4 Activities That Foster Communication In Children

“Communication works for those who work at it.” — John Powell

We all agree that communication is an important life skill. Communication skills allow children to express themselves and convey their needs. Like many other skills, children learn to communicate by watching their parents. A research paper suggests that responsive families and teachers are critical for stimulating the child’s communication skills. 

Here are a few guidelines that every parent should follow while communicating with their children:

• Pay full attention to your child when they are talking. Switch off the television or phone. Do not finish their sentences. 
• Do not embarrass the child by pointing out grammatical or vocabulary errors while they are talking. 
• Communicate at your child’s level. Use vocabulary that the child can understand. 

In this article, we will cover four interesting activities that foster communication in children. 

(Click to read the section.)

• Show and Tell
• Guessing Game
• Emotional Charades
• Stretch Sentences 

Show and Tell

It is a famous activity used by teachers across the world to foster communication in young children. It consists of picking an object such as a toy and describing it to the audience. It allows children to communicate their thoughts and feelings about an object. It can be played when it is just you and your child. 

Requirements: A basket of different age-appropriate things such as a pen, pencil box, eraser, etc. 

Parental Involvement: Moderate

Instructions: 

• Let your child pick a toy that interests them from the basket.
• Ask the child to talk about the toy for a minute.
• Set the timer for a minute.
• Ask probing questions if needed.  

Pro Tip: Make a list of probing questions that will make it easy for the child to describe the toy. 

Guessing Game

It is an interesting game that can be played at a birthday party or even at a sleepover. It improves the child’s skill of factually describing the object. 

Requirements: A big cardboard box with a hole large enough to fit their hands, a basket of objects preferably ones with a texture such as an orange or wood. 

Parental Involvement: Moderate

Instructions: 

• Do not allow the child to see the object. 
• Place an object in the middle of the box. 
• Ask the child to describe the object for a minute.
• Set the timer for one minute. 
• Allow the child to guess the object. 

Pro Tip: Reward the child when they guess the object correctly, just to keep things interesting. 

Emotional Charades

It is a spin on the legendary Dumb Charades. In this activity, children pick up chits with emotional everyday scenarios written on them such as losing a pencil or waiting in a line. The child then enacts or draws the scenario and emotions associated with the scene. 

Requirements: List of different age-appropriate scenarios, whiteboard, and markers

Parental Involvement: High

Instructions: 

• Ask the child to pick up a scenario and decide whether to act or draw
• Give them five minutes for each scenario
• Ask the other children to guess the scenario and emotions associated with it. 

Pro Tip: Team up and make it a competition! 

Stretch Sentences

It is a simple activity that can help children build longer sentences with little effort. In this activity, a child can start the sentence with ‘who’ and end the sentence with ‘why.’ It can be played alone or in a group. 

Requirements: A chart stating — Who, What, When, Where, How, Why

Parental Involvement — High

Instructions: 

• The first child starts the sentence with ‘Who’ — The dog
• The second child can add the ‘What’ — The dog is sleeping
• The third child can add ‘When’ — The dog is sleeping in the afternoon
• The fourth child can add ‘Where’ — The dog is sleeping in the afternoon at home
• The fifth child can add ‘How’ — The dog is peacefully sleeping in the afternoon at home 
• The sixth child can finish the sentence by adding the ‘why’ — The dog is peacefully sleeping in the afternoon at home because it is tired. 

Pro Tip: Make it interesting by putting in rules such as the answer to ‘when’ must be ‘at night.’ It will encourage children to stretch their imagination as well. 

These are simple activities that require little to no preparation and can be carried out anywhere. They will surely improve your child’s communication skills. Have you tried any of these before? 

What are some go-to activities you rely on to improve your child’s communication skills? Let us know in the comments below.