Promote your child’s language development by talking with her face-to-face.
Development
2-6 months
- Smiles responsively
- Squeaks/squeals/yells/laughs/makes raspberries
- Looks in the direction of your voice
- Enjoys turn-taking games with sounds
- Locates sounds in the room
- Plays games like “Peek-a-boo”
6-9 months
- Uses longer, repeated babbling (dadadada)
- Imitates sounds made by others
- Responds with gesture to “want up?”
- Waves in response to “bye bye”
9-15 months
- Babbles in short phrases that sound like sentences
- May begin saying “mama” and “dada”
- Understands “no,” but may not always obey
15-18 months
- Follows familiar directions
- Points to pictures you name
- Uses words and gestures
- Says approximately 15 words
2-3 years
- Putting 2-3 words together and longer utterances as they become older
- Can answer simple questions
- Uses names of objects, actions, persons
- Understands simple directions
- Asks simple questions
- Understands simple prepositions (on, in)
4-5 years
- Uses more adult-like grammar
- Uses pronouns correctly
- Uses different tenses (past, present, future)
- Defines objects by uses
Activities
Infants
- Imitate the sounds your baby makes
- Make different faces with baby
- Sing to baby
- Play social games (pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo)
Toddlers
- Do fingerplays/simple songs/nursery rhymes
- Look at books with simple pictures: point to and name pictures
- Encourage your child’s attempts at talking with praise
- Offer choices and encourage your child to use words to choose
- Name what child sees and describe their actions
- Add one more word to what your child says
- Talk about what you are doing and what your child is doing
2-3 years
- Read books with simple stories
- Sing familiar songs
- Use a variety of words: nouns (tree, Mommy), verbs (jump, sit), adjectives (big, wet), prepositions (in, under)
- Make puppets and create a short story
- Have your child follow more specific directions (Bring me the RED sock)
- Talk about how objects are used and ask your child to tell you how they are used
4-5 years
- Re-tell your favorite story or create your own
- Play Simon-Says adding increasingly complex directions for your child to follow
- Have your child describe objects telling you at least two things about an object
- Play reverse hide-and-seek – your child hides objects and gives YOU clues as to where to find them
- Rhyming: help your child learn simple words that rhyme (make-take or sock-lock)
Sources
Denver Developmental Activities, Communications Works Developmental Milestones