Fall is here and with it come TONS of fantastic opportunities for listening and spoken language.
Collect leaves, pine cones, and acorns. Sort by color, size, or shape. Talk about their textures — waxy, smooth, rough, bumpy, slimy, dry, wet, etc.
Listen to leaves crunch under your feet.
Put leaves under paper and rub over them with a crayon to create leaf rubbings. Talk about the colors you use.
Use sticks, rocks, and leaves to make “fairy houses” under trees. Make up a story about the creatures who would live there.
Make a sequence story using pictures of your child doing Fall activities. For example: “First, the leaves fell on the ground. Next, I helped Daddy rake the leaves into a pile. Last, I jumped in the pile and the leaves flew everywhere!” Or, “First we bought a pumpkin. Next, we had to scrape out the insides. Then, we carved a face. Last, we put a candle inside and put it on the front porch.” These stories can teach sequencing words like first/middle/next/last, work on past tense (regular and irregular) verbs, and help kids think about cause and effect.
Elizabeth A. Rosenzweig 