SPEECH & LANGUAGE BLOG - THE POWER OF NATURE

Tuesday 28 June 2022

A running commentary is something that Educators do naturally whilst spending time with children, I have a wonderfully inspiring story to tell you. 

Kamelia Kids has just started going on outings and children and staff have felt excited to be finally visiting places in our community. Last week the Preschool children made the 25 minute walk to the beach. They walked holding hands with an adult and we did a little bit of garden gazing by talking about what we could see in front gardens.  As we walked, I started to tell the children the names of the flowers and plants and I commented that many of the flowers names matched girls names at Nursery. I probably named 15 different plants. 

Very quickly we arrived at the beach. We sat on the sand and chose a shell to bring back, also finding a mermaid’s purse and some common whelk egg cases. We brought them back to nursery for show and tell, a lovely way to celebrate a walk, we reflect and remember what we experienced. New objects, describing words and texture and smells to wonder about. 

On our return to nursery a young man, age 4, named a flower correctly that I had pointed out earlier, specifically naming one of the flowers that matched a girls name in our setting. He was so excited to say “look, there is …”. This was phenomenal recall on his behalf. How do we quantify the importance of outings … boom! This is how 😊 A discussion from simply walking along the road has such a huge learning impact. 

I tell this story because speech and language is such a massive part of a child’s development in the early years. There is so much learning that happens from the minute children arrive to the minute they leave. Here is just a few examples of what can be learnt on an outing:-

7 – 12 months

• Waves bye bye when leaving nursery
• Gestures by reaching and pointing with vocalisation
• Imitates sounds such as a car (beep)

12 – 24 months

• Understand at least 300 words
• Speak between 50 – 100 words by age 2

2 – 3 years

• Follow a 2 part instruction
• Answer what and where questions
• Combine words
• Expand vocabulary to 1000 words

3 – 5 years

• Understand quantity, quality and spacial terms
• Ask and answer questions (what, where, who and why)
• Use 4 – 7 word sentences

• Recognise sounds and letters in names.

We have a wealth of experienced Educators that every day improve the outcomes for children. We thought you would like some real life tips that our Educators use.  This is just a little snapshot of every day learning that happens in our world. Enjoy!

Poppy Room

• Kirsty says …. I would support our Poppy children by getting down to their level during play and talking about what objects they are playing with by using simple language words. For example, when playing with a blue car, I would say “car”, then “blue car” and then I would let them think about those words and the connection to the object before saying “blue car, brum brum”. This allows the children to listen to what I am saying whilst giving them the opportunity to repeat the words and sounds and make a connection between them and the objects.
• Leanne says …. If I’ve been reading the same book over and over again I sometimes ask the children to “read” it to me. Where they’ve heard it so many times they use their speech and language to explain the story without properly reading it, they look at pictures and remember what was said before… usually the older ones are pretty good at it and sometimes add bits of the story in or change parts, its quite entertaining!

Preschool Rooms

• Leoni says … in Bluebell we use visual cards, objects of reference (showing a child a nappy before changing them), Now and Next boards, sand timers and Makaton. These things really help ALL children make sense of what’s happening.
• Alicia says… During circle time the children have been enjoying singing nursery rhymes and clapping along to the syllables. We also don’t sing too fast as it makes it difficult for children to learn the words.
• Zoe says … When children eat breakfast, lunch and tea staff sit with the children. It is a great time to gain social skills, learn lots of lovely new vocabulary as well as learning new maths words.

Special Educational Needs and Disability Co-ordinator’s

• Sarah says … Reduce distractions by turning tv, mobile phones or music off (we only have music on for specific times, not as background noise)
• Follow what your child wants to do with the toys. Try copying or extending what they do.  If your child is unsure what to do show them without using too much complex language.
• Penny says …. Try not to ask questions when you already know the answer, turn your questions into comments eg “you’re cooking dinner”.
• Give choices “milk or water?”, involve a favourite toy in routines of your day: pretend to feed Teddy, this helps develop pretend play.

Most important have fun and involve your child. Every child is unique and has their own interests, likes and dislikes, so just play!

Sarah Camp

Deputy Nursery Manager/Pedagogical Lead