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Topic “Activities”
This sheet contains activities.
Activities to develop understanding of instructions containing 3 key words - set 2 (nouns/adjectives)
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Sort the Washing (size + colour + noun) - Washing machine template - click here to print. You could stick the template onto a cardboard box and cut out a slot to post the clothing cards in to. | - Print and cut out the washing machine template and clothing cards. - Lay out the clothes cards in front of you. Explain to your child that you need to put the washing in the machine and that they can help. - Give instructions containing 3 key words (size+colour+clothing item), e.g. wash the big red hat, wash the small green socks. - After a few turns, encourage your child to give you an instruction. | If your child is finding it challenging to follow the instructions containing 3 key words you could try the following: - check that they understand the concepts being used in the instructions: colour and size Click here for activities that work on developing big/little/small. - Remove some of the pictures and give instructions containing 2 key words, e.g. have one size of clothes and different colours, 'was the red hat'. You could also look at activities that focus on two key words here: Two key word activities - set 1 Two key word activities - set 2 Two key word activities - set 3
If your child is following 3 key word instructions, you may like to try working on 4 key word instruction here: |
| Alien Visitors (size + colour + place) | If your child is finding it challenging to follow the instructions containing 3 key words you could try the following: - check that they understand the concepts being used in the instructions: colour and size Click here for activities that work on developing big/little/small. - Remove some of the pictures and give instructions containing 2 key words, e.g. have one size of clothes and different colours, 'was the red hat'. You could also look at activities that focus on two key words here: Two key word activities - set 1 Two key word activities - set 2 Two key word activities - set 3
If your child is following 3 key word instructions, you may like to try working on 4 key word instruction here: | |
| Pirate themed game (size + object + place) | If your child is finding it challenging to follow the instructions containing 3 key words you could try the following: - check that they understand the concepts being used in the instructions: size Click here for activities that work on developing big/little/small. - Remove some of the pictures and give instructions containing 2 key words, e.g. have one size of clothes and different colours, 'was the red hat'. You could also look at activities that focus on two key words here: Two key word activities - set 1 Two key word activities - set 2 Two key word activities - set 3 If your child is following 3 key word instructions, you may like to try working on 4 key word instruction here: |
Activities to develop understanding of instructions containing 3 key words - set 3 (nouns/adjectives/prepositions)
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Animal Game (size + noun + preposition) | 1. Print and cut out the big/little animal picture cards. 2. Explain to you child that you are going to ask them to place the animals in different places. 3. Lay out a selection of big and little animals in front of your child - make sure you have the big and little version of each animal. 4. Give instructions containing a preposition, e.g. put the big sheep under the box, put the little cow next to the box. Prepostion words you could use: in, on, under, being, in front, next to. | |
| Hide the toys (noun + preposition + noun) - A room with different furniture or items such as baskets/boxes where you can hide objects. - Objects/toys (e.g. ball, car, doll etc) |
Activities to develop understanding of instructions containing 3 key words - set 1 (nouns/verbs)
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Picnic Time (noun + noun + noun) - 2 different soft toys, e.g dolly/teddy - 2 plates - baskets - Play food items | 1. Put teddy and dolly in front of your child. 2. Give teddy a plate and a basket, then give dolly a plate and a basket 3. Lay a selection of play food out for your child to see. 4. Give instructions to your child, e.g. "put the banana on teddy's plate", or "put the bread in dolly's basket". 5. After a few turns, see if your child is able to give you an instruction. | If your child is finding it challenging to understand 3 key words, try some of the activities that work on 2 key words - click on the links below:
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Activities to develop understanding of instructions containing 2 key words - set 3 (noun + adjective/preposition)
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Big/little feeding game - works of object + size (noun + adjective) - a soft toy | 1. Print and cut out the big/little food pictures. 2. Ask your child to choose a favourite toy and explain you are going to feed them. 3. Explain you have big food and little food. Lay out a small selection of food - make sure you have both the big and little version of the same food. 4. Give your child instructions, e.g. give teddy the big carrot, give teddy the little eggs. 5. After a few turns, encourage your child to give you an instruction to follow. | If you child is finding understanding big/little difficult, try using some activities that focus on learning these concepts - click here |
Activities to develop understanding of instructions containing 2 key words - set 2 (noun + verb)
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Actions Game - works on object + action (noun + verb) - 2 different soft toys | 1. Print and cut out the action cards - you could draw some actions if you do not have access to a printer. 2. Show your child the actions and say the word - practice making both soft toys carry out the actions. 3. When you are sure your child understands the different action words, start to give your child instructions, e.g. make teddy fly, make dolly sleep. 4. After a few turns see if your child can give you an instruction. | To increase complexity, click here for activities focusing on three key word instructions. (Add link) |
Activities to understand and use the concepts of big and little/small
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Big/little treasure hunt |
| If your child is understanding these concepts well, you may wish to try some key word activities that can be found here: (add link) |
| Big/little sorting - Picture cards to sort - click on links below to print:
|
Activities to develop understanding and use of the pronoun 'they'
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Matching Pairs |
|
Activities to develop understanding and use of the personal pronouns 'he' and 'she'
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Male/Female and he/she sorting activity - Male female sorting symbols and pictures - click here to print - You could also use photographs of family members, pictures from magazines/newspapers. |
| Once your child is getting confident with sorting the pictures into the correct piles, you can start to add the labels 'he' and 'she', e.g. 'we call a woman/girl a 'she', 'we call a man/boy a 'he''. This is called modelling - your child is not expected to use the words at this point but it is important for them to start to hear the new words that they are going to learn. |
| Which is it? | 1. Print and cut out the he/she pictures. Choose one each of an action, e.g. don't have both the boy and girl running. 2. Spread the pictures out in front of you. You may like to play a turn taking game alongside using the pictures. 3. Ask the child a question, e.g. "who is cooking?" 4. The child points to the correct picture and says, for example, "he is" or "he is cooking". 5. You can sort the pictures into a pile of he/she. | |
| Play with dolls A male doll A female doll A selection of different objects e.g. cup, ball. | ||
| Matching Pairs | ||
| Using he/she plus an action word | ||
| he/she lotto game |
Activities to develop early turn taking skills
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Ball Roll - a ball |
| To extend this activity, you could add extra people to roll the ball to (small group).
|
Activities to identify when words rhyme
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Rhyming Pairs |
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| Rhyme Sort |
Finding items/objects from subcategories
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Subcategory Dice - Printable subcategory dice templates
- Printable subcategory cards
|
| If your child is finding this task challenging, you can help by searching for an item together. It may also be useful to visit activities working on sorting items into categories - click here.
If your child is able to do this activity, when they select a card, you could ask them to think of another item that belongs to that subcategory but is not in the picture cards. |
Activities to develop finding items from different categories
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Category Dice |
| If your child is finding this task challenging, you can help by searching for an item together. It may also be useful to visit activities working on sorting items into categories - click here.
If your child is able to do this activity, when they select a card, you could ask them to think of another item that belongs to that category but is not in the picture cards.
|
Activities to develop understanding of the concepts noisy and quiet
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Musical Instruments - a selection of musical instruments - Click here for ideas of how to use household items to make musical instruments | 1. Each person chooses a musical instrument. 2. If you wish, you can use symbols alongside the words you use. Talk about noisy sounds and quiet sounds. Practice making these with your musical instrument. 3. Swap musical instruments and make noisy/quiet sounds again. 4. Play a game where you take turns at being the conductor and give the instructions of noisy or quiet for the others to follow.
| If your child is finding it challenging to grasp the difference between noisy and quiet. Choose one concept first, e.g. noisy, and use 'not noisy' as the alternative. Once you are confident that your child understands this concept you can start to teach the concept of quiet. |
| Listening Walk | If your child is finding it challenging to grasp the difference between noisy and quiet. Choose one concept first, e.g. noisy, and use 'not noisy' as the alternative. Once you are confident that your child understands this concept you can start to teach the concept of quiet. | |
| Noisy/quiet sorting game | If your child is finding it challenging to grasp the difference between noisy and quiet. Choose one concept first, e.g. noisy, and use 'not noisy' as the alternative. Once you are confident that your child understands this concept you can start to teach the concept of quiet. |
Using a target sound in a sentence
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Story String - A copy of picture cards containing your child's target sound - click here for printable word cards. - String or rope to make a washing line. - Pegs
| 1. Cut out the pictures containing the target sound. 2. Ask your child to choose 4- 5 pictures and peg them on the line. 3. The first person uses the first picture on the line to make up a sentence, e.g. 'the cat (taget word) went in the garden'. 4. The second person add to the story by linking another sentence with the next target word, e.g. 'and then dug up all the carrots (target word)'. 5. You can make the stories as silly or as funny as you like. 6. You can make errors to see if your child picks up on them, e.g. I went to the shops and brought a car, tat (cat)'. 7. If your child makes an error you can make them aware of this by repeating back, e.g. 'Is it dun or sun?'. 8. You could make a video or recording of your story to play back and listen.
| If your child is able to do this activity you might like to try moving on to (add link to generalisation activities)
If your child is finding this activity challenging, move back to using games that focus on saying the target sound in a small phrase. Once your child is confident at saying the target sounds in a phrase, try this activity again. |
| I went shopping... - A copy of picture cards containing your child's target sound - click here for printable word cards.
| If your child is able to do this activity you might like to try moving on to (add link to generalisation activities)
If your child is finding this activity challenging, move back to using games that focus on saying the target sound in a small phrase. Once your child is confident at saying the target sounds in a phrase, try this activity again. | |
| Sound Dice Race - Sound dice race for the sound you are working on - click here to print - A dice - Counters/stickers | If your child is able to do this activity you might like to try moving on to (add link to generalisation activities)
If your child is finding this activity challenging, move back to using games that focus on saying the target sound in a small phrase. Once your child is confident at saying the target sounds in a phrase, try this activity again. | |
| Barrier Games - Barrier games resources for your target sounds - click here to see available sounds - Something that can be used as a barrier between the players so you are unableto see the other players pictures, e.g. a book, folder. | You could reduce the amount of pictures you are using, e.g. only give three sentences before you check. | |
| Sentence Story Dice |
Using a target sound in a single word - activities/games set 3
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Fishing - Words containing your child's target sound - click here for printable word cards. - Paper clips - Stick - String - Magnet - Paper fish. Optional printable fish template available by clicking here. |
| If your child is able to do this activity you might like to try moving on to: saying a small phrase with the target word in, e.g target word = 'car', your phrase could be, 'a red car'. Some phrase level activities can be found by clicking here.
If your child is finding this activity challenging, try the following steps: - If your child finds it challenging to say the sound, praise them for trying and say the word back with the sound used correctly for them to hear. - Talk about the sound the word starts with, e.g. 'cat' starts with a 'c' sound. - Have a go at breaking the word up for the child to copy, e.g. 'let's try and say this together, 'c' 'at'. |
| Skittles - Words containing your child's target sound - click here for printable word cards. - A set of skittles - you could also use empty plastic bottles. - Ball | If your child is able to do this activity you might like to try moving on to: saying a small phrase with the target word in, e.g target word = 'car', your phrase could be, 'a red car'. Some phrase level activities can be found by clicking here.
If your child is finding this activity challenging, try the following steps: - If your child finds it challenging to say the sound, praise them for trying and say the word back with the sound used correctly for them to hear. - Talk about the sound the word starts with, e.g. 'cat' starts with a 'c' sound. - Have a go at breaking the word up for the child to copy, e.g. 'let's try and say this together, 'c' 'at'. | |
| Matching Pairs - Words containing your child's target sound x 2 copies - click here for printable word cards. | If your child is able to do this activity you might like to try moving on to: saying a small phrase with the target word in, e.g target word = 'car', your phrase could be, 'a red car'. Some phrase level activities can be found by clicking here.
If your child is finding this activity challenging, try the following steps: - If your child finds it challenging to say the sound, praise them for trying and say the word back with the sound used correctly for them to hear. - Talk about the sound the word starts with, e.g. 'cat' starts with a 'c' sound. - Have a go at breaking the word up for the child to copy, e.g. 'let's try and say this together, 'c' 'at'. | |
| Lotto/Bingo | If your child is able to do this activity you might like to try moving on to: saying a small phrase with the target word in, e.g target word = 'car', your phrase could be, 'a red car'. Some phrase level activities can be found by clicking here.
If your child is finding this activity challenging, try the following steps: - If your child finds it challenging to say the sound, praise them for trying and say the word back with the sound used correctly for them to hear. - Talk about the sound the word starts with, e.g. 'cat' starts with a 'c' sound. - Have a go at breaking the word up for the child to copy, e.g. 'let's try and say this together, 'c' 'at'. | |
| Hide and Seek - Words containing your child's target sound - click here for printable word cards. | If your child is able to do this activity you might like to try moving on to: saying a small phrase with the target word in, e.g target word = 'car', your phrase could be, 'a red car'. Some phrase level activities can be found by clicking here.
If your child is finding this activity challenging, try the following steps: - If your child finds it challenging to say the sound, praise them for trying and say the word back with the sound used correctly for them to hear. - Talk about the sound the word starts with, e.g. 'cat' starts with a 'c' sound. - Have a go at breaking the word up for the child to copy, e.g. 'let's try and say this together, 'c' 'at'. |
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