Communication and interaction in the early years
5 a day to support young children’s communication and interaction - Join my world and play with me - 5 a Day
Check
When you and your child want to spend time together - check you are both able to see, hear and interact free from distractions.
- Health reviews - Your baby's health and development reviews
- Hearing checks
- Vision check - Keeping an eye on your child's vision
- Check to see how your child’s communication is developing with a progress check
- What to expect in the Early Years Foundation Stage: a guide for parents
Play
Try joining your child to play with things they are interested in or encourage them to join in with daily tasks
- Hungry Little Minds activity ideas. Chat and play with interactive booklets, Words for Life
- NHS Play ideas - Learning to talk for 3 to 5 year olds
Respond
Ways to help - How can you help support your child’s communication?
- Through the Eyes of a Child Films
- Activities and toys that support care giver-child interaction in the early years
- Try this first - Guidance written by the Solihull Speech and Language Therapy Team
- Resources for Everyone - Solihull Children’s Community Therapies
Talk
Turn-taking is very important for children to develop shared attention and to communicate with sounds, actions, facial expressions or words.
- Serve and return (Back-and-forth chat)
- Building babies’ brains through play: Mini Parenting Master Class (How to support interactions)
- Speech and language strategies to try at home
Explore
Ideas for activities which can help to support communication and interaction.
- Chat, Play, Read video (Department for Education campaign)
- Five to Thrive - The five building blocks to build babies brains
- NSPCC Look, Say, Sing, Play - Brain-building tips
- Small Talk - Words for Live (National Literacy Trust)
- Solihull Parents Network - Activities and events taking place in Solihull
- Explore Solihull’s 19 parks and 23 local nature reserves
- 52 activities to try with your child
- Apps to support your child’s language and literacy development
- Early years apps to help families kick start learning at home