Supporting Speech and Language development at nursery

Children can benefit from the chance to practise their communication skills all the time. A preschool or nursery setting is a particularly good place to learn, and the encouragement of their peers and nursery staff is a key part of that.

The Nursery Nurse/Practitioners that have early years childcare qualifications will have learned about early speech and language skills, and will have experience of how to support children at different ages and stages, and with different needs and personalities.

So how can you make the most of your nursery’s expertise in supporting early communication development?

• Make the most of opportunities to talk to nursery staff about what is helping your child with communication (eg perhaps it’s singing together, using the visual timetable, or that your child is more likely to use their words when playing alongside a peer)
• Look at nursery notice boards for top tips, what the current topic is, what staff names your child might be attempting
• If they have an online learning journal, look at it with your child and see what they can show you or tell you about it
• Attend parents evenings/workshops and share your observations from home as well as get the chance to listen to feedback from staff
• Go along to stay and plays if there are any and watch how your child plays in a group setting
• Follow the nursery Facebook and Instagram account for key messages and current nursery themes
• Read the nursery newsletters about upcoming topics etc to help your child learn about vocabulary that will be coming up
• Ask your nursery about the an opportunity to borrow a book for sharing at home
• If your child has a few emerging words, make sure you give nursery a list of those to help them to tune in to early attempts at words
• Tell staff about something that your child may want to talk them about (a visit or exciting experience), to help staff tune into something that might include words or place/people names that they’ve not come across before.

Whenever you see something that looks like an amazing sensory, physical or fun experience at nursery on one of their communication channels, eg jumping in muddy puddles, forest school or blow painting, see if you can think how communication can come into this activity. What words might nursery staff have used? Can you do this activity together at home as well? If you’re not sure, do ask nursery staff. If it’s difficult to speak at drop off time, send them an email, they will be pleased to tell you more.

Local nursery colleagues have told us that there are some websites that they think are really helpful in promoting children’s language development:

Hungry Little Minds – Simple fun, activities for kids aged 0 – 5 (campaign.gov.uk)

Activities for babies, toddlers and children - BBC Tiny Happy People

tips-for-early-language-development.pdf (ican.org.uk)

Attending nursery can bring wonderful opportunities for speech, language and social communication- sharing that strategies that work across home and nursery for your child is a two way process.

Visit our website for lots more advice on supporting your child's speech and language skills.