Great ideas for encouraging communication

Drawing with chalk outside

You will need:

• Lots of different coloured chalk
• Outdoor drawing area - could be a cement pavement or concrete in the garden.

What to do:

1. Give your child two or three colours for them to choose from. This helps them identify the colours and their names.
2. They can draw shapes, this helps with hand skills and vocabulary to identify the shapes.
3. Draw a square for them and help them to create a picture of a family member inside. This helps with language structure, increasing vocabulary, hand skills and making choices.
4. When drawing a face or picture of a family member, ask your child to try and use at least three colours when drawing the family portraits. Say ‘what colour for the eyes', ‘what colour for the nose' what colour for the mouth' and repeat this back to the child.
5. Let the child draw a picture and you have to guess what or who it is. This helps with narrative skills and vocabulary used to describe the picture.
6. Write the name or help your child to write who it is.
7. Invite some friends and family to see the pictures and guess who it is.
8. Use water to make the picture disappear, asks the child to describe what was there before. This helps with memory and narrative.

Courtesy http://www.ican.org.uk/