. Therefore, we have a multitude of opportunities throughout our daily routine for our little ones to develop and strengthened their communication and language skills in a variety of different ways.

Mat times are a great way for our tamariki to come together and enjoy interactive songs, rhymes and stories about different topics and scenarios. It is an opportunity for our little ones to feel confident to speak in front of a group and learn to share their ideas and opinions. Repetition is a great strategy to help children develop their language skills and repeatedly hearing phrases, songs and words will support their developing vocabulary. We ensure that all our little ones are encouraged to participate in mat times, so that they feel valued and are given ample opportunities to practice their oral language skills.

Group play also supports language skills as our little ones learn different ways to get their ideas across and solve problems. Being part of a group is an essential part of a child’s learning journey, so we want to ensure that they have opportunities to develop appropriate ways to engage with others. Being able to communicate well, supports social competence skills and makes it easier for our little ones to excel in their learning.

Throughout our daily routine, we provide ample opportunities for our little one to interact with others and solve problems – as well as role modelling phrases or words that can disarm conflict situations.

Music and engaging in art activities are other ways our little ones can communicate their ideas and feelings. Whether it is painting or drawing a picture, using manipulative materials such as playdough or exploring musical instruments such as a drum or shaker, our little ones are communicating with us.

As educators, we support these interactions by adding meaningful language alongside play, such as introducing words like rolling, pinching & squeezing as your little ones explore playdough. As they listen to this, they can add context to the words and store these to use later in future interactions.

Storytelling is also a great way to develop language skills and we provoke this by providing resources such as storytelling stones and making puppets. Our little ones are invited to use the pictures on the stones as reference points to create a story. Because they have interacted with books on a regular basis, they already know features of a story and can reflect on this as they create a story on the spot.

The pictures on the stones act as visual reminders (symbols) and support the developing story as it is told. Creating puppets for a puppet show is also another way to provoke storytelling and requires your little one to tell a story or share an experience from the puppet’s point of view. Puppets are helpful to explore emotions or to show different scenarios and are a great teaching resource.

Hearing different languages and seeing symbols also support our little ones’ communication skills as they can relate words and concepts to pictures. For example, playing a game of picture bingo helps our little ones to relate a word to a picture.

For Chinese New Year, our lovely student translated each of our little ones’ names into Chinese and they really enjoyed seeing their name in a different form – symbols. When children hear different languages or their home language being spoken or through cultural music, they are expanding their vocabulary and knowledge of the world around them, whilst also valuing their unique cultural identity. 😊