"You're using the green play dough to make shapes!" The power of self and parallel talk with children

Young children have many huge achievements in their first few years of life, and one of the biggest is moving from only being able to express themselves through crying, to using words, and to eventually be able to use full sentences to ask questions and to talk about the things they see in the world, their experiences, their thoughts and their ideas. 

We marvel everyday at the ever expanding language that our toddlers use, and we intentionally engage in activities that support that expanding language.  One of the ways we do that is to engage in "self talk," and another related way is called, "parallel talk." 

Self talk is when we, as adults, describe what we're doing as we're doing it.  "I'm using the play dough to make a long snake!  My hand is flat as I roll, roll, roll the play dough."

Parallel talk is when an adult describes a child's actions.  "You are pounding on the play dough with the hammer. You're smooshing it flat!"

How do self and parallel talk help children learn language?  Some young toddlers have not yet made the connection between the words we say and the actions, thoughts and processes that they describe.  This kind of intentional talk helps young children make that connection.  Additionally, adults can add vocabulary words during self and parallel talk that children don't know yet.  If children are playing with the musical instruments and we describe their play for them ("You are shaking that maraca very hard! The sound is loud!") children learn new words (maraca) and new concepts (loud vs. quiet.) 

As children get older and start to use words on their own, we can also use parallel talk to repeat and extend their own talk. When a child says picks up a bucket in the sandbox and says, "bucket," we can say, "I see you have the green bucket."  This extension of the child's single word utterance gives them new information (the bucket is green), but it also models a full sentence for the child.  Repetition and extension can also be used to softly model proper grammar for the child.  When a two-year-old runs on the playground and loudly exclaims, "I winned," we don't need to correct them, but we can model proper usage by exclaiming, "You won!  I see that you won!"  Eventually, the child will learn the proper past tense of tricky words.

In preschool, children already have large vocabularies, and we can use these techniques to further expand them.  When a child builds a tall block tower and tells us about it-- "I built a tall tower!" we can expand on that by stating, "Your tower *is* tall!  It's gargantuan!"

The bigger a child's vocabulary is when they get to elementary school, the easier it will be for them to learn to read, so self and parallel talk, as well as repetition and expansion of their language, are vital.

You can give these techniques a try at home as well! Let us know how it goes!

Writing Children's Words

If you spend time in our preschool classrooms, you may notice teachers writing down children's words on their artwork, in the form of stories, or up on flip-charts.  This is an intentional activity that teachers engage in with their students, and in fact is required by Indiana's quality rating system, Paths to Quality.

But why do teachers do this with children who mostly can't read the words the teachers are writing?  What do children get out of it?

Children aren't born with any understanding of written language.  Children's brains are hard-wired to learn oral language and they can do so simply by being talked to and being surrounded by and included in back-and-forth conversations with parents, caregivers and teachers. The written word is a different story, however.  Unless we have specific and effective interactions with children about written letters and words, those mysterious squiggles and their meanings may remain mysterious to children. 

Very often, when we think of teaching children about written language, we first think of teaching them letters, letter names and their associated sounds.  Before we do, though, there are a number of other foundational concepts children have to understand.  First, children need to learn that written language is simply a coding of oral language.  One of the easiest ways for children to gain this knowledge is for adults to "code" children's oral language by writing it down for them to see.  In this way they understand that when they say, "I'm a rhinoceros balancing 4 balls on my head," it can be written down as a sentence, which is made of up words, which are made up of letters, which have a variety of sounds.  They might also notice that those sentences have funny marks we call punctuation. 

Eventually, through repetition, children come to understand that words and sentences are written from left to right, include a combination of specific shapes we call letters (which they begin to recognize) and depending on how we interact with them during the experience of writing, they begin to recognize that certain letters are used for certain words they know ("Hey! That letter starts my name!"), connect the letters sounds with the letters, and learn all of it in a way that is meaningful and interesting to them.

But most importantly, they learn that writing is another way that they can meaningfully communicate their ideas!

How can you help at home?  When your child is drawing or telling you a story you can simply ask them, "Would you like me to write down your ideas?" If your child is talking about things she'd like to get at the grocery store you can suggest that you make a list together.  It's ok to make a big deal of sounding out the words as you write them down or ask your older preschooler for some help figuring out what letter starts the word "Muh, muh, milk" for your list.  Above all, keep it light and fun and enjoyable for you both. 

Pretty soon, you'll be writing books together!

Dress for mess! Sensory play at school

Babies exploring non-toxic paint, together.

I always tell our new families to be sure that their children come to school dressed for mess! Children have the opportunity to use all of their senses to explore a variety of materials, many of them messy, every day at our school.  Some parents embrace the idea, and for others, it can take a little bit of persuasion.

The idea of messy play is so important to us at the YCCF that we put it into our policy manual, so families understand that their children are likely to get paint, water, mud, soap, play dough or glue on their clothing during the day. 

Why do we think it's so important? We know that children learn best when they can engage all of their senses in their exploration of the world.  And materials with interesting textures are the most engaging of all. Materials that children love include paint (especially finger paint), shaving cream, mud, water, uncooked rice, dried beans, and various recipes for play dough, "goop" and "gak."  There's even one we call "ooblek!"

Sensory play uses big and small muscles. When children explore with these materials, they use not only the small muscles of their fingers and hands, but also the larger muscles of their arms as they move, squish, dump and pile the materials. And when the sensory experience involves a rain puddle, mud puddle, or sandbox, their whole body gets involved! There's also something extremely soothing about sensory experiences-- both for adults and young children.  Letting a big handful of dry rice fall through your fingers is inherently attractive to us. It just feels good. Petting a soft, silky cat calms us.  When teachers come to me because a child has a challenging behavior, I very often ask, "What sensory materials do you have out?"

Toddlers explore soapy water.

Sensory play is a social activity.  Most of the time, when children explore these materials, they do it together.  Whether it's toddlers around the water table or babies painting together on a giant piece of paper, this social activity gives children the opportunity to share an experience together.  They have opportunities to ask for what they need and to help out a friend.  When one asks, "Can I have the star cookie cutter?" at the play dough table, and another child helps out by handing it over, children learn the social-emotional skills they need to get along with others.

Sensory play teaches language. It would be  impossible to understand words like "squishy," "soft," "slippery," or "silky" without having repeated sensory experiences with materials that match those descriptions.  The same goes for "prickly," "rough" and so many more.

Sensory play teaches foundational science.  While you might not think physics or chemistry has a place in a preschool or toddler room, actually,  foundational science is a big part of sensory play! Pouring water from a short, fat cup into a tall, thin cylinder helps children understand the concept of conservation of liquids. Adding rocks to a full pitcher of water makes the water inside overflow, helping children understand displacement.  And that's only the beginning.

How can you help at home? Give your children opportunities with safe sensory materials to play with.  Fill a plastic tub with water and give them cups and spoons from your baking drawer.  Recipes for play dough can be made at home, inexpensively.  Add some cookie-cutters and a rolling pin. Talk with your children about their experience with the sensory material.  How does it feel?  What can you do with it?  What properties does it have? Need some specific ideas?  Visit Learning4Kids for recipes!

There is so much in a young child's world that is a "no-no!" or a "don't touch!" Let's tell them YES to sensory play!