Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Using Sensory Play as a Tool for Language Acquisition
What Does Sensory Play Have to Do With Language Acquisition?
Consider that you can use descriptive words and questions related to the experience to help expand a child’s vocabulary. You can use verbs -- pour, sift, scoop, squish, poke and rub -- and adjectives -- hot, cold, silky, bumpy, wet, goopy, scratchy and soft -- to describe the actions your child performs with certain objects like sand, water, cloth, play dough, sandpaper and fur. This helps solidify the meanings of these words in your child’s young mind.
Use the following sensory play ideas to encourage language acquisition in your toddler:
- Music toys: A colorful xylophone, tambourine and shaker stimulate your child’s sight and sense of touch. The sounds they make give your child a chance to create and hear music, which you can sing along with or describe with words such as high pitched, low pitched and catchy.
- Bin of textured toys: The chance to feel and describe items with different textures is a great opportunity to link the words with their meanings.
- Sound boxes: The idea with this activity is to shake the contents of each box and find its match. Part of the game is to guess what objects are inside the box and to describe the type of sound each object makes.
- Shapes in a bag: This matching game encourages language acquisition because each shape matches a card with the shape written on it. You can take it one step further by asking language questions about each individual shape, such as "What sound does a truck make in real life? Honk, honk!"
- Strangely textured creations: Not all sensory play is achieved with a toy you can buy. Some of the best sensory experiences come from recipes you make at home, such as cloud dough, slime, goop and homemade play dough. Check out PBS.org for easy-to-make recipes.
Image via Shutterstock.com
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