We are welcoming the season of holidays, vacations, and chilly weather (anything below 70 degrees is chilly for an Arizonan!). Whether you’re building gingerbread houses, staying warm indoors, or traveling to be close to family and friends, there are opportunities for language everywhere! Let’s talk about some ways we can effortlessly incorporate language strategies into the plans we already have!

We know you are already doing a lot! If you are a parent, here is a list of words you might not associate with the holidays: easy, simple, relaxing, stress-free, no sweat, no trouble, piece of cake. Agree? It’s common for parents to feel like they’re never doing enough. And, on the same note, it’s common for parents to feel like they don’t have the energy to do more! But no worries. We get it! Below are some strategies you can naturally integrate into your holiday schedule!

Language in the Kitchen:

When building gingerbread houses or baking, you can work on following directions (1. Frosting on, 2. Push together, 3. Wait to dry), comparisons and adjectives (big vs little, hard vs soft, sweet vs salty), vocabulary (walls, doors, roof, candy, etc.), verbs (put on, push together, help me, squeeze frosting). Our favorite strategy to use for this is modeling. Gingerbread house building is a seasonal activity and your child might not have the vocabulary for this specific activity yet. Modeling the language for them will give them the opportunity to hear it and potentially use it on their own. 

Staying indoors? Here are our favorite games and activities for the home: 

Find the snowflake. Cut out paper snowflakes and hide them around the house. This works for children of all ages as you can vary the difficulty level. Some children also like turning off the lights and using a flashlight to find the items. 

Go “sledding”. Pull your child around on a blanket and pretend they are sledding in the snow. This works best on tile. Add hats and mittens to really sell it. (Expert level: If you’re brave, they sell slides that you can attach to your stairs now.)

Make “snow” at home! Mix together baking soda and conditioner in order to create a snow-like experience for your child. We recommend doing this on the tile or somewhere easy to clean up!

Tips for traveling: 

Check out our past blog post here: https://www.growwithwords.com/bloggrowwithwords/summer-fun-and-learning-too-tips-for-a-tech-free-road-trip

Other strategies we love:

Self talk: Parents can narrate their day using self talk. Continue doing what you are already doing, just add language! You might be shopping for holiday food. You can say, “Hmm…we need bread. Let’s find the bread aisle. So many options for bread. Our family usually likes wheat. This one feels soft and the date is good. This looks like a good bread choice.” This allows your child to hear how you make decisions. 

Recasting: If your child says something that isn't quite grammatically or syntactically correct i.e. “That car goed fast”, you could recast it by saying, “Yes. That car went fast.” This lets them know that you understood their message while modeling the correct verb form in a non-judgemental way! 

Joint attention: Some of us are more busy during the holiday season and some of us, less. Either way, our children can sense a bit of a difference during this season and they always could benefit from our attention. Whether it’s giving them some extra undivided attention before bedtime for a story, or telling them how special they are when they wake up in the morning, a little bit goes a long way! 

Try these strategies out and let us know how they work for you! And, as always, if you feel your child could benefit from some extra support in terms of their speech and communication, please give us a call and we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.