Section 8

1. With the child, collect a range of fruits and vegetables that are in your house.
2. Tell the child that even though this is food, they are not the same.
3. Explain the difference of fruit and vegetables to the child. Fruits contain seeds and vegetables consist of roots, stems and leaves.
4. The child to then sort the food into fruits and vegetables.

• Ask the child to try a range of different food and get them to talk about how it tastes. Does all food taste the same?

1. Take photos of your child carrying out different activities throughout the day on your mobile phone/tablet.
2. These activities could be anything, for example: eating breakfast, playing in the garden, reading a book etc.
3. Once you have taken the photos, show the child and link the two photos together i.e. if one photo was of the child eating breakfast and the other photo was of the child playing in the garden, the sentence to link them together would be: ‘You can play in the garden after you have eaten breakfast.’
4. Ensure that the time connective ‘after’ is mentioned in each sentence.
5. Allow the child to then repeat the same process but with different photos.

• Introduce the term ‘first’ to join the two sentences together. For example, ‘First you will eat breakfast and then after that you can play in the garden.’

• Use a picture or sign gesture for ‘after.’
• Use role play to support the child in their understanding.

• Give your child instructions to follow using the word ‘after’ e.g. ‘Jog on the spot after you clap your hands’ or ‘Sit on the floor after you pat your head’. The instruction can be made more complicated e.g. ‘Jog on the spot for the count of 10 after you clap your hands five time’ or simpler e.g. ‘Jog after you clap’.
• Try this activity with your child, you could use days of the week, as well as numbers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBKw-LyL7m0

Youtube videos:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmTNq4p_Mss
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7TCQm4lEZ0

1. Collect some toys with your child i.e. big and little cars and some big and little objects e.g. cup/chair/bed.
2. After this, give the child an instruction i.e. ‘Show me: the car on the bed is big’/’Show me: the car on the chair is small.’
3. It is important that the adjective (describing word) is at the end of the sentence. Remind your child to listen to the whole sentence first before answering the question.

• Ask your child to reverse the roles so that they give you the order.
• Read through books that you have at home and use complex sentences to assess the learning e.g. ‘The man winning the race is wearing a blue vest. What can you say about the man that is losing?’

• Give the child both objects (a car and a chair). Give the instruction ‘The car on the chair is little’ and give the child the ‘little’ car to put on the chair.
• Reduce the number of choices that the child has to make i.e. the same size chair but a big/little car.

• Choose a blank colouring sheet e.g. of a seaside scene. Give your child complex instructions. For example ‘Draw a crab next to the bucket that is red’, ‘Colour the spade orange and the big bucket yellow’ & ‘Draw a ball that is big under the bucket that is small.’
• Play ‘Simon Says’ with more complex instructions e.g. ‘Spin round twice and then sit down slowly’ and ‘Clap four times and then point to the car that is blue’.
• Cook together and reading the instructions out for your child to follow.

1. Collect together a selection of toys from around the house. For example: a car, a teddy, a doll and a ball.
2. Put these toys out in front of the child.
3. Ask the child to point to something: ‘Point to either the car or the teddy.’
4. Repeat with different examples.

• Take turns to show a choice of two items.
• Create a role play environment with the child: ‘The man is shopping.  What do you think he could buy?  He could buy either the teddy or the doll.’

• Use the instructions during everyday procedures as you offer choices to the child: ‘Do you want either the burger or the fries?’

1. Collect together a selection of toys/items from around the house.
2. Hide these toys/items ‘behind,’ ‘in front,’ ‘next to,’ and ‘between’ other things.
3. Tell the child that you will be going on a hunt for lost toys/items.
4. As the child finds the toys/items, ask the child, for example: ‘Where is the car?’
5. The child should use the following terms, depending on where the toy/item is: ‘behind,’ ‘in front,’ ‘next to,’ and ‘between.’ For example, the child should say: ‘The toy is behind the chair.’

• Play ‘Simon Says’ with your child and ask your child to direct you around the house. For example, ‘Simon says stand in front of the sofa.’
• Show the child a range of pictures, either from the internet or a book, where the following terms can be seen: ‘behind,’ ‘in front,’ ‘next to,’ and ‘between.’

• Start with one of the terms only.
• Use signs or gestures to make it easier.

• Look at the following pictures:

• Ask the child: ‘Look at the picture of the baby. Why do you think he is crying?’
• Talk about the possible reasons for the baby to be crying.
• Ask children the same question for the other pictures: the scared girl, the happy girl and the angry man.
• Talk about the feelings of the people in the pictures and why they feel like this.

• Introduce different emotions.
• Use a guided reading book to discuss the feelings of the characters in the story.

• Start with only one emotion from the photos above.
• Model the emotion with the child through facial gestures.

• Look at the following picture:

• Ask the child questions about the picture, for example: Why is Superman saying ‘Where do I start?’ How do you think Superman is feeling in the picture? What type of weather can you see in the picture?

• Use a longer story book and ask questions regarding the story.
• Ask questions from a text where the answer is not immediately obvious.

• Use picture books where the answer to the question is obvious.
• Use only one picture.

Read a favourite story together e.g. The Gruffalo. Use different question words to ask questions – where/what/why/who/when/how:

· Where was the mouse?

· Who did the mouse meet first/next?

· What colour are the Gruffalo’s eyes?

· Why does the snake slide into his log pile house?

· How does mouse know they will meet owl next?

· When does the mouse find the nut?

• Write down the names of different things on pieces of paper. For example, the word ‘dogs’ on a piece of paper, the word ‘tigers’ on another etc.
• Place these face down in front of the child. Do not let the child look at the pieces of paper.
• Pick up a piece of paper.
• Read the word on the paper and put this word into a longer sentence. For example, if you pick up the word ‘dogs,’ you could say ‘Dogs like to run in the park.’
• Ask the child to repeat the sentence back to you.
• Repeat this activity with the rest of the pieces of paper.

• Use adjectives and adverbs in the sentence. For example, ‘The scary dogs ran quickly in the park.’
• Practise the sentences with your child.

• Use pictures of the word cards.
• Begin to use shorter sentences. For example, ‘Dogs like running.’
• Write the sentence that you are going to say on a piece of paper and then read the sentence with your child. Once they have read the sentence, get them to repeat it back to you.

Practise and learn new songs and rhymes to develop memory –

https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/category/practice-guides/sharing-rhymes

https://www.famly.co/blog/15-nursery-rhyme-songs

Make a diary featuring photos of things you did over the weekend, holiday or outing. Help the children use their diaries to recall what they did and tell a friend or family member.

This is similar to chaining games, but you add information to each other’s ideas. When it is your turn, you have to recap the sentences that has been generated so far and then add a new pieces of information

“I played football.”

“I played football on Sunday”

“I played football on Sunday and scored”

“I played football on Sunday and scored three goals”

“I played football on Sunday and scored three goals. We won!”

“I played football on Sunday and scored three goals. We won and are now top of the league!”

• Collect together a group of three objects with your child. For example: a small plate, a medium plate and a large plate.
• Put these out in front of your child.
• Point to each of these and say: ‘This plate is small, this plate is big and this plate is the…’
• Prompt your child to say ‘biggest.’
• Now start with the biggest cup, ‘This plate is big, this plate is smaller and this plate is the…’
• Prompt the child to say ‘smallest.’

• Use different –est suffixes with your child. For example: longest, shortest, highest etc.

• Go on a walk with your child and ask them to find the biggest tree, the highest house etc.
• Introduce one suffix at a time. For example, only focus on biggest.

• Additional activities:
  • Arrange items at home (e.g. shoes/toys) from smallest to biggest and vice versa. You can then repeat the sentences above; ‘This shoe is small, this shoe is big and this shoe is the…’/‘This shoe is big, this shoe is smaller and this shoe is the…’
  • When out and about repeat the above activity e.g. at the park with sticks or at the beach with stones. You can also have a treasure hunt and ask you child to find ‘the biggest stick/the smallest stone’ etc.

   

   

  Youtube songs and quizzes:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfSlzpe4hZU

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR8t56lpBG0&t=30s

   

   

   

   

  BBC Bitesize:

  Talk about the biggest/smallest numbers & objects, as well as longest/shortest/heaviest/lightest objects

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z34xhcw/articles/zkmm6g8

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z9jsvwx/articles/zr7m6g8

  https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zknsgk7/articles/zqctb82