Communication is an important life skill, and a large part of communication revolves around the use of language. Language development begins from an early age with sounds and gestures, and then progresses on to words and fully-formed sentences. 

Here are some activities to encourage language development in kids:

Reading

Reading audibly to children is one of the most effective strategies to help them better their language abilities. It increases vocabulary and helps them get familiar with the sound of various words. Even looking through a picture book and discussing what you see with your child can also be beneficial.

Riddles

Riddles are an enjoyable method to utilize words to generate mental images of locations or actions. To help your child guess the riddle, repeat the riddle purposefully and clarify the definition in as many different ways as you can so as to increase your child’s vocabulary.

Storytelling

Telling stories to your kids without the use of a book can also be a highly-engaging activity. This enjoyable bonding experience also helps your kids develop their communication abilities. You can share fables, popular tales, or even real-life stories from your own past experiences. By engaging in storytelling, you help to develop your children’s power of imagination and also hone their language ability at the same time.

Using humour

Humour your kids with the use of funny actions, sounds, facial expressions and songs. Funny things help get their attention and increases the quality of engagement, while ultimately also aiding in language development.

Repeating words

Young children may require words to be repeated in order to fully grasp them, so it is a good strategy to state certain words multiple times so that it has a better chance of being absorbed and remembered by them.

Converse in various languages

For families who are multilingual, it is a good idea to constantly switch between the various languages so that your children can get used to both hearing and speaking the various languages. And after awhile, the multiple languages become second nature to the kids and they are equally comfortable with all of them.