english language month activities speech

5 Activities to Celebrate English Language Month

Celebrate English Language Month with 5 Fun Activities

Word pieces.

As an adult, one aspect of English that I’ve come to appreciate the most is how switching prefixes and suffixes can make different words or parts of speech. Making new words (even nonsense ones) can be fun, and although small children aren’t ready for prefixes and suffixes, they can have some fun prepping for the idea by taking words apart and putting new words together.

For this idea, cut out the word beginnings and word endings from the English Language Game Sheet . Stack the gray boxes into a pile, face down, and spread the white boxes out in front of you. Then, start playing. Here are the rules:

• At the start of a turn, the player will pick a gray box from the pile.
• If the player makes a real word, he or she gets 1 point, and the turn is over.
• If the word created isn’t a real word, the player has to put the gray box back in the pile and doesn’t get a point for that word.
• Then, the next player takes a turn with the same rules.
• For example, if someone draws an “n” and “grow” has already been played, the player can change “grow” to “now” and return the “gr” to the draw pile.
• If a player attempts to do this but does not create a real word, put the word back the way it was and discard the new beginning sound.

Like most games, play until you have a winner or want to move on.

Story Cubes

Story cubes and other board games can be played at any time, but making up fun stories seems like a perfect way to celebrate English language month!

Simply follow the rules on the box to create your own wacky stories. With a little imagination, there is no limit to the fun you can have.

Act Out a Story

Playing make believe is great for brain development and critical thinking. And children like it because it’s fun – especially when parents play, too!

To throw a little English in the fun, read the children a story and have them act it out. Or (even better) have a child read for the other children (and adults) to act out. This is a fantastic way to make reading fun again for children who are starting to feel like reading is work.

Preposition Play

English has over a hundred prepositions, and we mostly learn them by hearing them used and reading them. That’s because few people offer ways to practice prepositions besides rote memorization. That’s not entertaining at all!

With a little creativity, however, a preposition review or quiz can be much more entertaining. Have your children each pick out a favorite toy (a doll, stuffed animal, or action figure is perfect). Then, as you name a preposition, each child has to use the toy to demonstrate that preposition with the furniture around them. If you want to direct the play, you can even say which object to use, as well.

Word or Story Doodle

Another great way for students to explore language is to draw it. If your child is into art, have him or her pick a word to draw from the latest set of vocab words. Or take the stories the child made in the story cubes game and illustrate them.

Images bring the words and stories to life, and drawing helps children develop decision-making skills and creativity. Win-win!

Which activity did you try? We’d love to hear how it worked for you!

Author: Elizabeth F., Writer and Teacher at A Grade Ahead

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2 responses to “ 5 Activities to Celebrate English Language Month ”

Thank you so much for providing these activities. This will help my students a lot in improving their English vocabulary skill.

Emma, we are so happy that these activities may help your kids with English vocabulary! Thank you for reading and offering your valuable feedback!

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• EYFS Activity

19 Activity ideas for outstanding communication and language development in EYFS

The past 2-years have been incredibly challenging, affecting our children the most. Nurseries and schools have worked tirelessly to support all children and their families through the lockdowns and restrictions. However, the impact is still unknown for our youngest children, who have sacrificed vital interaction and communication opportunities.

This article explores why, now more than ever, communication and language is important in the Early Years. Plus we have 19 activity ideas to develop speech, communication and language in your setting.

Why is communication and language development important in the Early Years?

The importance is visible across all new statutory documentation, the EYFS framework highlighting speech, communication and language as a prime area of learning and development . A misconception surrounding the Early Years is that it is preparation to begin formal schooling.

Although this is considered when increasing lengths of time concentrating and eventually table-top activities, the founders of the Curiosity Approach passionately explain that Early Years is a learning time in its own right.

These crucial years should be filled with exploration, measured risk-taking and interaction. Developing language and communication skills are essential for success beyond the nursery into adult life.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is currently in the spotlight for Ofsted , educational reform , and Special Educational Needs (SEN), finally recognising the positive impact these vital years have on progression. Language acquisition and practice increase confidence for children to engage in conversation, prompting the knock-on development of vocabulary growth and social skills.

What does communication mean in the Early Years?

Communication is so much more than talking; it is the transfer of information from one person to another. You may have heard the phrase, communication play , this is where the main features of the play itself centre around communication: role-play, joke-telling, mime games, and charades.

It’s important to create language-rich learning opportunities to support all aspects of interaction at an early age.

How to organise an outstanding speech, communication, and language provision

Organising a learning environment where communication and language can flourish doesn’t need to be expensive or difficult. There are simple ways to ensure your setting is optimising all possible opportunities for effective interaction.

The learning environment must be purposeful, with areas for role-playing and exploration regularly changed to meet the needs of the children. Outstanding nurseries follow Ofsted’s 3 I’s (Intent, Implementation, and Impact) when designing and reviewing their nursery environment. Question the role-play opportunities; are they supporting different types of play such as independent, small group and larger group play?

Ensure language-rich activities are a high priority with your team members, running personalised CPD sessions on this can be an excellent refresher for all nursery staff. For staff members who are new to the setting, possibly apprentices, organise for them to shadow an experienced staff member who can model back and forth interactions effectively.

Finally, the activities, consider all aspects of communication when planning engaging activities for the children. You may find it useful to unpick a planned session during staff meeting time or encourage your apprentice to use some of their 20% off the job hours to reflect on the even spread of communication activities. Are there enough opportunities to develop non-verbal communication, potentially dipping into easy Makaton to learn with your children?

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19 activities to develop effective communication and language provision in your nursery

As communication and language as a core area of development and learning is so broad, it is useful to create subgroups of activities to ensure full coverage of all aspects. We have collated 19 activities for you to try in your nursery setting to target all areas of communication.

Speech, vocabulary, and discussion

Most commonly, activities designed to develop interaction with peers and adults fall into this category. Encompassing all games where discussion is encouraged, these are excellent short burst games at any point in the day.

Nursery rhymes

Nursery rhymes and repetitive songs with actions are an excellent vehicle for changes of intonation in voice and encouraging simple actions. You can find more information on the developmental progress stages here.

Include all the favourite toys and teddies in their own tea party. This can be including measuring and pouring different levels and liquids for some practical life skills as well as having discussion topics and taking turns when joining in with the conversation.

Would you rather?

Needing no resources, just an imagination, these questions can be as serious or silly as you like. You can begin to see preferences and interests shine through with these questions and they are perfect for any new starters that may be a little nervous. Here are a few to get you going: Would you rather be a monster-sized ant or an ant-sized monster? Would you rather have hands for feet or feet for hands? Extend their vocabulary skills with explanations.

Microphones

These can be attached to a sound system, a plastic microphone or just a prop. Regardless of the resource you decide on, they have a stage to fill!

Surprise Box

This activity is an excellent discussion starter, it can be the hook into an organised phonics or literacy activity. Inside a box, place a mystery object, it can be linked to your story. Give the children clues about what may be inside. They can talk as a group or together with a partner.

Makeshift phone

An age-old activity, using the middle of a toilet roll or a plastic cup, attach some strong string to the end of the cup/roll. Repeat this at the end of the string to have a 2-way telephone. You can extend this by giving partner one a simple set of instructions to deliver to partner two down their new telephone.

Pompom avalanche

Requiring patience and fine motor skills, this activity includes pompoms (or any small item), chopsticks and a colander. Place the sticks in through the holes of the upturned colander and pour the pompoms on top. The children will carefully pull the chopsticks out watching the pompoms fall.

There are many different types of play , roleplay can include an end goal (catching the baddie), use of imaginary weapons or having a real-life purpose (shopping for food). Ensure your fancy dress box is fully stocked, using different textures of material for open-ended play .

Picture stimulus

Online free websites such as Once upon a picture are excellent starting points for discussions and vocabulary acquisition missions!

Comprehension of vocabulary

Story stones.

These can be made by the children themselves or can be purchased, here is an example of a story stone pack for purchase . They can be dotted around your setting for the children to find and create a story as they go.

Truly testing their comprehension of vocabulary, instructional drawing is an activity to develop fine motor skills and listening ability. This works well in small groups, an adult (or child) will choose an object, you can add additional adjectives for extension. They will call out the object and the children will try to draw what they think that object looks like.

Find me the…

When setting up for tabletop activities, you can increase back and forth conversation by engaging the children in the process. Naming the objects you will need in a list and extending the length of the list each time can also increase their working memory capacity.

A timeless game, where vocabulary understanding is key to being able to describe it well. Remind them they can use their senses by linking to rhyming sounds.

This activity works well when the children can physically see the item you are describing. The aim of the game is to guess the object in the least about of clues- the clues will get progressively easier. For example, the first 3 clues for a pencil may be: You can hold me in your hand, I can be sharp, and artists use me.

Senses and concrete experience

Musical statues.

Why not link in different cultural music to link with your focus topics? You can play the music very quietly to require quiet feet and careful listening, also working on core strength and balance for the statue pause.

Using your surroundings, find some objects that they are familiar with (you can link this game of I-spy to their current alphabet and phonics learning ). You can give clues whether the object may be up high or down low.

Feely boxes

Linking to their senses and concrete experience, place an object with texture (spikey ball, jelly, water snake) in a box that is covered with only a slot for their hands to feel. Cue the squeaks and squeals as they find the jelly texture.

Listening bottles

This is an ideal use for those recycled plastic bottles. Fill the bottles with dried rice, pasta or beans. Listen to the sounds they make; can they begin to make connections with what the sounds remind them of?

Guess the sound

Allow the children to play with a number of noisy objects (foil, recycled plastic wrapper, pasta in a bottle, wooden blocks). If they are comfortable, they can wear a blindfold and guess which item you make a noise with. This is linking their concrete experience with their senses helping the information to move into long term memory.

For more brilliant EYFS activities, check out our Ultimate guide to EYFS activities blog post and easily cover the seven areas of learning!

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English Language Day

English Language Day is celebrated on 23 April. Read about where English came from, how it came to be spoken all over the world and how it is changing.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the article and do the exercises.

Preparation

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What is English Language Day?

English Language Day was first celebrated in 2010, alongside Arabic Language Day, Chinese Language Day, French Language Day, Russian Language Day and Spanish Language Day. These are the six official languages of the United Nations, and each has a special day, designed to raise awareness of the history, culture and achievements of these languages.

Why is English Language Day celebrated on 23 April?

This day was chosen because it is thought to be Shakespeare's birthday, and the anniversary of his death. As well as being the English language's most famous playwright, Shakespeare also had a huge impact on modern-day English. At the time he was writing, in the 16th and 17th centuries, the English language was going through a lot of changes and Shakespeare's creativity with language meant he contributed hundreds of new words and phrases that are still used today. For example, the words 'gossip', 'fashionable' and 'lonely' were all first used by Shakespeare. He also invented phrases like 'break the ice', 'all our yesterdays', 'faint-hearted' and 'love is blind'. Can you guess what they mean?

The origins of English

The story of the English language began in the fifth century when Germanic tribes invaded Celtic-speaking Britain and brought their languages with them. Later, Scandinavian Vikings invaded and settled with their languages too. In 1066 William I, from modern-day France, became king, and Norman-French became the language of the courts and official activity. People couldn’t understand each other at first, because the lower classes continued to use English while the upper classes spoke French, but gradually French began to influence English. An estimated 45 per cent of all English words have a French origin. By Shakespeare's time, Modern English had developed, printing had been invented and people had to start to agree on 'correct' spelling and vocabulary.

The spread of English

The spread of English all over the world has an ugly history but a rich and vibrant present. During the European colonial period, several European countries, including England, competed to expand their empires. They stole land, labour and resources from people across Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania. By the time former British colonies began to gain independence in the mid-20th century, English had become established in their institutions. Many brilliant writers from diverse places across Africa, the Caribbean and Asia had started writing in English, telling their stories of oppression. People from all over the world were using English to talk and write about justice, equality, freedom and identity from their own perspectives. The different varieties of English created through this history of migration and colonisation are known as World Englishes.

International English

More than 1.75 billion people speak English worldwide – that's around 1 in 4 people around the world. English is being used more and more as a way for two speakers with different first languages to communicate with each other, as a 'lingua franca'. For many people, the need to communicate is much more important than the need to sound like a native speaker. As a result, language use is starting to change. For example, speakers might not use 'a' or 'the' in front of nouns, or they might make uncountable nouns plural and say 'informations', 'furnitures' or 'co-operations'.

Are these variations mistakes? Or part of the natural evolution of different Englishes? 'International English' refers to the English that is used and developed by everyone in the world, and doesn't just belong to native speakers. There is a lot of debate about whether International English should be standardised and, if so, how. What do you think? If you're reading this, English is your language too.

http://www.un.org/en/events/englishlanguageday/

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Who do you speak English with?

Language level

English is a basic need for every human to learn now a days. this created a history in India by IT companies as basic language to enter in to IT companies. Many countries speak English as well as if we reach other countries we can easily survive by knowing English.

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I speak English with some of my friends, and most of my English teachers. I’d say my English level is pretty high for someone that lives in Turkey, so I’m pretty happy about that.

I agree with that. The main goal for people for which english isnt their mother language is to communicate with other person, they dont want to sound like native speaker. We live in times when anybody looks on your english level and how your words in english sounds. As I mentioned, they crucial reason to learn english is to make a deal, not to change a mother language on English.

I hope to improve my English skills about listening,reading,speaking and writing in order to get a good salary job when I go back to Shanghai. I must be work hard than young,practice practice and practice until I can use English with confidence!

Now I try to learn English. I practise english everyday. I practise speaking, listening and writing on this website. I think that this website is useful and help me a lot in studying English. I think that B2 level is suitable for me. I can understand what I read, but sometimes listening is a bit difficult for me. I have to listen the audio twice at least to understand it.

I generally speak English with my friend. when I started learning the English language it was difficult for me. in my starting journey, I spoke English in front of the mirror and with objects. I didn't make it a proper sentence so it's hard to speak in front of anyone. after one year of my journey, I tried to speak with my best friend he always supports me whenever I did mistakes he corrected my mistake. still, I'm learning English because every language takes time

Amazing! I like learning English and it makes me feel good.

Actually I don have a lot of people who speak English with, because I live in a Spanish-speaking country, but my wife and I try to communicate each other in English dayly. We chat and text all the time, and at the end of the day we speak a little. This way we improve our knowledge.

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How to Celebrate English Language Day in the Classroom

These ideas, games and activities will help you celebrate English Language Day and encourage your learners to pursue a second language.

Did you know that English is used as a first language in over 100 countries and has been used for over 1,000 years? We celebrate this incredible language every year on the 23 rd of April, on English Language Day. The day itself is extra special for two other reasons: it is both St George’s Day and Shakespeare’s birthday, so it sits in very good company! 

Why not commemorate the language and this wonderful day with your learners through sharing of ideas, games and activities which will encourage them to learn it as a second language. We’ve compiled some ideas to get you started.

Host a quiz

A quiz is a great way to get your learners to put their thinking caps on and challenge them on wider knowledge related to the English language. Here are a few quiz questions to get you started! 

1. Can you name three countries that use English as their first language? 2. Can you name three Shakespeare plays? 3. Can you say hello in English in five different ways? 4. What two polite words do English people use a lot? Answers: 1. England, Canada, America, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand etc. 2. Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, The Tempest, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, etc. 3. Hi, hello, hiya, hey, what’s up, good morning. 4. Please and thank you

Silent letters game

Challenge your learners to think about pronunciation and how this differs from the written version of the word. English can be a tricky language; it is not always easy to recognise the silent letter! Understanding and recognising these letters is an important tool for both spelling and pronunciation. Try this challenge in your class and ask them how quickly they can read these words, and then identify the silent letter in each case.

Lamb Castle Island Gnaw Handkerchief Calm Raspberry Whistle Foreign

Tongue twisters

Pronunciation can be hard work in English. It is not a phonetic language – so what we write is not always what we say! This can be difficult for students whose own language is phonetic, however, there are ways to guide them through this understanding without being too serious. Tongue Twisters are a fun way to challenge your class and demonstrate this. Try these phrases, and see how quickly they can get through them without making a mistake. 

She sells seashells on the seashore.

Red lorry yellow lorry.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Nine nimble noblemen nibbling nuts.

Formal, informal, or slang game

Ask your pupils to look at a particular word, and rank in order of formality. It may seem obvious, but for second-language learners, it can be tricky and is a great way to teach the differences between formal and informal speech. Why not look at all the different ways you can say goodbye in English and identify the words in degrees of formality:

Cheerio! Bye See ya See you later Goodbye See you soon Laters! Bye-Bye Farewell

Celebrate Shakespearean language

Choose a Shakespeare play with a film adaptation that you think will be suitable for your group of learners. Find an important scene and play it to your class, with the sound off. Next, ask them to come up with the dialogue in two different ways: modern-day language, then Shakespearean language. Once they have come up with their versions, ask them to read aloud and discuss the differences.

Shakespeare’s birthday party

As your learners to plan a party for Shakespeare. They can think about a suitable venue, dress code and food. Encourage them to be as creative as possible and think about both the past and the present. When complete, ask them to present the ideas to the class. You could select the most interesting ideas and use them to create an actual birthday party, too. 

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39 Fun ESL Games and Activities for an Exciting English Classroom

Getting playful with the English language is a great way to push your students’ creativity and show them how useful their knowledge really is.

And the best way to do that is with fun ESL games for the classroom!

There’s nothing like a room full of friendly competition and laughter to make learning more fun.

Read on below for 39 ESL group activities that will get your students engaged and practicing their English. We’ll also discuss grouping strategies for effective gameplay.

ESL Vocabulary and Spelling Games

1. vocabulary showcase game show, 2. how’s yours, 3. fly swat, 4. shiritori showdown, 6. jeopardy, 7. backdraw, esl listening games, 10. flash art, 11. find someone who…, 12. telephone, 13. song puzzle, esl games for communication and teamwork, 14. question volley, 15. my name is x, and i like x, 16. reporter, 17. secrets, 18. find a partner, 19. what sweet treat am i, esl speaking games, 20. who am i what am i, 21. question master, 22. time trials, 23. balloon truth or dare, 24. word warm ups, 25. mayor (a.k.a. don’t vote for me), 26. reading race, 27. i took a trip to the usa, esl games for creative thinking, 28. storytelling memory game, 29. two truths and a lie, 30. funny papers, 31. dictionary, 32. oral storytelling, 33. written storytelling, esl grammar games, 34. would you rather, 35. conjugation pyramid, 36. tic-tac-toe, 37. shootin’ hoops, 38. hot potato, 39. word chain, 4 ways to group your students, group by varying skill levels, group by same skill level, group by same first language, group by different first languages, why esl games are an essential part of the classroom.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Best for: Big groups; communication

In the Vocabulary Showcase Game Show, students will learn new words through firsthand communication. Students must explain the chosen word to their teammate without saying the word.

All you need is a whiteboard, a timer and a list of vocab words that students already have a fairly good grasp on.

How to play:  

• Review the vocabulary words if needed or desired.
• Divide the class into two teams. Team A will choose their first contestant to start the game.
• Student A from Team A will stand with their back to the whiteboard.
• The teacher writes a vocabulary word on the board and starts the clock. Two minutes per word is best practice in order to get multiple students involved.
• Once the clock starts, Team A will do their best to describe the vocabulary word. They cannot use the word or spell it out.
• If Student A guesses the correct word, Team A gets a point.
• Switch. Now Team B will send up their first member to guess a new vocabulary word. Same rules apply.
• At the end, the team with the most points wins.

Best for: Small groups; beginners

This ESL game will have students guess the object everyone is talking about by asking the eponymous question: “How’s yours?”

You don’t need anything to play this game, though it may be helpful to have some slightly more challenging words to offer your students if they’re struggling as the game leader.

• Select a student to go first (or ask for a volunteer).
• This player is sent into the hall or somewhere out of earshot.
• The teacher will be game leader first. Pick a body part, type of clothing, common person or common object and inform your students of the secret word. Possibilities might include: shoes, mouth, car, mother, teacher or ring.
• The first player comes back into the room.
• The player’s goal now is to figure out what the secret word is by asking each student, “How’s yours?” Each student should respond in just two or three words. Remind them—no pointing!
• Once the first player has an answer from each student, they must guess what the object is. Use points or rewards as desired.
• Continue by having the first player become the game leader; a new student will go into the hall and be the guesser.

Tip: Pick the shy students early so they can play more confidently after they’ve been the guesser.

The secret word is “teeth.”

When the player asks their question (“How’s yours?”), students might respond:

Best for: End of the lesson; practicing synonyms/antonyms/homonyms

This fun ESL game is a race to the board! Students will compete to be the first to find the answer and swat it with their fly swatter.

You’ll need two fly swatters, PowerPoint and a projector. You can substitute the PowerPoint/projector combo for a simple whiteboard, but just know you’ll probably have to do some rewriting throughout the game. It also helps to prepare your questions ahead of time.

• Using PowerPoint, prepare a slide with vocabulary words scattered everywhere.
• Split the class into two teams.
• If needed, inform students they can only swat one word on their turn to make sure they really think about their answer.
• In turns, each team sends up one person to the board. They are each given a fly swatter.
• Read a question/definition aloud. The first student to swat the answer on the board wins the round!

Feel free to ask the same question more than once (repetition is part of the learning process!).

Best for: Warm ups; quick thinking

The word shiritori is Japanese for “chicken’s behind.” Each student will use the last letter of the previous word to make a new one. If the timer goes off—you’re out!

It can be played in any sized group, and the only thing you need is a timer.

• Choose a student to start the game.
• Enter the time on the timer, perhaps 1-2 minutes depending on the class. Begin.
• The chosen student starts the game by saying any word they’d like.
• The next student has to say a word that begins with the last letter of the previous word.
• Play continues until the timer goes off.
• The student who failed to think of a word may have to write on the board, or elimination can continue each round until there’s one winner.

(Teacher sets the timer to 30 seconds.)

Teacher: I’ll start. Mois t .

Student 1: Umm… T owe l .

Student 2: Hmm… L ik e .

Student 3: Like. Like. Like. Umm…

(Timer beeps. Student 3 is out.)

Best for: All lesson types

Hangman is an oldie but a goodie. Students must guess the letters of the alphabet to figure out a word or phrase before the hangman’s drawing is complete.

All you need is paper and pencils—or just a whiteboard if you want to play as a class. Let students take turns picking the word and drawing the blanks. Encourage using new vocabulary words so they can practice spelling.

(I found the original drawing inappropriate for younger students, so I usually drew my stick figure on the plank of a ship over a sea of monsters. As a bonus, students loved being chosen to draw one of the sea monsters on the board before the game began!)

• The leader draws the setup and the blanks for the chosen word or phrase.
• Students take turns guessing letters of the alphabet to fill in the blanks. Correct guesses are written into place in the blanks. For each incorrect guess, the leader adds one body part of the “hangman” to the drawing.
• If the guessers get the correct word first, they win. If the picture of the person is completed first, the leader wins.
• Switch out the leader and play again!

For extra fun, watch a video clip first, then play Hangman using only words from the clip. And for extra practice, at the end of each round, ask students to talk about the definition of the uncovered word or try to use it in a sentence.

Best for: Big groups; comprehensive review; critical thinking; speaking skills; teamwork

Jeopardy is another classic English classroom game that helps students build their confidence. You’ll set it up just like the TV show: a big board with answers and points, where students will need to provide the missing question.

For Jeopardy, you’ll need PowerPoint or an internet connection with an online jeopardy board, plus a projector.

• Prepare a jeopardy board with questions on the chosen subject matter. You can do this on PowerPoint with a premade template , or use Jeopardy Labs  for easy set up.
• Assign point values that align with the difficulty of each question to ensure a fair distribution of points. Don’t forget to include a “Daily Double” for extra fun!
• In class, split the students into even groups of four, five or six. Adjust the number according to the number of students in the classroom. For the ideal playing situation, there should be 4-6 groups.
• After the class has been split into groups, the first group chooses a subject and point value.
• Read the corresponding question aloud. Anyone in class can raise their hand to answer the question.
• The first hand up gets to answer. If they’re right, their group receives the points and gets to pick the next question. If they’re wrong, subtract the points from that team; another group gets a chance to answer.
• The group with the most points at the end of the game wins!  

Note: You may want to select a spokesperson for each group to keep chaos to a minimum. Rotate the spokesperson every few turns so everyone gets the opportunity to speak.

Best for: Big groups; all lesson types; spelling and vocabulary skills

Backdraw is one of the most popular games in classrooms and works for any level. In this game, the students aren’t allowed to talk.

• Put the students into equal teams and line them up facing the blackboard. All the students must face the blackboard and cannot turn around.
• Inform the students that they cannot speak during the game, or their team is out.
• Give a word to the last student in each team (the student furthest from the blackboard). Usually, it’s best to write the word down and have them read it, so nobody can overhear it.
• When the teacher tells them to begin, the last student must silently write the word on the back of the student in front of them. Once they’re done, the next student then writes the word they “felt” on the student in front of them. This continues until the first student has the word.
• The first student goes to the blackboard and writes the word, spelled correctly.
• The first team to complete the task correctly is the winner.

Best for:  Big groups; teambuilding; from beginner to advanced students 

This game focuses heavily on spelling and team skills, and it’s a great way to cement the difficult words on your vocabulary list.

• Divide the students into teams. The number of teams doesn’t matter.
• Approach the first team and give them a word to spell. The following steps should be conducted with each team, one at a time. The other students may listen, or practice silently spelling the words, but there shouldn’t be talking from the other teams.
• The first student on the team may only give the first letter.
• The next student says the second letter, and so on.
• Once the word is complete, the next student must repeat the whole word, to signal they’re done spelling.
• Each correctly spelled word earns the team a point.

This game can also be made more or less challenging by choosing higher or lower level words. Also, for more advanced students, they can be asked to spell the word backward.

Best for: Beginners; big groups; pronunciation practice

This game is an excellent way to use physical activity in the classroom while also engaging the brain in language learning.

• Line up the students in the front of the classroom. If you have a large classroom, have them line up in groups of six students at one time. While each group of six students plays, the other students are encouraged to watch and be engaged in the game.
• Assign each student a different word. Encourage them to repeat the word back to you.
• Now the game begins. The teacher (or a designated higher-level student) must say one word at a time.
• The student who is assigned that word must repeat it back and do a squat right away. A deep squat means they hold their arms out in front of them and bend their knees until the thigh bones are horizontal.
• If the student forgets, says the word incorrectly or is extremely late, they’re out and must sit down.

This game can be made more challenging by having the teacher speak faster, or having the students say and spell the word.

Best for: Creative students; reading comprehension practice

You’ll give your students scenarios in English and let them create quick interpretations through drawing. This ESL game offers a break from tough topics and traditional book learning.

For this game, you need plenty of paper and drawing materials like colored pencils, markers or crayons.

• Decide whether you want to work on students’ listening comprehension, reading comprehension or both.
• Say a scenario out loud or write it on the board.
• Students will transcribe or copy the scenario on a piece of paper.
• Give students an allotted amount of time to draw out the scenario on their paper.
• At the end of the session, students may present their drawings. You may also have them vote on their favorite piece for each scenario.

Note: You may only have time to do one or two Flash Art scenarios per session.

Examples:  

• There is a man running in a park. He is being chased by a dog.
• A mother and daughter are baking cupcakes.
• Many cars are stuck in traffic due to rain.

Best for: Big groups

Students must be quick to listen and comprehend the spoken statement, or they’ll end up in the middle where they’ll have to come up with the next statement themselves.

The teacher can have a prepared list of “Finds,” or students can make up their own in this fun ESL game.

• Have everybody begin in a big circle.
• The teacher calls out something like: “Find someone who… is wearing glasses.”
• Everyone runs to grab the hand of a person wearing glasses. Assuming each student has two hands, only two people can be partnered with each glasses wearer.
• Whoever is left without a hand to hold stands in the middle.
• Select a student in the middle to call the next statement.

The possibilities are endless! Students can find someone who:

• is wearing red.
• has words on their shirt.
• can curl their tongue.

Best for: Big groups; speaking skills; pronunciation practice

Telephone is another classic. Students will whisper a given phrase down the line. The last person will announce the likely convoluted sentence to the class for everyone’s amusement.

This ESL game is easy to play—no materials needed!

• Have all of the students sit or stand in a straight line or a circle.
• Make up a phrase or sentence and whisper it in the first student’s ear.
• That student then whispers the phrase to the next person, and so on and so forth.
• If a student would like the phrase repeated to them, they can say “Operator!” This can only be done once per person.
• The last person to hear the phrase will repeat it out loud. It’s always funny to see how different the phrase turns out!

To make this game competitive, split the class into two teams and see who gets closest to the original phrase.

Best for: Small groups; sentence order review; listening practice; speaking skills

Song Puzzle is a fun ESL classroom game that will get your students jamming along to music. You’ll play a song while they arrange the lyrics in the proper order.

To set up this game, select an appropriate song (if you have young students, check out this resource for some suggestions). Print a copy of the lyrics for each small group in your class. Cut each one into strips to create a complete set of lyrics for each group.

• Make sure all your materials are prepared before class begins (the song is printed and cut into strips, and you have enough sets for each group).
• Separate students into small groups of two or three. Give each group a complete set of lyric strips.
• Play the song. Groups will try to organize the lyrics into the correct order.
• Continue replaying the song until a team is done. Check the order of their lyrics.
• The first group to organize the lyrics correctly wins.
• Continue playing until all groups have figured out the correct order of the lyrics.
• Use the lyrics to sing the song aloud as a class!

Depending on the song you choose, you can use the lyrics to teach a specific set of vocabulary or a grammar concept. For example, check out this list of songs with passive voice in the lyrics !

Best for: Big groups; speaking skills

In Question Volley, students will ask and answer questions on the spot to boost their confidence in responding to questions naturally and quickly.

All you need for this fun ESL game is a small ball! For added fun, you can always change up what you’re tossing around: a potato, a soccer ball, a frisbee, etc.

• Tell students the topic so questions remain relevant.
• Teacher starts! Have a student toss you the ball and ask you a relevant question.
• Answer the question.
• Toss the ball to a different student. Ask them a question.
• They will answer, and then pass to another student and ask them a question.
• Continue passing, asking and responding until everyone’s had a turn.

Make sure to encourage quick questions and answers to give this a real-life feel.

If your lesson topic is sports, some questions might be:

• What sports do you play?
• What sports do you like to watch?
• Who is your favorite athlete?

For more example questions, try this resource —and check out our dedicated post on ESL movie activities . 

Best for: Combining with a vocabulary lesson; big groups; speaking skills; memory recall

Students will introduce themselves and something they enjoy. Depending on the level of your class, they may learn introductions, transitive verbs and first- and third-person sentence structures.

You don’t need anything for this game, but note that the more randomly you call on students, the more likely they’ll pay attention to others’ responses instead of counting how many more turns until they have to participate.

For beginners:

• Sit in a circle with your class.
• Introduce yourself using this format: “My name is X, and I like X.” For example: “My name is Mr. Smith, and I like to read.”
• Have the next student introduce themself using the same format.
• Continue until every student has had a turn.

For more advanced students, include memory recall. Ask students to introduce themselves and the previous student. That is: “His/her name is X, and he/she likes X. My name is X, and I like X.”

The most advanced way to play this game is to include questions, like so:

• Pick a student, either the next in a circle or at random.
• Ask them: “What’s your name? What do you like?” and let them respond.
• Introduce them in the format: “His/her name is X, and he/she likes X.”
• That student will now choose a classmate and ask them the questions.
• The student who asked the questions must introduce their classmate using the answers provided.
• Continue until each student has asked questions and introduced someone.

Best for: Listening comprehension; conversation practice; speaking/writing skills

In Reporter, students will ask their partner questions in the form of an interview. You may ask them to present or submit their partner’s response in writing.

If you choose to focus on writing practice, you’ll need paper and pencils. Otherwise, simply have some sample interview questions prepared to get the class started with this game.

• Brainstorm questions for 5-10 minutes, either individually or as a class.
• Have students pair up.
• During an allotted amount of time, students will ask their partner questions.
• Students may need to write the responses, take brief notes or simply try to remember the answers.
• After the time is up, switch the role of reporter and interviewee.
• At the end, students may present their partners to the rest of the class using the answers provided during game time. Or, students can hand in their interview notes.

You can also turn this into a more elaborate game by assigning the interviews as homework.

In that case, have students present their partners to the class without giving the identity of the partner. The class has to guess who the person is based on the presentation.

Best for: Quiet/lethargic classes

Students will use questioning skills to work out whose secret they know. Get them moving around the room and chatting with this fun ESL classroom game.

You’ll need some slips of paper and something to hold them in—a hat or a small bowl will do nicely.

• Ask each student to write down a secret on a piece of paper. Check that the secrets are written down correctly, but don’t betray students’ secrets to their classmates!
• Have each student fold their paper and put it in a hat.
• Each student will then draw a secret from the hat.
• Once each student has a secret, they will walk around the classroom asking other students questions to find out whose secret they have. They can’t directly say what’s on the paper!

The secret says, “I have five cats.”

The person holding the secret might ask a classmate:

• Do you like animals?
• How many animals live in your house?

Best for: Big groups; speaking skills; combining with a vocabulary lesson

In this ESL game, you’ll give students a category. They’ll write their favorite thing in that category on a piece of paper. Then they’ll search for someone who wrote the same thing—without actually using any of the words they wrote down!

All you need for this one is some small pieces of paper.

• Decide the topic (books, food, movies, etc.). Make sure it’s something that students can talk about in some detail.
• Each student writes down their favorite book (or food, movie, etc.) on a piece of paper and hides it in their pocket or textbook.
• Without using the words they’ve written down, students then go around the room, asking their classmates questions.
• Students who think they’ve found a classmate with the same answer can sit.
• Once everyone’s discovered a partner or once the allotted time is up, students reveal their papers to each other.

To make sure this game is working as intended, the teacher must moderate effectively. Walk the room to ensure students are practicing proper English. Correct them as needed based on topics you’ve covered in class.

Best for: Beginner and intermediate students; speaking practice

Students will take turns asking questions to figure out what sweet treat they are in this fun ESL classroom game.

For this one, you’ll need tape and as many kinds of candy as you have students in class (so, 10 students means 10 different types of candy). Make sure it’s candy they’re familiar with.

• Tape a candy wrapper to each student’s back.
• Put the students in a circle.
• Tell students how many questions they can ask before they’ll need to make a guess, and decide what will happen if they get it right/wrong (points, guess again, player is out, etc.).
• Select someone to go first.
• The first player stands up and turns around so everyone can see their candy wrapper.
• The player can ask the group yes or no questions to get clues about their candy.
• After the set number of questions, the player must guess.
• Continue until all sweet treats have been guessed and revealed.

The standing player might ask some of the following questions:

• Does it taste like strawberries?
• Does it have chocolate?

Best for: Advanced students; practicing asking questions

This is a slightly more advanced version of the “What Sweet Treat Am I?” activity. It can be modified to include writing if you ask the students to create the cards, rather than doing it yourself.

How to play:

• Before beginning the activity, you may want to brainstorm the types of questions that will help students figure out their cards. 
• Using sticky notes or index cards, list common household or school-related objects on each one.
• Have each student pick a card without looking at what it says.
• Have them stick it to his or her own forehead.
• Students then ask their fellow students yes or no questions in order to figure out what their card says. 

For more advanced students, cards can list literary characters, book titles or even idioms. Another option is to keep all of the cards related to one theme, like health words, clothing, colors or even slang.

Best for: Experienced speakers; creative thinking

Question Master helps your students figure out what to ask in a given situation. Set up the scenario and let them ask away!

All you need for this game is a timer. Any amount of people is good, but note that this ESL game works best with more experienced speakers who are comfortable creating sentences on the fly.

• Choose a scenario for the class, like at a café, at the airport, or even on a date.
• Set the timer. Begin.
• Each student must ask a question relevant to the scenario. Encourage creativity with this one!
• Continue until the timer goes off. The student is out or the game is over.

(Teacher sets the timer to a minute and thirty seconds.)

Teacher: Okay, the scenario is at a shop. Go!

Student 1: How much is this?

Student 2: Do you accept credit cards?

Best for: Individual students

Instead of racing against others, students are trying to get their own personal best time for English speaking. They’re aiming for speed and  precision.

While you could do this with an ESL class, it’s particularly helpful for individual learners. You’ll just need a topic and a timer that starts from zero.

• Select something for the student to read/say. This could be anything! A passage in a book, a set of statements, etc.
• Start the clock from zero once the student starts reading/speaking.
• When the student is done, stop the timer.
• Tell the student their time.
• Give them tips on how to improve their speaking speed.
• Have them practice, either in class or out, until they get to a more natural time.

Teacher: Okay, tell me your name, age, where you’re from, and what you do. Ready? Go! (Starts timer.)

Student: My name is… (continues talking)

(Teacher stops the timer when the student finishes.)

Best for: Outgoing students

This is a slight twist on the classic truth or dare. Inside balloons are truths (personal questions) and dares (silly actions), which students must complete in front of the class.

You’ll need balloons (at least enough for each student in the class) and slips of paper, as well as truths and dares. Feel free to adapt statements using vocabulary and grammar suitable for the level you’re teaching.

• On slips of paper, write student-friendly dares and questions. Make sure they’re things that most students would be willing to do and answer.
• Put each slip of paper inside a balloon and blow it up. You may want to color code (red balloons = dares, blue balloons = truths), or let it be random.
• Scatter the paper-filled balloons around the room.
• Select a student to go first. They will pick a balloon and pop it, then read their truth or dare aloud before completing it.
• Continue having students choose a balloon, pop it, read the prompt and complete the task until everyone has gone.

A small tip: You may want to start with your more outgoing students. But don’t let your shy students be last either–try to call them out around the middle to help manage their anxiety.

For some possible dares, you might write:

• Do a popular dance.
• Sing a class song by yourself.
• Pretend like you’re riding a horse.
• Snore or snort.

And for some possible truths, you might write:

• What did you look like when you were 10 years old?
• If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?
• When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Best for: Warm ups; grammar review; creative thinking

In Word Warm Ups, students will attempt to use the given English concept in a sentence before time runs out.

You’ll need a timer. If the timer is your phone and you don’t want it passed around the room, you’ll also need a small ball or another easily passable item.

• Set the rules for sentence structure. For example, students must make sentences using “should/shouldn’t.”
• Enter a designated time on the timer. Begin the clock and hand the timer/ball to the first student.
• The first student makes a sentence using the grammar construct, then passes the timer/ball to another student.
• Students continue making sentences and passing the timer/ball until the timer goes off.
• You can make additional consequences as desired for the student holding the timer/ball when it goes off.

Teacher: Okay, so sentences using the phrase, “even though.” Go!

Student 1: Hmm… I like Canada even though it’s very cold.

Student 2: Okay. Even though she’s only 30, she’s too old for me.

Student 3: Hmm, I… umm. Even though, umm…

(Timer goes off. Student 3 is out.)

Best for: Advanced students; speech-giving practice

Mayor requires both higher English ability and an appreciation of irony. If your class has both, this game may get shy students to take risks and even be a bit silly. Students will run to NOT become mayor.

No materials are needed. Note that you may want to lower the intensity for your shy students by having everyone stand at their desk to speak rather than the front of the classroom.

• Explain that you’re going to have a mock election for mayor in your classroom, but it’s a job nobody wants. Each student must convince the class that they should NOT be mayor and why.
• You may need to go first to show the possibilities.
• Select the first student to give their speech. You can set a time limit so no one speaks too much or too little.
• Continue until each student has given their speech.
• The winner is the one who comes up with the best reason not to be mayor, which can be decided by vote. It’s an election, after all!

“I would hate to be mayor. Do not vote for me. I do not like to be around smelly, old citizens. Children are noisy. Who cares about education?”

Best for: Reading class; small groups; reading speed; pronunciation practice

This English classroom game will have students race against the clock to finish the reading passage. The key is that they must do so with no mistakes.

You’ll need a timer and reading material to play, so this game is especially great if your class has a reading text they’re working through. 

• Provide students with the reading passage you want them to practice. Make sure everyone’s on the correct page.
• Set the time and begin the timer.
• Each student will attempt to read the next sentence (or the whole passage) perfectly .
• If they mispronounce a word or rush through a sentence, correct them. They must start again from the beginning.
• Once they’ve read the given part with no mistakes, it’s the next student’s turn.
• The student who’s reading when the timer goes off is out!

(Teacher sets the timer to two minutes.)

Teacher: Okay, reading race, page 7. Ready? Go!

Student 1: (Reads passage perfectly)

Student 2: (Reads passage but has an error with pronunciation)

Teacher: (Tells student correct pronunciation) Sorry, reread!

Student 2: (Reads passage perfectly)

Student 3: (Reading but struggling a bit)

(Timer goes off. Student 3 seems to be having some trouble with these games! They’re out.)

Best for: Big groups; listening skills; memory recall 

This speaking game  puts an emphasis on listening , focus and memory-building skills while also encouraging students to recall vocabulary.

• Teach the students the speech they must learn for every turn in the game: “I took a trip to the USA, and with me I took…”
• The first student says the sentence, and names an object starting with an “A.” For example, “…and with me I took an apple.”
• The next student must repeat the first word, then add a word that starts with a “B.” For example, “…and with me I took an apple and a banana.”
• Every following student must repeat every word previously said, and add a word starting with the next letter of the alphabet. For example, “…and with me I took an apple, a banana, and a cat.”
• The game continues until a word cannot be named or a word is forgotten.

This is a very flexible game that can be adapted to any classroom. First, be specific on wanting students to use articles and the word “and” before the last word. Also, you can give the classroom a category to follow, such as asking them to name animals or foods.

Best for: Speaking skills; memory recall; vocabulary building; sentence structure review

Together, the class will tell a story out loud by finishing each others’ sentences in this ESL game.

Smaller groups make this game easier, while larger groups will really test students’ memories. No materials needed!

• Begin by sitting in a circle.
• The first person (this can be you, but it doesn’t have to be) starts the story with a fragment, such as: “It was a dark and stormy night…”
• The next person in the circle must repeat what the first person said and  add a phrase of their own.
• Continue going around the circle until someone messes up. You can start over, prompt them or something else.
• In the end, you could have students write down the story. Or write it on a poster board and hang it up in your classroom for students to remember and get a good laugh!

Teacher: It was a dark and stormy night…

Student 1: It was a dark and stormy night and no one was around.

Student 2: It was a dark and stormy night and no one was around. Suddenly, there was the sound of…

Best for: The first class; advanced students; speaking/writing skills; conversation practice

In this game, each student will present three statements about themselves—two are true, and one is false. Their classmates must ask questions in order to determine which statement is the lie.

Two Truths and a Lie only requires a whiteboard (or anything you can write on).

• Ensure the class understands the meaning of both “truth” and “lie.”
• You’ll go first as an example. On the board, write two truths and one lie about yourself.
• Tell the class that one of the statements on the board is not true .
• Students may ask you non-specific questions about what you wrote. You may want to give a question limit to raise the stakes of the game.
• Once the questioning is over, students will write down which statement they believe to be the lie.
• You can ask them to share their guesses and why they came to that conclusion.
• Reveal the lie!
• Select a student to take your place. The game repeats until everyone has had a turn.

One statement says: “I enjoy running every morning.”

Students may ask things like:

• What kind of running shoes do you have?
• What time do you begin your run?

Best for: Writing practice; collaboration; pair or small group play

Funny Papers is a fun ESL game where students are asked to fill in the blank speech bubbles of a comic strip.

Using the Sunday funny papers or some blank comic strips online , white out the text of each character’s speech bubbles or dialogue boxes. Make enough copies for your class.

• Give your students an example. Show them the comic strip and ask what they think is happening in the scene. Write some of their responses in the speech or thought bubbles above each character.
• Now, split the class into groups for the activity.
• Hand out the comic strips and let each group create their own Funny Paper.
• Visit each group to offer insight and answer questions they may have.
• Once the comics are complete, students can present them to the class.

Best for: Any level; speaking skills; writing skills

If you know the game Balderdash , you’ll recognize Dictionary. One team member will lead the way. Players will guess the definition of a difficult word, and a judge will decide their favorite answer. In the end, someone wins a treat!

You’ll need dictionaries or vocabulary lists (with definitions) for this game. You’ll also need sticky notes for each group and some prize candy.

• Split the class into groups of five or six students.
• Give each group a packet of sticky notes and a dictionary/vocab list.
• For each group, select a leader and a judge. (Tip: Try picking the shyest students to steer the groups first.)
• The leader finds a word in the dictionary/on the list that they do not believe anyone else knows. The leader writes the correct definition of the word on the sticky note.
• The leader spells the word out loud, and everyone except the judge writes it down on their own sticky note.
• Everyone except the leader and judge will now make up their own definition of the word and write it on their sticky note as well. The students can come up with a silly definition, try to guess the correct definition or try to fool the judge with something that sounds convincing.
• The leader collects the definitions and gives them to the judge.
• The judge reads each definition out loud. (If your judge has a flair for the dramatic, all the better!)
• After reading all the definitions, the judge decides which one they like best. The player who wrote it gets a piece of candy.
• The roles switch. The judge becomes the leader and a new judge is selected.
• Keep playing until every student has had a chance to be both the judge and the leader.

The leader picks the word “sundry.” She spells it out for the players.

The leader writes the correct definition on her note (“miscellaneous”).

One player thinks about the literal meaning and writes: “wet clothes left outside.”

Another player guesses: “popcorn.”

Another player decides to be silly and writes: “lying to your teacher.”

The leader mixes up the definitions and hands them to the judge. The judge reads each definition out loud, and everyone has a good laugh.

The judge decides she likes the “wet clothes left outside” definition. The player who wrote this gets the candy and then the leader explains that the correct definition is “miscellaneous.”

Best for: Listening comprehension; speaking practice

Students have to be able to follow along with the story, listening closely to what the people before them just said, and they have to think critically to build a correct sentence of their own.

For beginning ESL students, consider speaking sentences out loud yourself and asking them to add one word at a time. They could even draw or hold up pictures to add to the story.

• Have students sit in a circle. Begin telling a story by speaking one sentence aloud.
• The student on your left should add to the story by speaking a second sentence aloud.
• The student to his or her left should speak the next sentence aloud, and so on. 
• Keep the story going around the circle one sentence at a time until it comes to a logical conclusion.

Remind students that each sentence should build on the one before it.

It’s easy for students to add in something offbeat or random to try to be silly, but the goal of this lesson is to create a logical story. One way to keep the story on track might be to record it. 

Best for: Working as a team; writing practice

This is a bit like a word association game, but requires that the students expand on that to create a story.

For more advanced students, consider assigning topics that require students to discuss customs or cultural norms, like privacy, personal space, hygiene or dining.

How to play: 

• Divide the class into small groups.
• Each group gets to choose three random words from a bag and must incorporate each word into a short story. 
• Depending on your students’ level, you can assign specific numbers of characters, amount of dialogue, length, etc. to be included in the story.
• At the end of the lesson, groups can take turns reading stories aloud.
• For increased participation and extra practice with speaking, you can ask the students who are listening to the story to comment on their classmates’ work. For beginning students, sentence starters like, “I liked….” or “what did you mean by…?” can be helpful to encourage feedback.

Both the written storytelling and the small group discussion that follows are valuable practice time. Together, they’ll help students practice written and spoken English in one swoop. 

Best for:  Making learning conditionals fun and and lively

This classic sleepover and bus trip game, ideal for getting participants to know more about each other, can be a perfect giggle-inducing grammar game to reinforce recent lessons. The game is simple enough, driven by straightforward questions and answers.

The main use for this game in the ESL classroom is to practice using conditionals and discussing hypothetical situations ( would  you):

Would you rather  get stung by a bee  or  bit by a spider?

Would you rather  dance in front of ten thousand people  or  in front of the President of the United States?

How to Play:

• Put students in pairs or play as a class.
• Provide questions on handouts.
• Let students answer the questions and make corrections if needed.

Example: “Sara, how many of your classmates would rather  dance in front of the President of the United States?” Then this student must tell you how many people chose this option in her group or in the class.

Best for:  Learning verb conjugations

Similar to blackboard race, the conjugation pyramid is a race-to-win classic that is beloved by language students everywhere. Set this one up for the very end of class when there are a few minutes remaining—this will really get the pressure cooking.

• Draw a pyramid on either side of the board and break it up into blocks—kind of like a food pyramid, but with as many blocks as there are rounds in the game. So, if you want to go 10 rounds, draw 10 blocks in each pyramid.
• Then you’ll give your students a verb and a person (first person singular, second person plural) and they will have to run to the board and conjugate the verb into each tense accordingly. 
• Depending on the skill level of your students and what you’d like to practice, you can also choose a tense and have students conjugate the entire verb chart for that tense. The student who gets the conjugations right wins their team a block in the pyramid!
• When a student wins a pyramid block, fill in that block with chalk or marker to indicate the progress.
• The first team with enough blocks to build their whole pyramid wins!

Best for:  Learning parts of speech

• Draw up the grid for tic-tac-toe on the board.
• Divide students up into two teams.
• Fill in each square of the grid with a part of speech you want students to practice. What exactly you choose to include here is totally flexible, and depends on what lessons you’d like to reinforce. If you’re studying verb conjugation in the present tense, for example, fill in the grid with verbs in their infinitive forms.
• The first team goes by choosing a square from the tic-tac-toe grid. They have to figure out, as a group, how to properly conjugate that verb.
• If they get the answer right, then they claim that square of the grid. If they get the answer wrong, then they lose their turn.
• Keep playing until one team scores a tic-tac-toe!

Best for:  Getting students physical as they reinforce grammar lessons

Go down to the school’s gymnasium, playground or set up a makeshift basketball hoop in the classroom. You can manage this without damaging school property by simply setting up a hula hoop or other plastic ring as the “hoop” and by playing with a small inflatable or foam ball.

• Break the students into two groups or have them play individually against the rest of their classmates.
• There are two ways to go about playing this one. Before being allowed to take a shot, each student must either:
• Answer a question with the appropriate featured grammar pattern.
• Create a basic statement using the featured grammar pattern.
• If the student gets their answer or statement wrong or doesn’t phrase it properly, they won’t get to take a shot.
• If the student passes this part of the game, they get to take a shot. If they score, they get 2 points. If they don’t score but got the question right, they get 1 point.

Best for:  Encouraging quick thinking about grammar points

• Use a foam or inflatable ball, and start up a fast-paced round or two of hot potato.
• The objective, of course, is to pass the ball around in a circle as fast as possible.
• Before passing the ball to the next student, the student holding the ball must show off their English grammar skills.
• When a student catches the ball, they must quickly think up a word that fits your given criteria, spit it out and pass the ball before the allotted time runs out.
• This is super flexible and can be adjusted to practice virtually any bit of grammar you’ve recently introduced or would like to review.

Example: Tell students learning the present tense that they must each say  one verb conjugated in the present tense, using first person singular or “I form.”  Each student will then have to say something like, “I run,” “I dance” or “I cry.” The ball gets passed around and around, with students being eliminated whenever they draw blanks or conjugate their verbs wrong.

For easier games, give each student 6-8 seconds. For harder, faster paced games, give students 2-3 seconds. You can also start slower and gradually increase the pace of the game as it progresses.

Best for:  Thinking quickly and creatively

• Start the class off by giving them a word which fits your desired theme.
• Restrict them to only certain parts of speech, such as nouns or verbs. For an extra challenging session, limit the words to certain moods and tenses. 
• The student who starts off the game will have to think of a word that begins with the last letter of the word you provided.
• If you’re practicing nouns and say “food,” then the student could say “dog” or “dish.” If you’re practicing with adjectives and started with “beautiful,” then the next student might say “lazy” or “loud.” 
• Go around the classroom playing this way and eliminating students who can’t think up words quickly enough.

You’ve got your pockets full of group ideas that work in class. But believe it or not, how you group your students might be more important than the actual activities you do.

But what’s the secret to grouping students the right way?

Here are four ways you can put your students together and why you might choose to group them each particular way.

Did you know that even native speakers change the way they talk based on who they’re talking to and that person’s language use? It’s part of the feedback mechanism of the brain and why you might acquire a bit of a Southern accent when talking to your friend from Alabama or why you might start dropping final g’s if you hang out in New York for any length of time.

Because when you group lower level students with higher level students, they’ll automatically and subconsciously improve their English usage just by hearing and talking to more advanced students . Crazy, isn’t it?

While a more advanced student will likely speak more like their lower level student partner, too, they aren’t losing out on the deal.  We learn more when we teach . And when you group advanced students with lower level students, they’ll learn by teaching the other members of their group even if they don’t realize what’s happening. If you have a mixed level class, don’t despair. Your students can learn as much from each other as they do from you when they’re in these types of groups.

While students can learn a lot by working with classmates at different language skill levels, that isn’t always the way you want to partner up your students. Sometimes mixed level groups can be dominated by advanced speakers and beginning students can get lost in the mix.

Not so when your groups are selected for their similar language proficiency.

In a group of all beginners, someone will have to speak up, and that means your lower level students will be talking more in class. In your group of all advanced students, everyone may want to drive the conversation. That means the members of that group will have to work on their discourse skills like taking turns speaking and using  active listening . If you have students who dominate the conversation in class, this might be the right type of group for you.

Have you ever heard that grouping students with others who speak the same first language is taboo? Forget about it. Your students will actually be able to help each other in very unique ways when they’re grouped with others that speak the same first language.

More advanced students understand the specific language struggles faced by beginning students and can help them through struggles that they themselves have already overcome. Your advanced students can also explain using their native language which is a great advantage when you’ve tried everything to communicate to your students and they still aren’t getting what you’re trying to say.

Grouping by the same first language is also an advantage when you’re discussing some sensitive topics, those that might hit a cultural hot button. While not every speaker of a language comes from the same culture, many do, and if you’re afraid of cultural flare-ups because of a certain topic, try grouping your students this way to minimize the drama that might otherwise come up.

Have I convinced you that grouping by the same native language is a good thing? Well, stop it. At least sometimes. Because mixed L1 groups are useful to students in other ways. When all the members of a group speak different first languages, they’ll all be forced to speak English in order to work together.

This is particularly useful if you have students that just won’t speak in English because they always have the chance to speak their first language. A mixed L1 group also gives your students the chance to experience different accents in English and as a result improve their listening skills. Culture can also come into play in these groups. By talking with people from different areas of the world, your students can develop a better appreciation for each other and their home cultures. It’s a great way to learn about people around the globe along with their traditions.

ESL games are as versatile as they are fun! They’re also a super important part of your lesson plans. Here’s why:

• They’re invaluable for building on your presentation (the first part of your PPP lesson plan ).
• They’ll help your students cultivate essential skills, both directly and organically.
• They’ll often get your students up and moving, which helps get the brain working.
• They’ll help your students internalize grammar and vocabulary through usage.
• They’ll aid the development of students’ English listening, reading, speaking, writing and thinking skills.
• They’ll improve your students’ communication, collaboration skills and confidence.
• They’re usually active —great for both classes that need somewhere to direct their energy and classes that need to kick it up a notch.
• They can be used at any time during class: as a beginning warm-up, as an end-of-class time-filler or in the middle as the bulk of your lesson.

Games can be implemented alongside any other teaching tools as well.

They’re useful during difficult or frustrating lessons to supplement traditional book learning time. They can also be used in conjunction with videos to keep your classes engaged from start to finish.

For level-appropriate videos with helpful tools, the FluentU  language learning program uses authentic clips made by native speakers to teach your students English.

The clips are organized by content and level, so you can ensure they’re the right amount of challenging for your class. The videos also have interactive subtitles, so students can hover over a word to see its definition or click on it for more information, including example sentences and contextual notes.

As the teacher, you can assign FluentU videos for homework, track student progress and create vocabulary lists for students to review with the digital flashcard feature. Then in class, you can practice the vocabulary together using one of the games listed above.

Working some fun ESL classroom games into your lesson plans every week creates an atmosphere of enthusiastic learning. Your students will have a blast while working on their English skills!

From artistic creativity to comedic scenarios, your students can experience English in a whole new way through these games. Even grammar can be exciting with games !

So, get started with these fun ESL games and bring learning to life!

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• Grades 6-12
• School Leaders

FREE Poetry Worksheet Bundle! Perfect for National Poetry Month.

19 Parts of Speech Activities That Will Up Your Grammar Game

It’s time to think beyond Mad Libs.

Learning nouns, verbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech can seem boring to kids. It’s one of those basic skills that they need to master grammar, but it doesn’t always seem like much fun. For years, teachers have used Mad Libs to spice it up, but there are plenty of other engaging parts of speech activities out there to try. Here are some of our favorites.

1. Color a parts of speech picture.

Coloring pages are really popular parts of speech activities, with hundreds of them available online. Try this one for free at the site below.

Learn more: A World of Language Learners

2. Make parts of speech signs.

Cut out the large letters and break your class into group by parts of speech. Have each group fill the letters with definitions and examples of their assigned part. Hang up their creations as part of your classroom decor!

Learn more: Panicked Teacher/Instagram

3. Play parts of speech bingo.

This free printable bingo game can be used over and over again in your classroom. Use it with vocabulary or spelling words, or terms from your current lessons in other subjects too.

Learn more: 123Homeschool4Me

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4. Re-purpose a set of UNO cards.

Replace the numbers on a set of UNO cards with words instead. The game play is the same, but instead of numbers, players much put down a matching color or part of speech.

Learn more: Best Teacher Resources Blog

5. Build sentences with LEGO bricks.

Sort LEGO bricks by color, then write words on them using masking tape. Use one color for all the nouns, another for verbs, and so on. Then, build sentences with the bricks, identifying each part of speech as you go.

Learn more: There’s Just One Mommy

6. Throw darts and give examples.

Snag a Velcro dart board at the dollar store and label the different sections with parts of speech. Kids throw a ball or dart, and have to give an example of the part they land on in order to get the points. Fun!

Learn more: The Kinder Teacher/Instagram

7. Face off in tic-tac-toe.

Label the parts of a tic-tac-toe board with various parts of speech. To get the square, the player must give an example of that type.

Learn more: Teacher Thrive

8. Bag it up.

This is really several parts of speech activities in one. Label a series of bags with the parts of speech, and have your class define each one as you go. Have students write a series of words on index cards (try using vocab or spelling words), then sort them into the correct bags. Finally, pull a word from each bag one at a time and ask a student to use it in a sentence.

Learn more: Education.com

9. Dress up a sentence.

Take a very basic sentence and dress it up using various parts of speech. Teachers and kids both love this one, since it really emphasizes practical application. Get a free printable worksheet to use with this here.

Photo: Teach Starter/Instagram

10. Use parts of speech clip cards.

Parts of speech activities like this one are perfect for independent learning centers. Visit the link for a free printable set of cards.

Learn more: This Reading Mama

11. Hunt and sort eggs.

Fill plastic eggs with a variety of words and hide them around your room (or even the playground). Send kids out to find them, then open and sort them into the correct bucket. ( Find more fun plastic egg activities for the classroom here. )

Learn more: For the Love of First Grade

12. Go on a parts of speech scavenger hunt.

Grab a stack of old magazines and send students on a hunt to find the various parts of speech. They can cut them out and glue them to posters to hang around the room.

Learn more: Miss Gorton’s Class/Instagram

13. Add a grammar twist to Jenga.

Use colored Jenga blocks to help kids review the parts of speech. Get the full rules and free printables at the link below.

Learn more: Teaching With Jennifer Findlay

14. Learn the Parts of Speech Poem.

This anonymously-written poem has been around a long time. Have your students learn it, and they can use it as a guide during all sorts of parts of speech activities.

Learn more: Teaching With Miss Cooper/Instagram

15. Play Hangman with parts of speech.

Put a grammar spin on Hangman by giving students a clue about the part of speech being spelled out.

Learn more: Crafting Connections

16. Make your morning message more meaningful.

Take a few moments to analyze your morning message (or any other memo or handout kids receive or read) to look for various parts of speech.

Learn more: Learning Like Littles

17. Match up parts of speech dominoes.

Make free printable word dominoes, then match a part of speech with an example word on each turn.

Learn more: Homeschool Giveaways & Freebies

18. Sort magnetic poetry words and make sentences.

If you’ve got magnetic poetry words on hand, they’re ideal for parts of speech activities! Sort them by type, then make sentences that fit specific patterns (e.g. “article + adjective + noun + helping verb + verb” etc.)

19. Sort vocabulary words with a free printable.

Use our free customizable printable to sort vocabulary words from your current lessons. Grab it here.

Looking for more ways to mix up your grammar lessons? Try these 6 Ways to Make Teaching Grammar Fun.

If you’re tired of hearing kids grumble when it’s time to talk poetry, check out these entertaining Poetry Games and Activities .

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Crazy Speech World

Creative Speech Therapy for Your Crazy Speech World

Fun Speech & Language Therapy Ideas for November

November is a great month to dive into all things gratitude and food! I also really like doing scarecrows during this month! I hope you find some great ideas for planning your therapy sessions below… what are your favorite November themes?

• The Scarecrow by Beth Ferry
• The Scarecrow's Hat by Ken Brown
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro
• Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant
• The Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Brown
• Scarecrow Roll and Color & Craft
• Green Screen Feed the Old Lady
• Old Lady Leaves book companion
• November Easy Crafts
• Story Grammar Foldable
• Open Ended Boom Cards
• The Scarecrow's Hat Mini Book Companion

• Turkey Trouble by Wendy Silvano
• Gracias, The Thanksgiving Turkey by Joy Cowley
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey by Lucille Colandro
• Turkey Inferencing & WH Questions
• Old Lady Turkey Book Companion
• No Prep Worksheets & Slides
• Turkey Writing Craft
• Roll a Turkey
• Super Turkey Articulation Game
• Turkey Scavenger Hunt
• Feed the Turkey
• Super Turkey Open Ended Game
• Easy Turkey Craft

Thanksgiving

• Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
• ‘ Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey
• Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet
• Bear Says Thanks Book Companion
• Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt
• Thanksgiving Vocabulary
• Thanksgiving No Prep
• November Toolkit
• Food Category Sort
• What's in the Oven? Google Slides Game

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5 Great Language Development Activities

Language Activities for Toddlers by Speech Therapists

In this blog, NAPA pediatric speech pathologists list five great language development activities for 2-3 year olds/preschoolers. These activities are simple enough to easily incorporate into your daily routine, keeping your child entertained while secretly promoting language development. 

5 Simple Activities to Encourage Speech and Language Development

Here are 5 language activities for preschoolers and toddlers that you can start using today. These activities will encourage speech and language development for your toddler, preschooler, and 2-3 year olds. Now, let’s tackle some language development activities! 

1. Building Blocks

Building towers and similar structures isn’t just a fun game to play; it also provides ample opportunity to work on language skills. You can introduce adjectives like “higher” and “up”, verbs such as “build” and “fall down,” as well as numbers and colors. As each block is added, take the time to explain to your child what is happening and ensure he or she uses the corresponding words to describe the action. Find more speech therapy toys we love here !

2. Role Play

Most children enjoy playing dress up games – role play will allow your child to explore his or her imagination without any restrictions. When you introduce different characters to the game, you can also introduce new words and help build your child’s language skills. If there are specific words or concepts you’ve been instructed to teach by your child’s therapist, create characters that allow you to work them in naturally.

3. Talk Your Way Through the Day

Since the goal is to have a child that is able to communicate with others using a wide and varied vocabulary, it makes sense to practice throughout the day in a range of situations. Point out things you see, hear, taste and smell and give your child an opportunity to respond and comprehend what you are saying. Talk about produce and products at the grocery store, what others are doing as you drive by them, different businesses and buildings and objects around your own house. Just remember to keep it simple and avoid “baby talk.”

4. Listen to Music

Listening to music with your child is an effective activity to encourage language development. Music has a beat and focuses on intonation, which can help with syllable awareness and other aspects of verbal communication. For some songs, you can also use accompanying books to follow along and point to pictures, or act out the lyrics from the song, which will create links for your child between actions and words.

5. Explore Books Together

It’s no secret that children love being told stories – you can use books to help develop language skills from an early age. Whether the books have pictures or not, make sure to focus on language and build associations in your child’s mind to help develop his or her language. Feel free to stop and discuss what’s happening as often as necessary, and always give your child the chance to talk about the story once the book is finished.

If you can incorporate these kinds of language development activities into your child’s routine, you will be able to make progress without having it feel like a chore — for you or your child!

Find Additional Speech Activities for Toddlers in the NAPA Blog:

• 5 Tips to Help Your Toddler’s Speech, Language, and Communication Development
• Games for Child Language & Social Skill Development
• 18-Month-Old Not Talking? Try These 5 Strategies at Home
• Encourage Speech with a Nature Walk
• Switch Adapted Toys for Speech
• Turn Taking Toys for Language Development

Providing Help For Children Experiencing Speech Delays

Many children with diagnoses such as autism , cerebral palsy , TBI , and Down syndrome often experience delays or deficits in language development. Delays in language development make it more difficult for children to communicate with family members, teachers and therapists resulting in frustration, potential delays in social development, and difficulties in academic settings. If your child has trouble learning new words, has problems stringing words together in sentences or has consistent trouble getting the message across verbally, there are things you can do to help. Recognizing and treating language delays as early as possible will allow your child to communicate effectively and set the stage for greater independence in the future. If you think your child or loved one may benefit from pediatric speech therapy at NAPA Center, contact our team today to schedule your free consultation.

About NAPA Center 

Related posts, blogs videos, 4 at home activities with an exercise ball, understanding the vestibular sense and vestibular input, how to make the gait trainer more fun, privacy overview.

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100+ fun activities for kids that will keep them entertained for hours! Target speech development through play and games. They won’t even know they are learning!

Learn about your baby and toddler developmental milestones! Check if you are on track, when to worry, and how to work on skills like language, potty training, and feeding!

Every child is different! Here are speech and language tips and tools for kids with learning differences, alongside information for parents provided by speech therapists.

Parenting starts with your well-being! Here is some advice on how to teach life skills, work from home, distance learning, along with tips for developing parenting coping skills.

We help kids speak no matter their speech challenges! Speech therapists advise parents about late talkers, speech delay, stuttering, apraxia, articulation, and other speech impediments.

From your first worry to your first appointment, and your last speech therapy session – find the information you need to help your child thrive and gain necessary speech skills.

Parent's Academy › Activities for Kids › Language Activities › 21 Kids Activities to Encourage Speech Development

21 Kids Activities to Encourage Speech Development

SAHM Blogger, Masters in Psychology , Dallas , Texas

Jan 15, 2022 From day one, your baby is listening to you intently to eventually communicate with you. Those listening skills will then turn into eye contact, cries, smiling, giggling, babbling, and more. In fact, your baby’s first communication begins with crying.

Have you ever noticed your baby cries differently for different needs? Different cries are baby’s way of communicating with you!

But how do a baby’s cries develop into speech? By the age of one, your baby will develop both nonverbal and verbal language skills to communicate. To help your baby develop essential language milestones, here are 21 kids’ speech activities to foster listening skills and speech development for your baby!

One-Year-Old Speech and Language Milestones

During year one, most babies develop the following language milestones:

• Recognizes familiar voices
• Responds to familiar voices by smiling and laughing
• Coos, squeals, shouts
• Has different cries for different needs
• Communicates through gestures (points to a bottle to tell you he/she needs more milk)
• Repeats sound or actions/gestures
• Responds to simple instructions (“Come here please”)
• Repeats words
• Recognizes the names of common objects
• Shows interest in reading books

Take this free cutting-edge 3-minute quiz . You will find out if your child is on track with his milestones and receive a free report with a personalized plan of learning. Speech Blubs is full of activities to encourage speech development!

Let’s Encourage Your Child’s Speech Development!

Take this quiz and get a report on your child’s milestones and a personalized learning plan to start progressing with Speech Blubs!

21 Kids Activities for Speech and Language Development

1. animal jam.

Simply say phrases like:

• A cow goes ‘moo’
• A duck says ‘quake’
• A chicken goes ‘cluck’

This helps your baby recognize the names of common animals along with their unique sounds. The best part about Animal Jam is it can be done anywhere, even in the car!

2. Sound Stories

Storytime is a wonderful time to bond with your baby. But it is also a way to enrich your baby’s language development. To learn speech skills, your baby also needs to learn nonverbal communication and sounds in response to everyday things. Instead of reading through a book,  make reading fun by adding facial expressions, voice inflections, sound effects, and animal sounds .

3. Talk Back

Babies communicate by crying, cooing, and squealing to get your attention.  When he/she is communicating with you, start talking back.  If your baby coos, coo back. If baby smiles at you from across the room, smile back while saying ‘Hello’ and waving.

Babies learn through imitation. Over time your baby will not only smile, but say ‘Hello’ back to you while waving.

4. Name That Color

Everything is made of color. To help foster early color recognition,  say the colors of everything you see .

For example: Name the colors of cars passing by while taking a walk to the park; tell your baby what color clothes he/she is wearing, toy colors, and more!

Whether you can keep a tune or not, your baby doesn’t care!  Singing is a perfect way to provide a language learning opportunity  that includes voice inflections, new words, and facial expressions. So go ahead and make a silly face while singing at the top of your lungs!

6. Monkey See, Monkey Do

“Monkey see, monkey do” is all about facial expressions. Facial expressions are an important aspect of speech development because they convey emotions. Research suggests that nonverbal forms of communication like facial expressions make up 60 to 65% of communication.

To encourage increased emotions through facial expressions,  hold your baby in front of you and mimic his/her facial expressions . When your baby smiles, smile back. Better yet! Stick out your tongue, make a silly face, and watch to see if baby repeats your expressions.

7. Mirror, Mirror

Since tummy time is an essential part of a baby’s physical development,  take advantage of tummy time by using a mirror . Not only will baby enjoy his/her reflection, but each time a coo or giggle is made your baby can see where the sound is coming from and his/her facial expressions when ‘speaking.’

After a diaper change or anytime your baby is on his/her back,  take baby’s legs in move them in bicycle motions  while singing a silly song or reciting a nursery rhyme. The bicycling motion will allow baby to focus on your face while you sing or speak to her/him.

9. Face-To-Face

Face-to-face is one of my favorite fun activities for promoting speech development! Lay on the floor with your little one and face each other. Point to areas of her/his face while naming the parts of the face. This will help your baby not only learn hand/eye coordination, but early recognition of parts of the face.

Better yet, take this activity one step further by doing the following example:

• Point to baby’s nose and say ‘nose’
• Take baby’s hand and touch your nose while saying ‘nose’

Having baby touch your nose allows her/him to understand that everyone has similar body parts with the same names.

10. Repeat after Me

This simple game works best when facing your baby.  Start making babbling sounds AKA baby talk  (especially with vowel sounds) and wait for your baby to repeat them back to you. Some common coos and babbling sounds include: Oohh/aww; mamma/dada.

This type of speech normally does not develop until four months of age. So don’t be upset if your one-month-old is not catching on, just give it time. Before long you and baby will be chattering back-and-forth.

11. Say My Name

One of the biggest language developments a baby will make is learning/recognizing his/her name! While it’s different for every baby, most babies will recognize and respond to their names between 3 to 6 months of age.

To help baby along with this language development, say your baby’s name whenever possible. Some fun ways to say your baby’s name include:

• Adding his/her name to a silly song,
• Asking a question with his/her name,
• Replacing the names of book characters with your baby’s name.

To develop language babies need to repeat or ‘echo’ words. A great way to include new words and increase language skills is by adding expressive phrases to everyday situations.

For instance, if your baby drops his/her bottle on the floor say, “Oh no!”

I’ve found this activity also helps develop speech by adding sound effects to baby’s activities.  Each time your baby jumps while holding him/her, add a sound effect like “ boing, boing .” While trying to calm your crying baby, rock him/her back and forth while saying, “swoosh, swoosh.”

Over time, baby will begin to “echo” what he/she hears.

I know it seems silly, and that’s because it is! Echo is meant to be a fun learning activity for babies, so the sillier you get with sound effects and funny phrases the more baby absorbs new words, sounds, and phrases.

13. This Little Piggie

Next time, your baby is laying on his/her back, grab a foot and start saying the rhyme “This Little Piggie.” Since this game doesn’t number each of the five toes, the rhyme needs to be modified to help baby learn numbers.

Instead of saying “This little piggie went to the market” say, “The first little piggie went to the market; the second little piggie stayed home,” etc.

Another I’ve done the rhyme to help with number recognition is by saying the rhyme the following way:

• “One little piggie went to the market”
• “Two little piggies stayed home”
• “Three little piggies had roast beef”
• “Four little piggies had none”
• “And five little piggies cried wee, wee, wee all the way home”

While this may give the rhyme much more little piggies,  it still allows your baby to hear each number and count the number with each toe .

14. Carpool

Carpool is an activity that’s perfect for crawling babies! While baby is crawling, get down and your hands and knees and teach baby how to push a car or truck as she/he is crawling. Your baby doesn’t have to keep a constant hand on the car, just a little push in between crawling motions.

To include speech development,  add car sound effects ;  tell a funny story  about the car ride;  sing  “Wheels on the Bus/Car/Truck”; etc.

15. Roll-A-Ball

This game if perfect for babies who can sit unsupported and have decent hand/eye coordination.  Simply take a (medium- to large-sized) ball and roll the ball directly toward him/her.  Incorporate language skills by saying phrases like “Here is your red ball!”

Roll-A-Ball can become more advanced by helping baby understand simple instructions and responding to those instructions. Try rolling a ball over to him/her and asking him/her to roll the ball back. 

16. Count with Me

You can help your baby with learning numbers by counting out loud to him/her every day. This activity doesn’t require extra effort on your part, simply start talking and counting out loud.

The following are great ways to include number counting each day:

• Count each stair step as you carry baby upstairs,
• Count how many bananas you bought at the store,
• Count baby’s fingers and toes.

17. Disappear, Reappear

Instead of playing a regular game of peek-a-boo, try playing with your baby’s favorite toy or stuffed animal.  Hide his/her toy from view. Wait and few seconds and say “ peek-a-boo .” You can also incorporate more speaking skills into the game by adding some creative dialogue!

Examples: “Peek-a-boo! There you are . . . Mister Bear missed you so much! Thank goodness you found him!”

18. Finger Puppets

Small finger or hand puppets are an amazing way to help develop language skills for your little one! By using finger or hand puppets to tell a story you are showing baby the following language and speech skills:

• Different facial expressions  to show emotions when speaking
• Creative dialogue  between two or more puppets (similar to speaking between two people).

19. Fruits and Veggies

Much of a baby’s speech development has to do with repetitive hearing and use of everyday words. One way to help with word recognition of common fruits and vegetables is by  playing pretend with plastic fruits and vegetables .

Although baby will need to be supervised with pretend plastic food because of small pieces, he/she will learn how to recognize a banana, carrot, pear, and more! 

Also, don’t forget to count your fruits and veggies for number recognition!

20. Picture This

One of the easiest ways to help develop language skills in babies is through flashcards. Flashcards with pictures and writing  help your baby begin to recognize what the picture or action is on the card  along with the corresponding word or phrase. 

While your baby won’t say the words out loud for a while, it helps him/her to recognize the picture with the associated word. 

21. Build a Tower

Building a tower with blocks is perfect for developing hand/eye coordination. But this activity can also be used for encouraging language development in babies.

As you watch or directly help your child stack blocks,  say the color of the block along with counting the blocks  as the tower is being stacked. Many available baby blocks also have pictures in which you can describe the picture to your baby. For instance: If you have blocks with animals pictured on them, name each animal along with the sound the animal makes.

It’s a Process

Speech development is more than speaking words. It is a complex system of verbal and nonverbal communication. To express emotions and thoughts you baby will first begin to cry to communicate his or her needs to you.

After communication crying, the sky is the limit for speech development and your baby! 

But your baby needs your help along the way! The best way to develop language skills by year one is through imagination and play. 

Each of the 21 activities above combines:

• Imaginative play,
• Simple instructions for you and baby to follow,
• Activities involving both verbal and nonverbal speech.

So start playing some of these fun speech and language activities to give your baby a head start before he or she turns one!

Read more on  how to utilize kids activities  to reach developmental milestones! If your toddler already reached their wonderful twos, consider  using  Speech Blubs App  in combination with offline games for kids to build their vocabulary .

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The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not necessarily reflect the views of Blub Blub Inc. All content provided on this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for independent professional medical judgement, advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.

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5 activities to celebrate english language month

Having trouble coming up with something to do to celebrate English language month? Here are 5 ideas for ways to celebrate the English language and have fun at the same time!

• 1.1 Word Pieces
• 1.2 Story Cubes
• 1.3 Act Out a Story
• 1.4 Preposition Play
• 1.5 Word or Story Doodle

Story Cubes

Story cubes and other board games can be played at any time, but making up fun stories seems like a perfect way to celebrate English language month!

Simply follow the rules on the box to create your own wacky stories. With a little imagination, there is no limit to the fun you can have.

Act Out a Story

Playing make believe is great for brain development and critical thinking. And children like it because it’s fun – especially when parents play, too!

To throw a little English in the fun, read the children a story and have them act it out. Or (even better) have a child read for the other children (and adults) to act out. This is a fantastic way to make reading fun again for children who are starting to feel like reading is work.

Preposition Play

English has over a hundred prepositions, and we mostly learn them by hearing them used and reading them. That’s because few people offer ways to practice prepositions besides rote memorization. That’s not entertaining at all!

With a little creativity, however, a preposition review or quiz can be much more entertaining. Have your children each pick out a favorite toy (a doll, stuffed animal, or action figure is perfect). Then, as you name a preposition, each child has to use the toy to demonstrate that preposition with the furniture around them. If you want to direct the play, you can even say which object to use, as well.

This not only makes preposition practice more fun but also emphasizes the purpose of prepositions, which can be really helpful when students get to prepositional phrases later.

Word or Story Doodle

Another great way for students to explore language is to draw it. If your child is into art, have him or her pick a word to draw from the latest set of vocab words. Or take the stories the child made in the story cubes game and illustrate them.

Images bring the words and stories to life, and drawing helps children develop decision-making skills and creativity. Win-win!

Which activity did you try? We’d love to hear how it worked for you!

Author: Elizabeth F., Writer and Teacher at  A Grade Ahead

Keyingi marta fikr bildirishim uchun bu brauzerda mening ismim, email va saytim manzili saqlansin.

Matn nusxasini olish taqiqlanadi! Shaxsiy ehtiyoj uchun kerak bo'lsa, telegram: @sadikovuz

Talking & Language Development

Language & Communication

12 to 14 months

Babbling, Pointing, Crying

You wait patiently for months to hear your baby’s first words, but what will they be? You might assume “Mama” or “Dada,” but there are other common first words that might surprise you. Here’s what to know about your baby’s language development, including how to encourage those first words.

In this article:

• When do babies start talking? 

What are the most common first words?

How can i encourage my baby to talk, can sign language help babies communicate before they start talking, how does bilingualism affect language development, language development milestones by age.

• Developmental concerns with talking

When do babies start talking?

Babies often say their first word between 12 and 14 months. By the time they’re 15 months of age, they may have learned between one and three words. 

Long before they’re able to say recognizable words however, babies babble and use gestures to communicate, such as pointing , reaching, and clapping. Babies also develop receptive language skills—the ability to understand words and language—before expressive language skills, or the ability to communicate and express their thoughts, needs, and emotions. 

By 12 to 15 months, your toddler may understand between 20 and 100 words. Even earlier, at 5 to 9 months, your baby may show they understand what you’re saying by turning their head or looking when they hear their name.

Common first words for babies include people (Mama, Dada, Nana), greetings (hi or bye-bye), food-related words (yum or nom) or names for items they use often, such as bottle or ball (bah-bah or ba).

Why do babies tend to learn these words first? Research suggests that babies’ earliest words use sounds they can easily see and hear how to pronounce. Think about the words “mama” or “ball:” As you say them, your top and bottom lips meet to form the “m” and “b,” known as bilabial sounds. Your baby can see how your mouth makes the sound, which may make it easier for them to reproduce it. Findings from the study of languages including French, Swedish, and Japanese suggest that words with these bilabial sounds are among the first words babies learn.

You may wonder what “counts” as a word when your baby is first learning to talk. Experts suggest that if your baby uses a word or word approximation consistently and on their own—not imitating someone else—it counts as a word in their emerging vocabulary. For example, if your baby consistently uses “bah-bah” when pointing to or indicating a bottle, that is their “word” for a bottle.

Lovevery co-founder Jessica Rolph shows how to use the ‘Things I See’ Texture Cards to encourage your baby’s first words:

Explore the ‘Things I See’ Texture Cards with The Inspector Play Kit

The Inspector Play Kit

The Inspector Play Kit exposes your 7 – 8 month old to the world with detailed sensory experiences by exploring texture, practicing nesting and stacking, and learning about object permanence.

You play a key role in supporting your baby’s language development—your baby learns to talk through the process of listening and interacting with you. Try these ideas to encourage them:

Narrate your day . Talk to your baby often, using a slow, higher-pitched voice . You can talk about anything, from everyday activities to favorite playthings. Studies show that the number of words a baby understands relates to how often they’ve heard high-frequency words that describe everyday things—objects, people, places, and actions. As much as you can, get down to your baby’s eye level and show interest in what they’re doing, looking at, and playing with—and label it.

Listen and respond . Tune into your baby’s vocalizations and attempts to communicate by responding as if you understand. This process helps establish a strong serve-and-return relationship with your baby. Even at this young age, they’re beginning to learn how back-and-forth conversational patterns work: You say something, and then they respond. Your baby’s response may be a smile, a raspberry, a movement, a facial expression, a coo, or a babble. Playfully mimicking your baby’s babble can accelerate their language skills.  

Say it again . Repeat key words like “up,” names of family members, “uh-oh,” and favorite foods.

Fill in the word . Tune into your baby’s cues and teach them the word they want to say. For example, if they say “ba, ba, ba” while looking around, and you think they might be looking for their bottle, ask them and repeat the word. For example, “Do you want your bottle? I see your bottle right here. Here’s your bottle. Bottle.”

Give them opportunities. Offer a choice between two favorite playthings and ask which one they want, giving them the name of each item. If they point or make a sound rather than saying the word, give them the plaything and repeat its name. Or sing a familiar song and pause at the end of phrases to elicit a sound or a word— “Twinkle, twinkle, little…”

Read often . Reading to your baby supports their language development, even if story time only lasts a minute or two. Don’t feel like you need to finish a book or even read every word; instead, follow your baby’s lead. Describe a particular picture they’re interested in rather than finishing the book. Label the picture with a word or two, then wait, giving your baby a chance to try to repeat the word.

Babies who learn sign language develop pathways for communication sooner than they would otherwise, research suggests. According to speech and language experts, your baby’s signs can be included in their early word count—as long as they’re used consistently and in the appropriate context.

Signing helps support your child’s ability to communicate before they develop solid verbal language skills. Your baby’s use of sign language may also help reduce frustration because it gives your baby more ways to communicate with you. Signing can help support your baby’s fine motor skills as well. 

Tips for introducing your child to sign language:

Experts recommend that families use the real sign language used by Deaf people in their region—for instance, American Sign Language (ASL). This way, your baby’s early signed words can develop into real language.

Start with functional words. When introducing sign language to your baby, start with a few basic, functional signs that they can easily copy. Choose signs for everyday objects or activities in your baby’s routine, like “eat,” “milk,” “more,” “help,” or “all done.”  

Say it while you sign it. When you say the word as you model the sign, your baby can associate signs with the corresponding spoken words. For example, when you say the word “eat,” also use the sign for “eat” at the same time.  Be consistent. Like any other language, learning to sign takes patience, repetition, and practice.

Lovevery child development expert Rachel Coley explains how to support early sign language in this video from The Lovevery App :

Bilingualism doesn’t contribute to speech delays, research shows. Bilingual children may say their first words slightly later than children who speak only one language, but within about the same age range of 12 to 15 months. 

If your baby is being raised in a bilingual home , they aren’t any more likely than monolingual babies to have difficulties with language learning. Early on, bilingual children often know fewer words in each of their languages than children who only speak one language—for example, an English-Spanish speaking child may know fewer words in English than a child who only speaks that language. But when you count words across both languages, bilingual children commonly know about the same number of total words as their monolingual peers. They also tend to develop grammar along the same patterns and timelines as monolingual children. 

Between birth and age 3, your baby is hard-wired to absorb language, so if you would like your child to be bilingual, it’s best to expose them to multiple languages even before they can talk. Your baby won’t become confused; rather, their brain will pick up on the differences between the languages and begin building connections to support each of them. Bilingualism benefits your child in more ways than just their expressive language ability, or what they can say. For example, bilingualism can help their brain processing become faster and more efficient.

Tips for supporting bilingualism in your child:

Speak to your baby often. Narrate your baby’s experiences and what’s happening in the world around them, making sure to provide consistent exposure to both languages. Practice responding to their vocalizations as though the two of you are having a conversation.

Read books in multiple languages. The more your baby is exposed to language and emotionally responsive interactions, the better. Some research even shows that babies adjust their babbles and intonations in response to the language being used by their caregivers.  

Sing or play music. Like bilingual books, music lets your baby hear words in both languages. You can try singing simple songs in each language. Eventually, your child will be able to mimic some of the words of the song.  

Child speech expert Veronica Fernandez, PhD, explains the benefits of learning two languages—and how bilingualism may support speech development:

Language development is a complex process that involves cognitive, social, and even physical skills. From your baby’s first day at home with you, they’re listening to words all around them. 

Although each language is unique, all the world’s languages have a set of basic elements. Each of these elements or sounds are what researchers call phonemes. For example, there are approximately 44 phonemes, or distinct sounds, within the English language. Your baby’s brain is primed to pick out these phonemes, or sounds, while interacting with you or others. As your baby grows, they watch your mouth movements and listen for phonemes to understand and mimic language sounds, until at last they are able to say their first words.

Here’s what to listen for as your baby’s language and communication skills develop over time:

Language development from newborn to 3 months

From the first hours of life, your baby is working out how to communicate their needs and preferences through crying and small sounds. During this stage of language development, your baby may:

• Make sounds when they’re comfortable or content (0 to 3 months)
• Cry when they’re hungry or uncomfortable (0 to 1 month)
• Start making sucking sounds (0 to 1 month)
• Make sounds other than crying, like squeaks and grunts (1 to 2 months)
• Squeal (2 to 6 months)
• Make cooing vowel sounds, like “oooooh” and “aaaaaah” (2 to 4 months)
• Respond with sounds when you talk to them (2 to 4 months)

When do babies start cooing?

Your baby may begin cooing around 2 to 4 months of age. A typical coo consists of a single-syllable, open-vowel sound like “ahh” or “ohh.” These sounds require hardly any rounding of the lips. 

After a couple of months, your baby’s sounds will progress to closed-vowel sounds, such as “oooo” or “eeee,” where the mouth is not as wide or open. If your baby isn’t cooing yet, there are a few activities you can do to encourage this skill:

Allow mouthing. Let your baby mouth safe objects and their hands. Mouthing may aid in later language development by strengthening the jaws and lips for speech.

Start the conversation. Start the cooing “conversation” by sitting face-to-face with your baby and making a sound like “ahh” or “ohh.” They may repeat it or make their own sound. Either way, repeat it and add another sound. Try to use exaggerated lip movements and a high-pitched tone. Give your baby several seconds to respond—it takes a little longer for their brain to process new input. Diaper changes and bath time are great opportunities to practice these “conversation” skills.

Make eye contact. Research shows that babies vocalize more when they gaze into an adult’s eyes. Smile and gaze back at them while talking softly, and watch their cues—when your baby starts to avert their gaze, they’re ready for a break. 

Mimic or respond . Mimicking your baby’s sounds is one of the most effective ways to promote early language skills. Focus on making eye contact , smiling, and imitating your baby when they start cooing. Your baby will be motivated to continue vocalizing if they get a consistent response from you ❤️

As your baby coos more and their jaw, tongue, and lip control improve, they’ll progress to diphthongs, which are vowels that go from one sound to another, such as “ahh-ooh.”

Lovevery child development expert Rachel Coley demonstrates how the Black & White Card Set can help you “talk” with your baby:

Explore more early language play with The Charmer Play Kit

The Charmer Play Kit

The Charmer Play Kit is designed to let your 3 – 4 month old baby explore with their mouth, eyes, and hands as their personality emerges and their social awareness grows.

Language development from 3 to 6 months  

This phase of your baby’s development brings some exciting and adorable additions to your baby’s language skills. In this stage, they’re working on discovering their voice and communicating with you through a variety of sounds—cooing, squealing, and babbling. During this stage of language development, your baby may:

• Take turns making sounds with you (2 to 6 months) 
• Blow “raspberries” (4 to 6 months) 
• Babble or make various sound combinations, like “ba,” “da,” or “ma” (4 to 7 months)
• Make a high-pitched squeal when happy or excited (4 to 6 months)
• Use reduplicated babbling with consonant sounds, like “mamama” and “bababa” (5 to 9 months)

When do babies understand their name?

Your baby may start to recognize their name around 6 to 7 months of age—you may see your little one smile or look up when you call their name. This is a skill that develops over several months, so if your 6-month-old baby doesn’t respond to their name yet, be patient.

To help your baby know their name, try to use it often as you talk to them: “Sara, here’s your bottle,” or “Here comes the ball, Charlie!”

When do babies start to babble?

Many babies start to babble “baba-baba” around 6 months. Around this age, your baby will discover their own voice and the fun (and loud!) sounds they can make. 

You might be surprised to learn that your baby has different types of babbling. As they become more accustomed to vocalizing, they’re able to articulate different combinations of sounds: 

Chain babbling (commonly starts between 4 and 6.5 months): You may hear a consistent string of single-consonant and single-vowel sounds, such as “babababababa,” as your baby works on coordinating their lips, tongue and jaw movements. Encourage these vocalizations by smiling and responding with similar babbling sounds.  

Babbling double consonants (may start between 5 and 8 months): Once your baby learns better breathing control and coordination of their mouth, they may begin double-consonant babbles such as  “baba” and “mama.” During this phase, try incorporating fun double-consonant words into your interactions: say “bye-bye” when your pet leaves the room, for instance. You can also try imitating your baby’s babbling chains, but intentionally shorten them: if they say “bababababa,” respond with “baba.”

Babbling with others (often starts between 5.5 and 6.5 months): As your baby’s babbling progresses, they may begin to babble back and forth with you, almost like a real conversation. Encourage their babbling by responding—even if it feels silly 🙃 You can repeat their sounds or respond as though you know exactly what they’re saying: “Oh, really? I can’t believe it!” All of this reinforces the idea that talking is a way to communicate with others.

Ways to support your baby’s language development at 3 to 6 months : 

“Parentese” (4 months) : You know the high-pitched, singsong, exaggerated voice that many of us instinctively use with babies? Research suggests that it’s highly beneficial for language development. Known as “parentese,” this engaging speaking style is effective at grabbing a baby’s attention and helping them learn words faster. 

A great time to use parentese is when you’re reading with your baby. Sit down together and look at the Wooden Book . Your slow, exaggerated sounds and varied pitch will make them think: “This book is exciting! I love that fish!” Don’t be surprised if they try to imitate your speech with a coo or squeal.

Slow-paced “conversations” with your baby (4 to 10 months): Around 4 to 10 months of age, your baby is beginning to comprehend that words represent actual objects and events. To your baby, adult conversation sounds something like this: “Areyouhungrywanttoeat?” Your adult brain is able to insert space between the words, but your baby’s brain can’t do that yet.                  

This is why it can be helpful to speak at a slightly slower pace. Your baby will be able to hear the separation between words and sounds more easily. Enjoy these “conversations” with your baby by responding to the sounds they make. As you’re headed out together for the day, narrate your actions step by step, saying, “Now we’re going over to the door. I’m going to touch the handle and open it. I’m opening the door with my hand. Oh, do you feel that? There’s a little breeze outside. Do you feel the air on your face? I can feel it on my face. The sun is shining, too.”

Reinforce language with touch : Boost receptive language—words they understand before they can say them—by naming parts of the body. Start by looking through the “Parts of Me” Book together, naming and pointing at body parts in the pictures and then on your baby’s body. Reinforce this by touching the Organic Cotton Rainbow Ball to each body part on your baby again. Rub it against your baby’s leg as you say, “leg,” then touch it to your baby’s hand and say, “hand.” This is a great way to link auditory and tactile input to language. 

Watch Lovevery child development expert Rachel Coley demonstrate how to teach language through sensory play:

Language development from 6 to 9 months 

At this stage of development, your baby is becoming more aware of the world and people around them. This growing awareness is also evident in their language skills. Your baby is beginning to recognize their own name more often and possibly even recognize the names of others. Their babbling may start to take on new clarity, and you may begin to have “conversations” with them as you respond to their babbling. During this stage of language development, your baby may:

• Babble consonant sounds, like “mamama” and “bababa” (5 to 9 months) 
• Turn their head or look when they hear their name called (5 to 9 months)
• Lift their arms to ask you to pick them up (6 to 9 months) 
• Look to find familiar people or pets when asked, “Where is ____?”  (6 to 9 months) 

New babbling skills at 6 to 9 months Babbling is a pre-speech skill that develops in stages. The second of these stages is known as reduplicated babbling, and you’ll hear it as simple double-consonant sounds such as “baba” and “mama.” 

You may wonder if those babbles have meaning, but they don’t yet.​​ That said, babbles do play an important role in language acquisition. When your child babbles, it strengthens and builds coordination in their lips, tongue, jaw, and voice box, so they can articulate sounds more clearly. Between 11 and 14 months, your baby may “Dada” or “Mama” on purpose ❤️

Did you know that the way you respond to your baby’s babbling can actually shape the way they communicate? In a 2014 study, researchers found that babies whose parents responded to their babbles frequently and sensitively showed an increase in new consonant-vowel vocalizations (“baba, mama, dada”) that sounded more and more like discernible words. The babies also began directing their babbling at their caregiver, indicating a more advanced understanding of how social communication works.

Ways to support your baby’s language development at 6 to 9 months:

Respond to your baby’s babbling : Try to figure out what your baby is babbling about and respond supportively. If your baby is playing with the Spinning Rainbow , you might say, “Wow! The rainbow is going so fast. Do you see all those colors fly by?” This helps your baby understand that words have meaning and can be used to describe their experience.

Repetition really matters : When it comes to developing your baby’s vocabulary, repetition really helps. One study found that babies who heard the same repeated words were better able to understand their meaning. By age 2, those same children also had stronger vocabulary and language comprehension.

• If an object or person attracts your baby’s attention, repeat the words for those things. For example, if you see your baby stare at a dog, you can say, “You’re looking at the dog. Dog! Woof-woof!” 
• Slow down and emphasize the word that you’re trying to teach.
• Use a new word in different circumstances and contexts. This can help reinforce and deepen your baby’s understanding of a word. 
• Repeat your baby’s babbles. Try to figure out the real word your baby may be trying to communicate and say it aloud. 

Up-close connection : Get face-to-face while playing, eating, or exploring. This allows you to share the moment and encourage your baby’s communication attempts.

Wait for it: Instead of rushing to give your baby something they want, place it farther away or hesitate so you create an opportunity for them to ask for it with a gesture, sound, or first word.

Give details : Use clear and simple language and vary the structure. For example, don’t just ask questions (“Do you want the car?”) but also label (“That’s a car”), add detail (“It’s a big, blue car”), narrate (“We’re driving in the car”), and exclaim (“The car is going so fast!”).

Fun sounds : Incorporate sounds and words that are fun to hear and make like “boom,” “yuck,” “yummy,” “beep-beep,” or “ouch!” Pair these with exaggerated voices or facial expressions so they’re easier to remember and understand.

Playful imitation : Imitate your baby’s actions, facial expressions, sounds, and words to let them know they’re communicating effectively. 

Reading : Books are great for introducing sounds, vocabulary, and ideas. Take your time and enthusiastically emphasize different words and concepts.

Language development at 9 to 12 months

As your baby approaches their first birthday, they may not be able to say real words yet. However, they’re able to understand a lot more than they can say. For example, your baby may pause sometimes when they hear the word “no,” indicating they know what this word means. 

Many parents underestimate how many words their babies or young toddlers already understand. Try watching closely for non-verbal signals to get a better idea of what your baby knows. 

By about 9 to 14 months, your baby may respond to what you say by turning their head, lifting their arms, or using other body language. You may notice your toddler turn toward a family member when asked, “Where’s Papa?” or lift their arms when you say, “Would you like up?” These are indications that their receptive vocabulary—the collection of words they understand—is expanding. Ask them questions or make simple requests: “Where’s the dog?” or “Hand me the spoon, please.” Watch how your toddler responds to see what words they may know. 

During this stage of language development, your baby may: 

• Babble consonant sounds, like “mamama” and “bababa” (5 to 9 months)
• Look to find familiar people or pets when asked, “Where is ____?” (6 to 9 months) 
• Call you or another caregiver by a special name, like “Mama” or “Dada” (10 to 12 months)
• Pause sometimes when they hear the word “no” (10 to 12 months)
• Repeat sounds or try to imitate words (10 to 14 months)
• Wave “bye-bye” (10 to 12 months) 

Ways to support your baby’s language development at 9 to 12 months :

Play imitation games : Imitate your baby’s gestures, sounds, and words. When they babble and smile at you, babble back. Pause to give your baby a moment to respond and repeat. 

Notice what your baby notices: If you’re out for a walk and your baby calls out, stop and see if you can guess what has caught their attention. You could say: “I heard you shout! What do you see? Oh! Is it the dog?”

Describe what they see: If your baby is looking toward an object, you can describe what you see: “I notice you are looking at the cups ! Here, let me help you reach them.”

Lots of labeling: Label items in your environment. Point to an object or pick it up, and call it by name. For example, at mealtime, hold a banana at eye level and say, “Here is your banana! Yum!” If you are playing with your baby on the floor, hold up two toys, “Look! I have a ball (move it toward them) and a book (move the book toward them). I wonder which one you want?” Watch to see which your baby looks at or reaches for. Name their choice: “Oh! You picked the ball!” 

Narrate your day: Narrate throughout the day to bring awareness to what your baby and you are doing. You can say things like “I see you banging those balls together! Bang, bang, bang!” “I’m pouring milk into your bottle!”  “I’m going to clean your bottom. Oh, sorry, the wipe is cold!”

Language development for toddlers from 12 to 24 months

As your child reaches their first birthday, their language skills may become more obvious. Their receptive language is developing, so they may understand your questions and respond with gestures, head nods, or pointing to communicate with you. They may also start to say their first words between 12 and 15 months of age.

Your toddler may also use non-verbal communication to ask for what they need: They may shake their head “no,” nod their head “yes,” or clap when they’re excited. This shows they know these actions carry meaning, and they’re using them to tell you something. 

During this stage of language development, your child may:

• String together babbles with inflection and gestures as if talking (12 to 24 months)
• Use gestures like pointing to get something they want or communicate (10 to 15 months)
• Say one to two words or word approximations, like “ba” for “bottle” or “woof” for dog, in addition to whatever they call you (12 to 15 months)
• Follow a simple direction combined with a gesture (“Bring me the ball” as you point at a ball) 
• Wave hello or goodbye in social encounters, after some practice (9 to 14 months)
• Understand one-step verbal directions without the help of gestures to communicate meaning (15 to 18 months)
• Say around three or more words or word approximations, like “ba” for “bottle” or “woof” for dog (15 to 18 months)
• Say the word or shake their head to say “no” (15 to 18 months)
• Identify at least one body part by pointing to or touching it when named (13 to 24 months)
• Point to things in a book in response to a simple question, like “Where is the moon?” (15 to 24 months)
• Put two words together, like “More milk” (18 to 24 months)
• Identify up to two body parts by pointing to them (18 to 24 months)
• Use several gestures in addition to waving and pointing (15 to 24 months) 
• “Sing” or use gestures to familiar rhymes and songs (12 to 24 months)
• Ask “what that” or “that?” while they point to things in the environment (18 to 30 months)

When do babies say “Mama”? (or “Dada”)

Around 12 to 14 months of age, babies usually say their first word. Often, one of these first words is the name for their caregiver, like “Mama” or “Dada.” Although your baby may have babbled something that sounded like “ma-ma-ma” or “da-da-da” earlier, by 12 to 14 months they’re probably saying it on purpose and are referring to their special person ❤️ 

How many words should a 12-month old say?

By the time your child reaches 12 months of age, they may only have mastered one or two words, or word approximations. A few months later, between 15 to 18 months, most toddlers will have an expressive vocabulary of at least three words, not including “mama” or “dada.”

Soon, however, your child will probably experience what scholars call a “language explosion.” By around 18 to 24 months of age, your toddler may be learning up to 10 new words a week. While this explosion of words seems to come out of the blue, your child’s brain has been working on these language skills since birth. Slowly, over time, your child has been figuring out word sounds, learning simple words, and at this stage everything falls into place—and their language learning takes off.

RELATED: The science behind your child’s ‘language explosion’

Ways to support your toddler’s language development at 12 to 15 months

Repeat words often: For instance, if your toddler is eating and wants more food, they may babble or gesture to let you know or get your attention. Model the language with an emphasis on the word they can use to get help. You can say, “You want more pancakes! More ! Here you go, here are more pancakes.” Or, if the two of you are playing with a ball and your toddler looks at it, you can say, “Ball! I am rolling the ball! Here comes the ball!”

Simple narration: Talk in simple language about what you see your toddler doing. This brings meaning to their actions.

Reinforce names : Practice using the names of important people. Make a photo album of simple pictures and flip through it with your child, pointing to people’s faces as you say only their names.

Repeat games: Play a game with a repetitive phrase and pause before you say the last word. For instance, during a game of peekaboo, while hiding your face, draw out the first two syllables of the word, “Peeekaaaa…” and wait for your baby to respond with a sound. Then, say “boo!” as you uncover your smiling face. Or, build a tower with simple blocks that your baby can knock down. As you build it, you can say, “Up, up, up, up.” Then, when they knock it down, you can say, “dowwwnnn.”

Language development at 2 years old

Your toddler is expanding their vocabulary and learning to put words together during this phase of development—meaning they’re more likely to be able to express their needs and wants through language. When you hear “Mo nana,” you’ll know they’re asking for more banana. This is also a fun stage as your toddler starts to mimic gestures that go along with songs or rhymes, like “Itsy Bitsy Spider” or “Wheels on the Bus.”

During this stage of language development, your toddler may:

• Put two words together as their vocabulary grows, like “More milk” (18 to 24 months)
• Use several gestures in addition to waving and pointing (15 to 24 months)
• Say more than 2 words, with 1 action word, like “Doggie run.” (24 to 30 months)
• Say words like I, me, you, or we (20 to 30 months)
• Say at least 50 words (20 to 30 months)
• Talk with you in conversation using at least two back-and-forth exchanges (30 to 36 months)
• Say their first name when asked (24 to 36 months)
• Ask who, what, where, and why questions, like “Where is mommy/daddy?” Usually what and where come before why (24 to 36 months)
• Say what action is happening in a picture when asked, like running, eating, or playing (24 to 36 months)
• Talk well enough for others to understand, most of the time (24 to 36 months)

Ways to support your 2-year-old’s language development :

Expand on your toddler’s words: For example, if your toddler says a single word (like their name) and taps his chest or lifts his arms, you might expand that to two words and continue the thought: “You want to go up!” Also try modeling a questioning intonation, so if your child says “Milk” you say, “More milk?” 

Repeat and add on: Try the same strategy for your toddler’s two- and three-word utterances— repeat back the words, add another, and hypothesize their intent. 

Focus on detail words: Continue to emphasize adjectives, prepositions, pronouns, and verbs as you talk to your child. “Oooh, the washcloth is so wet. Drip, drip, drop. Squeeze it!”

Sing together: Singing songs together can be a fun way to expand your toddler’s vocabulary. “Old McDonald” is a great choice for the opportunity to name animals and use animal sounds, but there are many others!  

Go on a sound walk: Invite your child to listen for sounds as you explore your neighborhood together. As you’re walking, ask them what they hear, and listen with them while they identify the sounds around them. Tell them what you hear: “I hear a bird chirping; I hear a car engine.” 

RELATED: Try a sound walk (and these 3 other activities) to boost your child’s language skills

Should you correct your toddler’s pronunciation?

As your toddler learns to speak, they may make adorable mistakes, like calling blocks “bocks” or trucks “ducks.” These types of mispronunciations are rarely cause for concern at this age. Simply restate the word a few times as you continue to talk, which allows your toddler to hear the correct sounds and watch your mouth move. For example, if your toddler says “nana” instead of “banana,” you could say, “Do you want a banana? Bananas are delicious.” Your toddler may keep saying “nana” for a while as they learn how to put together all the syllables. But once their mouth and mind sync up, you’ll hear “banana” instead. 

Resist the urge to imitate those cute mispronunciations if you can—your toddler’s brain hones in on repetition, so they’ll pick up on patterns of mispronunciation. Imitating their sweet mistakes is tempting, but it may inadvertently reinforce them. Imitating your toddler could also embarrass or frustrate them. Because your toddler hears more sounds than they can say, they may already know their pronunciation is “wrong” or think they are saying the word clearly. 

RELATED: Why not to correct your toddler’s speech—and what to do instead

When do children start talking in sentences?

Generally, children start talking in three-word sentences around 24 to 30 months of age. For example, they may say things like, “Me want ball.” You can help support your child’s use of full sentences through modeling. Modeling language is a powerful tool, especially in these early years. For example, if your child points to a baby and says “ba,” you might say, “Baby! You see a baby.”  

At this stage, they probably won’t use personal pronouns correctly yet. The correct use of pronouns like “I” can develop as early as 27 months but it may not be until your child’s third birthday that they consistently use them. You can encourage full words and sentences through your daily interactions with your toddler. One way to model correct usage of pronouns is to repeat a sentence or phrase back to your child like this: if they say “me want book,” you can say “Oh, you want to read a book? I want to read a book, too. Let’s choose one.”

Language development at 3 years old

Your 3-year-old may be becoming quite an engaging conversational partner. They may have a vocabulary of 300 to 1,000 words and probably have a lot of questions to ask. At this age, who, what, where, or why questions become very popular. This is the stage when the inevitable questions like, “Why is the sky blue,” or “Why is dirt brown” start to emerge. Interacting with you through these question-and-answer sessions, even if you don’t know the answer, helps propel their vocabulary and language development.

• Talk well enough for others to understand, 75% of the time (30 to 36 months), correctly using the following word sounds by 36 months: b, p, d, m, n, w, h
• Sing parts or phrases of familiar songs (37 to 39 months)
• Be able to recite the alphabet (37 to 39 months)
• Identify missing parts of a favorite book when you read (3.5 to 4 years)
• Use pronouns such as he, she, and they (3.5 to 4 years)
• Use past tense by adding ‘ed’ to most verbs (3.5 to 4 years)

Ways to support your 3-year-old’s language development :

Focus on prepositions : At age 3, your child is working on understanding and using words like under, over, next to, or behind, so use these prepositions in speaking with them: “Your boots are under the table.” Opposites can also help strengthen your child’s understanding of what these kinds of words mean: Please put your book in the basket and take your ball out of the basket,” or “The ceiling is over your head and the floor is under your feet.”

Model correct language : Correcting your child when they use the wrong word or mispronounce a word is reflexive, but try modeling the correct language instead. This is especially helpful for pronouns, which can be tricky for toddlers. For example, if your child says, “Me want to go outside,” you can respond, “Oh, you want to go outside? I want to go outside, too.”

Encourage storytelling and pretend play : You may check on your child in the living room and find them talking to someone—only no one is there. If you can remain unnoticed, you may be lucky enough to hear the context for their story. They may be going through a bedtime ritual with their doll or giving their stuffed bear medicine for an earache. You can encourage this kind of narration by rotating playthings into your child’s environment that inspire storytelling and pretend. Props like a doctor’s kit, firefighter costume, or pots and pans can be an entry point for this kind of creative language play.

Encourage verbal confidence : Between the ages of 2 and 5 years old, many children experience times where they just can’t seem to get their words out. There may be interruptions in the smoothness of their speech or they may stumble over phrases. This is very common. At this age, your child’s sentences are becoming complex, but their thoughts and ideas are even more complex. Your child might speak smoothly, most of the time, but then struggle when they’re overtired, excited, or feel rushed.

You can nurture your child’s verbal skills by asking open-ended questions about things that fascinate them. Engaging in conversation together, even if you have to wait for them to get their words out, will nurture their confidence in speaking.

Developmental concerns with talking 

Every child develops at their own pace. The age guidelines offered here are based on averages of thousands of children, so your child may not follow them exactly. 

In terms of language development, it’s important to consider three main elements: 

1. receptive language (understanding what is being said) 2. pragmatic (or social) language 3. expressive language (the ability to communicate and express thoughts, needs, and emotions) 

Considering all three provides a fuller picture of your child’s progress. Here are some skills to watch for:

• Babbling or making various sound combinations (4 to 8 months)
• Following the gaze of a communication partner/joint attention (4 to 12 months) 
• Anticipating and participating in age-appropriate play (5 to 12 months)
• Pointing, waving, gesturing (9 to 12 months)
• Communicating needs using sounds, gestures, or words (9 to 12 months)
• Responding to basic requests/following one-step directions (12 months)
• Attempting first words (12 to 15 months)

If you have concerns about your child’s language skills, you can review them with their clinician at any wellness visit. 

Posted in: 11 - 12 Months , 13 - 15 Months , Language & Communication , Babbling , Language Development , Early Speech , Gestures , Receptive Language , First Words , Baby Sounds , Language & Communication

Meet the Experts

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Research & Resources

de Boysson-Bardies, B., & Vihman, M. M. (1991). Adaptation to language: Evidence from babbling and first words in four languages . Language , 67 (2), 297-319. 

Ferjan Ramírez, N., Lytle, S. R., Fish, M., & Kuhl, P. K. (2019). Parent coaching at 6 and 10 months improves language outcomes at 14 months: A randomized controlled trial . Developmental Science , 22 (3), e12762.

Garmann, N. G., Hansen, P., Simonsen, H. G., & Kristoffersen, K. E. (2019). T he phonology of children’s early words: Trends, individual variation, and parents’ accommodation in child-directed speech . Frontiers in Communication , 4 , 10.

Gros‐Louis, J., West, M. J., & King, A. P. (2014). Maternal responsiveness and the development of directed vocalizing in social interactions . Infancy , 19 (4), 385-408.

Guiberson, M. (2013). Bilingual myth-busters series language confusion in bilingual children . Perspectives on Communication Disorders and Sciences in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Populations , 20 (1), 5-14.

Huttenlocher, J. (1998). Language input and language growth . Preventive medicine , 27(2), 195-199.

Kuhl, P. K. (2004). Early language acquisition: Cracking the speech code . Nature reviews neuroscience , 5 (11), 831-843.

Leong, V., Byrne, E., Clackson, K., Georgieva, S., Lam, S., & Wass, S. (2017). Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 114 (50), 13290-13295. 

Mitchell, C., & McMurray, B. (2009). On leveraged learning in lexical acquisition and its relationship to acceleration . Cognitive Science , 33(8), 1503-1523.

Newman, R., Rowe, M., & Bernstein Ratner, N. (2016). Input and uptake at 7 months predicts toddler vocabulary: The role of child-directed speech and infant processing skills in language development. Journal of Child Language , 43(5), 1158-1173.

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