What is it?
Expressive language means your child’s use of language, e.g. learning to say new words and putting them together. This can also include non-verbal communication, such as use of gestures. As children develop, they grow their vocabulary and use longer, more complex sentences.
What to expect?
By 4 years old, children will usually:
- Ask lots of questions!
- Use longer sentences, e.g. 5+ words
- Describe events that have happened
- Use colour, number and time words, e.g. ‘blue car’
Information & advice
You can help your child by:
- Talking with them and commenting on what is happening – this teaches them new words
- Sharing books and nursery rhymes with them
- Talk about what you are going to be doing today. It helps children to learn to sequence and to start to use words such as first, last, now and next.
- Listen to your child carefully and give them time to talk.
- Repeating back and adding one word to what they say, e.g. if they say ‘big dog’, repeat back, ‘big dog running’.
Watch our video on using words, sentences and beyond.
Activities
- Special Time – spend 10 minutes with your child with no distractions, do an activity together, e.g. play a game or talk about their day with them. Turn off the TV/radio and play together instead.
- Play with words and sounds, e.g. think of things that rhyme, think of things that start with the same sound
- Tap box- put some objects in a box and explore them together. Your child has to tap the box for it to open and take 1 toy out at a time. Talk about it and then tap on the box to find the next item.
- Feely bag- a bag of objects to explore …. Without looking! Put your hand inside and describe what you feel, is it soft, spiky or squashy? Can you guess what it is?
- Action game- can you make different actions together? Who can jump the highest or turn around the fastest? Encourage your child to have a turn and choose the action.