Fun Learning for Kids
Isn’t it fascinating that young children are adept at picking up native accents. My beautiful three year old neighbour, with Italian and French parents speaks Italian with sing-song, high pitched production, French with a deep, serious tone and English, her third language with a Irish undertone. It is mesmerizing for me to watch her switch from language to language, accent to accent unconsciously.
This is evidence that challenges the idea that learning a second or third language at the same time causes cognitive confusion for young children. The cognitive development of a child from the ages of 4 to 10 years allows them to naturally navigate multilingual environments, opening a world of opportunities later on.
The key at an early age is to make the process fun and fresh with as much involvement from them as possible.
Fun activities to help children develop their language skills:
Word games for vocabulary, grammar and confidence building
I find this to be the most beneficial form of teaching to expand your children’s vocabulary. It can be as simple as leaving specific toys in a bathroom or various rooms at home and then sending children to find them or upgrade the game to a treasure hunt taking the activity out to the garden. Baking with them, all the time talking and repeating the actions of what you are doing. Games like Scrabble, Pictionary or a round of Charades also encourage vocabulary development and communication skills.
Tongue twisters for pronunciation
Children of all ages love Tongue twisters, they really are an excellent and fun way to teach children correct pronunciation and enunciation of words. It is a fun way to train their tongue to pronounce words. Start with simple ones and work your way up. There are many free tongue twister apps out there. Get started today! I find these great fun in the car!
Storytelling for creative learning
While storybooks provide great entertainment and interaction, take it to the next level. Create your own story. Have fun choosing the characters, broaden their imagination with fantastical stories and let their creativity grow as you make up stories about anything and everything around them. Create their own little books with their characters and stories, imagine how proud children would be to produce their own books to family and read their stories to them!
