Let's Talk!

So I was sitting at home with my 3 year-old. I was watching him interact with his Thomas Train sticker book (He LOVES Thomas, by the way), and I noticed what he was doing with these stickers. He was on a page that had mountains and train tracks that went across the pages of the book and in the background was a castle. He would take the trains and arrange them on the track and would say "Choo, choo!". I started to ask him what the trains were doing..."they're going to a party in the castle." "This one is leaving because he is mad." "He don't want to go to the party." He went on and on as I would ask more probing questions about what the trains were doing. Like most 3 year-olds, he has an amazing imagination, but what mattered most to me was all the speaking he was doing. I was listening to the quality of words he was using and how he was putting these words together to make phrases and sentences. Why would this matter to me? Well....before children even begin to read words on a page, they need to be able to hear it first. What does that mean? It means having good oral language (speaking) skills is an important trait for pre-readers. Oral language is developed first before any other skills, and if their oral language is developed well through active conversations with friends and adults, the quicker they are ready to match their oral language to what they see on paper. So by speaking to my son frequently about things he is interested in, proper language structures begin to become more natural to him which will be necessary when he begins reading. Sticker books, picture books and photos in magazines are great conversation starters...or even take those plastic dinosaurs (or dolls, if you have girls) and role play with them.