Children learn discipline, order, and social relationships by associating with their peers. Parents should note that developing communication skills and strengthening the art of expression is one of the life skills that children need to learn.
Communication is the ability to exchange ideas and feelings with others both verbally and non-verbally.
The capacity to communicate is the ability and desire to connect with others. Most children learn to ask for what they need, to communicate how they feel and to establish and maintain interaction with adults or other children.
Though the development of communication skills is not the same for every child, there are milestones that we can observe that serve as indicators that the child is making appropriate developmental progress.
Even before a child learns to say their first word, they develop ways to communicate their needs. Communication begins from birth, through sounds, body movements and facial expressions. Children will move from crying and nuzzling to babbling, cooing, squealing and gestures/body movements, moving legs in excitement or distress, and later, gestures like pointing, eye contact, smiling and grimacing; all of these are early methods of communication.
A newborn nuzzles at their mother’s breast, 9-month-old starts attempting simple words and uses pointing or gestures, a 28-month-old starts putting simple sentences together and a 3-year-old chats with parents or caregivers after school and in the playground with their friends.
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Importance of communication in child development
Many human behaviours are formed under the influence of others and the surrounding society. Educating children in the early years of development is of particular importance. Unfortunately, children who lack communication skills gradually may become isolated, and this can make them more prone to personal, social and emotional damage.
Children’s Communication skills are important
The importance of communication skills in early childhood is a lot. The following are communication benefits for children:
- Boosts self-esteem and self-assurance
- Able to express themselves more clearly
- Facilitates communication with others, enhancing their social well-being
- Academics and vocabulary are increased
- Easier for children to share and learn new things
Communication skills and child development
Parents and educators are responsible for creating an appropriate interactive environment and communicating purposefully with the child so that they can accelerate the achievement of speech and language learning goals. Peers and friends are one of the most important factors in the socialisation of children and adolescents. They influence and are influenced by each other in different ways. Many researchers emphasise this factor.
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Role of communication in development
Learning communication plays an important role in a child’s development. Parts of the baby’s brain and mental patterns are formed by communication. Simply, imagine you are a programmer and every program you write is run by a computer, and the computer repeats the previous program until you change the command. The child’s mind is very strong and ready to learn. The communication development in a child builds brain patterns that help your child grow both biologically and psychologically.
Communication skills activities for kids increase social intelligence.
Social intelligence is the ability to cope and collaborate with others. This intelligence can be interpreted as individual skill and this intelligence includes awareness of social situations. It also includes interactive styles and strategies that help a person achieve their goals in relation to others. Social intelligence enhances our inner perspective and allows us to have better reaction patterns.
Some keys to help develop communication skills in children
Respond to your baby’s gestures, looks and sounds, when your child makes a sound or an act of stretching forth the arms to be carried, your response of smiling and picking him up shows that the feelings are important.
Talk with and listen to your child. Talking or engaging in a conversation with your child makes them feel good and knowing you enjoy their company.
Teach your child about non-verbal communication. Actions and facial expressions are other means of communication. Pretend play can really be helpful, e.g. being sad, happy, angry, shy etc.
Respect and recognise your child’s feelings by helping your child to develop a “feelings” vocabulary. Read together and encourage pretend play to help develop communication skills.
Communication development is one vital aspect of child growth. As such parents and caregivers must pay keen attention to observe these communication milestones.
Children are excellent observers and imitators of what they see and hear around them, as such parents and caregivers must be good role models for them to copy.
Language and communication skills
Teaching children the correct language is one of our most important rules. Learning a language and using it properly uplifts your child’s confidence. The child will more likely be able to express their desires correctly and they won’t be punished or humiliated for saying the wrong words. We teach language communication skills to your child at our British nursery in Dubai.
4-year-old communication skills
At this age, your baby becomes more social. They express most of their emotions and try to earn the satisfaction of you and others. Ignoring the child’s efforts can possibly lead to behavioural issues in the child.
You need to reinforce your child’s progress at the age of 4 to 5 years and encourage and praise him/her for the positive things that they are doing. Encouraging your child is not only always about buying your child’s favourite items as a reward, but also receiving verbal encouragement. Since parents are not always aware of these principles or may not have as much time as they would like for their children due to work commitments, it is recommended for children to attend our nursery in Dubai. We can work together with parents to help them to do this.
At our nursery, our teachers will be supporting the children with their learning and development skills in a variety of ways. These skills include the following:
– Ability to count to 10 or a little more
– Achieve higher attention capacity
– Use of more complex sentences and progress in the field of verbal communication skills
– Ability to speak more clearly
– Gain more understanding about the concept of time.
How to communicate with young children?
We all know that human beings are social beings and that they need to socialise with others. It will not be possible to communicate well with others unless we have good communication skills. The best time to teach and strengthen the communication skills of children is the first years of life. In fact, by educating and strengthening children’s communication skills at the beginning of life, we can help the child to be effective in the community and to establish social relationships in the future.
Children’s language is very different from adults’ language. The child learns these skills through play, and according to our reaction, they realise whether they have done something good or bad. Communication through play is the best way to understand the child and teach him to distinguish between good and bad. Here at our nursery, we use a variety of games and activities to connect with your children. Communication skills activities for kids can be done as single or group games
Do not forget that communication skills not only improve the child’s presence in society but that having good communication skills can also enhance their academic and professional success in the future.
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5 top communication activities for children
Because of the proliferation of electronic devices in our daily lives, communication activities for children are very much needed. Children spend less time engaging in face-to-face conversation because they are surrounded by devices like iPads, smartphones, and televisions. Your children, however, will soon discover that communication is one of the most important skills. What activities improve communication skills? Let’s take a look at some fun communication games and communication skills games.
The best communication activities for children to improve their communication skills
Here are some fun communication activities for children to help your children improve their communication skills and self-esteem:
- Chinese Whisper: It is one of the best activities for children’s communication skills. Listening is a critical component of effective communication, and this game focuses on that skill. To play “Chinese whisper,” all participants must sit in a circle. Now, a child sitting to the player’s right will whisper a message into their ear. The other player hears this and whispers it to them. Everyone gets a turn! Once the message has been given, it is said aloud; which is always funny, because it is often different from the original one.
- Direct Me to the Shop: Ask your children to draw a map of their favourite shop e.g. ice cream shop or book store. Look at this map together, to get started on your adventure with your children. When you arrive at your location, they will be able to tell if they provide accurate instructions. Your children’s problem-solving, writing and communication skills will benefit from “Direct me to the shop.”
- Show and Tell: As one of the most educating communication activities for children, developing children’s communication abilities has never been easier or more fun than this activity. Ask them to think of a tale, toy, or garden that they enjoy the most. Allow them to present a similar item and write a five-sentence description of it now. Using “describe and demonstrate” with your children can help them develop their verbal skills and vocabulary.
- 20 Questions: “20 questions” is a great way for children to learn how to ask questions and collaborate on ideas. Children form a circle and then take turns standing in the center of the circle. There will be a certain role or personality in mind for the child in the center. All the other children in the group get 20 questions each to try and figure it out.
- Guess the Thing: Blindfold one of the children in a group. Next, have the other children choose an item from the room. The blindfolded child needs the other children to describe the item to them. They should describe it so that even if you don’t see it, you can tell what it is. “Guess the thing” is one of the most popular children communication games!
Conclusion- communication activities for children
Communication activities for children are key. Explaining one’s ideas clearly is a sign of good communication ability. Having good communication and language development, help children to become more confident, have the ability to express themselves and to be more social. These child development skills for children’s communication are a must-have.
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We at The Little Dreamers Nursery in Dubai are skilled practitioners who are able to provide a nurturing environment to support children’s language and communication development.
Our trained and experienced educators provide a warm, welcoming and playful environment full of love, attention, respect, and open ears to better understand each and every child; thus making our nursery environment a home away from home.
