What is Expressive Language?

Expressive language skills refer to how a child uses words to express themselves. This includes naming objects, describing actions and events, using grammar correctly, retelling a story, answering questions, and writing a short story.

Expressive language is important because it allows children to express their thoughts and ideas, their wants and needs. It is also necessary to effectively communicate their points of view with others. It will also help to develop their writing skills.

• Ways you can encourage development of expressive language:

• Imaginative / pretend play

• Look at picture books and create a story together about what might be happening.

• Ask questions that are open ended and require more than one-word answers.

• Ask detailed descriptive questions when they are speaking such as ‘what colour was the car?’ or ‘how many children were there?’

• We play a game where we roll a ball to each other and every time we roll, we tell the other person something ab out our day

• Play highs and lows at dinner (we do rose, bud thorn where the rose is the peak of the day, thorn is the low and bud is something we are looking forward to)

Story Cards can be another great way to practice expressive language, learn about sequencing and developing a narrative. A few cards are selected, and the child needs to weave a story out of them. You can help them structure their thoughts by breaking down the timeline and asking, ‘what happened first?’ And ‘what happened next?’.

For slightly older kids, that need less visual prompting, Story Cubes are another great game to encourage creative storytelling.

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