Children love learning through play and exploration. Glo Pals help make learning fun! Keep reading to learn some fun ways to facilitate communication as you use Glo Pals in daily routines and play.
Facilitating Communication with Glo Pals
written by: Rachel Spratta, speech-language pathologist
bathtime:
Throw Glo Pals in the bath to transform your child's bath experience with extra giggles and smiles! Examples of vocabulary to model during bathtime:
- Nouns: bathtub, water, soap, bubble, shampoo, towel, and various body parts
- Verbs: wash, scrub, splash, pour, dump, pop, dry
- Adjectives: wet, dry, dirty, clean, warm, cold
Depending on how your child is learning language, you can also model phrases such as "It's time for bath", Let's wash", "It's fun", "Let's go dry off", "I'm splashing"
SENSORY PLAY JAR:
Make your very own sensory jar using your child’s interests or themed vocabulary to customize it. Here are some theme ideas: ocean, farm, dinosaurs, holiday themed items such as plastic leaves, hearts, bunnies, etc. You can also purchase one of the Glo Pals sensory filler sets. Available themes are: under the sea, outer space, and sensory safari.
Sensory jars are a great way to work on expanding vocabulary, expressing simple phrases (I see shark, I see cow, look a dinosaur!, see bunny), and following directions (pour the water in, put in 2 Glo Pals cubes, put the top on, turn it upside down).
Communication strategies to implement during sensory jar play and exploration:
Model: Model words and simple phrases throughout play and routines. Children need to hear modeled language multiple times to learn new vocabulary and concepts.
Imitate and add: Repeat back what your child says and expand on it (Child says “fish” Adult says “big fish”).
Pause: Be sure to give sufficient wait-time, giving your child a chance to communicate or imitate.
turn your sensor play jar into a lantern when reading books:
Using your Sensory Jar as a lantern immediately elevates the book reading experience. It also creates a calming environment for your child.
Communication strategies you can implement when reading books:
- Read the same book multiple times: This supports vocabulary development. The more familiar with the book your child becomes, the more your child will be able to fill in words and talk about the book independently.
- Follow your child’s lead: Pay attention to what your child is looking at, pointing to, or talking about. Let your child choose the book.
- Create language opportunities: Be sure to pause and provide wait-time, giving your child an opportunity to express their own ideas or imitate modeled language.
- Make it fun and interactive: Be enthusiastic and expressive. You can use gestures and actions along with the book to make it more engaging.
- Sit face-to-face: Try sitting face-to-face when looking at books. This allows your child to see your facial expressions and mouth movements when expressing words and sounds.
