Section 4

1. For this activity you and your child need to describe different items e.g. ‘dirty’ plate or ‘wet’ hands.
2. During the day while you are doing something like washing your hands, show your child your hands and say ‘Wet hands’, then dry them and ‘dry hands’. Get your child to copy and repeat.
3. At lunch time ask your child to collect a ‘clean plate’ from the cupboard and when you have finished eating, collect the ‘dirty plate’.
4. If you have a broken item like a toy or a pencil, place it with a toy/pencil that isn’t broken. Ask the child to pass you the ‘broken toy’. At this point you can talk about what you might do to fix it.

• Look through a story book, Goldilocks works very well for this. Ask the child to point to the ‘broken chair’ or ‘hot porridge’. Introduce the opposites, for example ‘not broken’ and ‘not hot’.
• Encourage the child to use adjectives to describe things throughout the day e.g. cold hands, warm coat, dirty shoes.

• Use signs and gestures.
• Focus on one adjective at a time e.g. find lots of things that are wet, clean or dirty.

1. Find two favourite toys (e.g. teddy and a doll) and items like a cup, sock or hat.
2. Put the sock on the doll and ask ‘Who has no sock?’
3. Encourage the child to point to the toy without the item. Repeat the activity with different toys and items.

• Give each toy two different items (e.g. cup and ball to the doll and gloves and hat to the teddy). Ask ‘Who has no hat?’
• Encourage your child to use the ‘no’ sentence e.g. ‘I’ve got no drink’, ‘I have no biscuit’.
• When you are reading books together ask ‘Who has no…?’ questions about the characters.

• If your child points to the toy with the sock, guide their hand towards the right toy and say ‘Teddy has no’ Repeat the activity with the same items.
• Throughout daily activities use the ‘no’ sentence e.g. ‘I’ve got no drink’, ‘You have no biscuit’.

1. Use a doll’s tea set like this:
2. Act out making the tea, describing everything that you are doing.
3. Collect a soft toy and offer the tea to the toy, talking to them all the time.
4. Encourage your child to join in with you and make the tea, talk together about what you are doing/will do.
5. Encourage your child to feed their own toy and talk to them while they do it.

• Use more complex sentences while you are acting it out e.g. The tea is very hot, so we need to be careful. Dolly, hold the cup with both hands.
• Ask questions like, I have poured out the tea, what do I do next? (add milk, sugar).
• Extend the play to different activities. For example, ‘Dolly is tired now, shall we put her to bed?’

• Keep your sentences short while you talk e.g. tea hot, dolly drink.
• Act out a short sequence and get your child to copy.
• Use the toys alongside real activities. For example, ‘feed’ dolly at tea time or wash them at bath time. Talk all the time to your child to give a commentary of what it happening. For example, ‘dolly hungry’, ‘feed dolly some peas’, ‘wash doll’ and ‘wash face’.

1. This activity can be linked to the easier activities in Section 4 Activity 4. You will need a teddy, doll, flannel and hair brush.
2. As with activity 4, act out with the child, talking and describing all your actions e.g. ‘Dolly’s hair is untidy, I need to brush it.’
3. Encourage your child to join in.
4. Give your child three part instructions e.g. ‘wash dolly’s face’, ‘brush teddy’s fur’. Repeat with a different toy and object.

• Reverse the roles and get your child to give you the instructions.
• As your child is role playing in other activities as them ‘What are you doing?’ You can then model the correct response and get your child to copy e.g. ‘cook cake in oven’

• If your child doesn’t get the action right, repeat the sentence and guide your child’s hand to make the correct action.
• Alternatively, make your sentences shorter e.g. ‘wash face’, ‘brush fur’. This can be built back to the three part instructions once the child is more confident.

1. This activity can be linked to the activities in Section 4 Activity 4 & 5. You will need a teddy, doll, flannel, hair brush, play food and cup.
2. As with activity 4, act out with the child, talking and describing all your actions e.g. ‘Teddy is hungry, I will feed him’
3. Encourage your child to join in.
4. Give your child any three part instructions with an action verb in it e.g. ‘make dolly drink’, ‘make teddy jump’, ‘help dolly wash’.
5. While the child is completing the activity, ask ‘What is happening?’ Encourage your child to respond with a two-part answer e.g. ‘teddy jumping’ or ‘dolly sleeping’

• Reverse the roles and get your child to give you the instructions.
• Introduce more toys, items and vary the instructions.
• Once the child has mastered two word sentences, encourage them to extend them e.g. ‘teddy jump high’, ‘shhh dolly sleeping’.
• Use picture books and describe what is happening. Encourage your child to finish your sentences – pause for time to give them a chance to think. For example, ‘Jack is jumping, Kate is…’
• Use a greater variety of action words e.g. skipping, bouncing, crawling.

• If your child doesn’t reply correctly when asked ‘What’s happening?’ offer a choice. For example, ‘Is Teddy sleeping or is Teddy jumping?’. Encourage the two-word answer ‘Teddy jump’ not just the word ‘jump’.
• Concentrate on one action at a time e.g. ‘Make Teddy/Dolly/Zebra jump’.
• Model the action to the child and get your child to copy. Repeat this action a number of times until the child is confident.
• Get the child to act out the actions themselves first e.g. jumping/sleeping.

• Read different picture books with your child. First describe what is happening using two-word sentences e.g. ‘Goldilocks eating’ and ‘Goldilocks sleeping’. Next ask questions about the characters e.g. ‘What is Goldilocks doing?’ Encourage your child to answer in two-word sentences e.g. ‘Goldilocks eating’ and ‘Goldilocks sleeping’.
• Use a small world farm set and play side by side with your child. Describe what the animals are doing using two-word sentences containing a verb e.g. cows eating, sheep jumping. Encourage your child to do the same.

1. Play a ‘Treasure Hunt’ game. Place lots of toys around the room – place them ‘in’ or ‘on’ things.
2. When your child has found a toy ask them where it is. Encourage them to use the correct preposition to describe where the toy is e.g. ’on’ book or ‘in’ bed.

• Reverse the roles and get your child to hide the toys. They need to use the correct preposition to get you to look in the right place.
• Once ‘in’ and ‘on’ are understood, introduce ‘under’.
• When you look at a picture book together use prepositions to describe where the characters are e.g. ‘she is sitting on a chair’. Ask your child questions that need a preposition in the answer, e.g. ‘Where is Goldilocks?’

• At first, tell your child where to look e.g. ‘on chair’, encourage your child to copy. Then take it in turns to describe where the toy is.
• When you ask where the toy is, offer your child a choice. For example, ‘Is Teddy on the book or in the book?
• Use signs and gestures to support the words ‘in’ and ‘on’.
• Just focus on ‘on’ to start with.

– Use small world toys like a farm set. Describe where different animals/people are e.g. ‘The hen is in the coop’ or ‘The farmer is on the tractor’. Next ask questions like ‘Where is the cow?’ [in the field] etc.

1. Collect some picture books and look through them together. Talk about what the characters are doing. For example, that girl is walking. Look at the boy, he’s… Encourage your child to finish the sentence.
2. If your child is correct, repeat the sentence back e.g. ‘That’s right, the boy is running’.
3. Link this in to everyday activities e.g. ‘What is daddy doing? [He’s sleeping].

• Don’t offer choices. If a child gives the incorrect response, pause to allow time to self-correct.
• Model longer sentences with ‘is’ e.g. ‘girl is running’. Encourage your child to repeat the sentence.

• Offer your child a choice. For example, ‘Is the girl running or walking?’
• If your child gives an incorrect response, model the correct answer and ask the question again. For example, ‘The boy is running. What is the boy doing?’
• You may need to just focus on the verb at first e.g. drink, jump, sleep before adding the ‘ing’.
• Model different actions with puppets or toys e.g. waving, jumping, sleeping. Ask what the toy is doing.

• ‘ing’ words word search – https://www.kidslearningville.com/action-verbs-interactive-word-find-ending-with-ing/
• A simple video where your child can shout out the ‘ing’ actions – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruVVuQTDJDg
• Act out different practical activities e.g. jumping, skipping, clapping, waving. Ask ‘What am I doing?’
  Get your child to copy you say, ‘We’re….’ together. Encourage your child to say ‘I’m…’

1. Use a doll’s tea set like this:
2. Act out making the tea, describing everything that you are doing.
3. Include pronouns in your play, ‘I want some tea, do you want some tea Hassan?’, ‘Shall we have some tea, Alice?’
4. Ask questions throughout the day to encourage use of pronouns e.g. ‘What are you doing?…I put coat on’ and ‘What am I doing?…you put shoes on’.

• Look through some family photos. Discuss them with your child using pronouns e.g. ‘We are swimming; you are on your bike’ etc. Encourage your child to make up their own sentences.

• Focus on one pronoun at a time e.g. I.
• Use gestures such as pointing to yourself when you say ‘I’, pointing to both of you when you say ‘we’.

• The following provides a great non-verbal cue for the child to understand who you are referring to and what each pronoun represents. Point to yourself for “I” and tap your child’s chest for “you.”When you are modelling what, you want your child to say, take his/her hand and use it to pat their own chest for “I” or “my.”
• Play any turn taking game e.g. snakes and ladders and emphasise (using the above gestures) ‘I go’ & ‘You go’.
• If you have a treat like sweets, ask your child, ‘Who wants…?’ Encourage them to say ‘I do! I do!”.

Books:

• ‘You & me’ by Michael Dahl
• ‘I and You and Don’t Forget Who’ by Brian P. Cleary
• ‘They, He, She’ by Andy Passchier (board book)
• ‘If You Were a Pronoun’ by Nancy Loewen

Flash cards/games:

• https://www.twinkl.ie/resource/t-s-754-personal-pronoun-picture-support-cards
• https://www.twinkl.ie/resource/t2-e-41734-personal-pronouns-peg-matching-cards
• Orchard Games ‘Can You Guess’ – emphasise pronouns you & I while playing

There are lots of opportunities throughout the day to practise using the vocabulary ‘big’ and ‘little’:

1. While you are tidying up the toys, ask the child to put the ‘big’ cup away or the ‘small’ teddy.
2. While laying the table for dinner, ask the child to put out the ‘big’ fork or the ‘small’ spoon.
3. Getting ready to go out, find the ‘big’ and ‘little’ shoes.
4. Have a tea party with a ‘big’ and ‘little’ teddy – link to activity 4 and 9.

• Increase the number of objects e.g. ‘Can you pick up the ‘big’ cup and the ‘small’ car?’
• Identify the ‘big’ and ‘little’ items in a book or a magazine.
• Link to Section 4 Activity 7 and describe where the item is going e.g. ‘Put the ‘big’ cup ‘in’ the box. Ask ‘Where is the cup?’
• Compare different sized toys e.g. put bears in size order. Ask ‘Which is the little bear? Which is the big bear?’

• Use signs and gestures.
• Offer choices e.g. ‘Is it a ‘big’ or a ‘little’ cup?
• Just focus on the ‘big’ items to start with.
• Model the description and then ask your child to copy e.g. ‘Big cup’.

• Draw and colour ‘big’ and ‘little’ things. Make it a bit more creative by drawing an outline of different animals (e.g. big/little cats or big/little fish) and then roll up bits of tissue paper to create patterns in your outline. Check out this website for more information:

https://childmindingbestpractice.com/big-fish-little-fish-with-eyfs-observations/

• While out walking talk about different objects e.g ‘big trees’ & ‘little flowers’/’big cars’ & ‘little bikes’.

Films:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qbRP29MXRw
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JZi2oDvPs4
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyY_a0p1JTs
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bfxvww/kit-pup-series-1-26-big-and-small

(This film uses small instead of little but it is a good opportunity to develop vocabulary and explain that they mean the same thing).

Songs:

• I’m a Little Tea Pot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxOaZzoPIJ4
• Hop a Little, jump a Little https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgSX34MrcVg
• The Elephant Goes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wQie3dmnZU
• The Big Ship Sails https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-the-big-ship-sails-on-the-ally-ally-oh/zkpp7nb
• Little Miss Muffet https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/eyfs-nursery-rhymes-songs-little-miss-muffet/z6sc3j6
• Little Boy Blue https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/eyfs-nursery-rhymes-songs-little-boy-blue/zxrjkt
• Little Bo Peep https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-little-bo-peep/zf3h7nb
• One Big Hippo https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-one-big-hippo-balancing/zkfxwty