Language and Literacy

Development in 3-5 Year Olds

Learn strategies and activities to help your 3- to 5-year old master
language use.
ByMichelle Anthony, PhD

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LEARNING BENEFITS

Listening and Speaking

Alphabet Recognition

Literacy

Phonics

If the job of a toddler is to learn to talk, the job of a preschooler is to learn

to communicate, which is a complicated task indeed! From learning the sounds that
make up words, to figuring out what the words mean and determining how to combine
them into syntactic strings that have meaning within a culture or environment,
mastering language use is a major achievement for such young children.
Language Use
Language ability is a direct outgrowth of a child’s use of symbols and representational
thinking (the ability to have one thing stand for another). According to Russian
researcher Lev Vygotsky, language develops from social interactions for
communication purposes. To guide behaviors, overcome obstacles, and acquire new
skills, children use what Vygotsky termed private speech, a verbalized but really
internal monologue. Private speech reaches its height between 4-6 years old. As
development progresses, it becomes inaudible muttering, to then become internalized
as inner speech or “thought.”
Within a Vygotskian framework, strategic use of language facilitates thinking,
understanding, and learning. Parents, without trying, scaffold (or support) children’s
language learning, adjusting the support as children become more skilled. For younger
children, parents recast young utterances — they restructure children’s incorrect
speech into a socially acceptable form (e.g.,“You would like a cookie” when their
child says, “Me have cookie.”). Similarly, they use expansions to elaborate on their
child’s more simple communications (e.g., “We go,” becomes, “Yes, we are going to
the store to get eggs for dinner.”).

As children mature and their utterances become more standard, parents will
seamlessly withdraw the previous supports. Thus, language use and vocabulary
development is fostered within a social and cultural context, through meaningful
interactions with parents, caregivers, peers, siblings, etc. While learning about
language, children are also learning about culture, behavioral expectations, and social
interactions.

Language Development
By the age of three, most children have considerable experience with language. They
can understand most sentences, understand the use of basic prepositions (e.g., on, in,
under), and use pronouns such as I, you, we, and they, along with some plurals. They
show immense creativity in their language use, creating phrases for words they don’t
know (e.g., calling snow “fluffy rain” or broccoli “eating trees”). Their spoken
sentences on average are as many words long as they are old (e.g., at 3 they produce
3-word sentences). A majority of their words should be understandable to a person
outside the home. Across the preschool period, children are learning to categorize
items (e.g., a shoe is not a fruit; a collar, leash, and bone are all dog items, etc.).
Children this age learn to ask questions, the most prevalent of which is the question
“Why?” which they are known for asking over and over. To help parents know how to
answer the onslaught of wonderings, check outWhyzz.com. Preschoolers also learn
(over time) how to produce negative sentences or how to negate sentences (“I am not
going”).
Before they are 6, children can recall parts of a story, use future tense, begin to tell
stories, and can say their name, age, gender, and address. Their sentences are on
average at least 5 words. Their vocabulary has increased at least 4-fold, from around
1000 words to upwards of 8-10,000. They are now able to define common items by
use (e.g., a chair is something you sit in). Most children this age can follow three step
directions.

Children’s syntax (grammar) gets increasingly complex over these years, while
remaining uniquely “preschool-like.” For example, by 5 they begin to use word
endings (e.g., ing, ed), but they often show overregularization. That is, children learn a
grammar rule through interaction and then over apply that rule. For instance, they will
say “goed or “eated,” applying the “add -ed to a word to make it past tense” rule,
despite the fact that they will have never heard adults use the incorrect forms and they
previously said the words correctly. These peculiarities notwithstanding, 5-year-olds
use increasingly descriptive language for functional purposes, including conveying
information, asking questions, and providing explanations.

Language enhancing strategies:

 Offer function cues and see if your child can identify the word (e.g., We eat this
with syrup: pancakes). A fun online category vocabulary builder for
preschoolers is What's the Word, a reading and vocabulary game.
  Help your child better understand prepositions by asking her to put the
box under the table, next to the spoon, beside the bed, etc. Introduce
relationships (e.g., first, last, right, left, up, down).
 Have your child bring the item to the owner when you say “it’s Daddy’s,” or,
“it’s his.”
 Name items in a category and see if your child can identify the category label.
Try this fun app also:Creationary Lego.
Literacy Development*
The preschool years are the time during which children’s emergent literacy abilities
develop. In fact, these skills are the foundation onto which children’s later reading and
academic abilities will build off of. Most important for literacy is the development of
phonological awareness (often called phonemic awareness), the ability to recognize
and manipulate the sound units that make up words, be these individual phonemes
(sounds) or syllables. Once a child can auditorally distinguish individual sounds, she
learns to link the sound with the visual representation — the letter or the individual
word. Thus, discerning sounds is a key early literacy skill. To get practice with
generic auditory discrimination skills, try this Magic School Bus activity.
While most preschool programs will teach children letter names, more relevant to
cracking the code system for reading is the letter-sound orientation. Thus, you can
shortcut your child’s learning curve by identifying letters by their sounds, as opposed
to by a letter’s name (a la Montessori). For example, instead of calling the letter an
“A,” call it an “aah,” using the short sound for early learners. Here is a fun alphabet
song that use letter sounds instead of letter names.
By the end of the preschool period, most children will know their upper and lowercase
letters, and understand that letters make up the sounds in words. They are beginning to
sound out words in their environment or in books. They understand the basic
conventions of print, and can do some basic phonetic (sound-based) spelling in early
story writing or picture labeling. You can make learning sounds tactile by making
scratch-and-sniff letters or words: write the words with glue and sprinkle Kool-aid®
or Jello® powder over them. Have your child trace the letters to release the smell.
Most children can use their phonological awareness skills and generate rhyming
words, identify words that begin with the same sound as a target word, and blend
sounds together (/k/ /aah/ /t/ into ‘cat’). Many children can also identity blends (e.g.,
fl, str) and digraphs (e.g., ph, ch). Children love stories and can often memorize and
“read” their favorite books, often reciting the lines by heart. Preschool children
understand many print conventions, such as the left to right, top to bottom orientation
of English words. They know that spaces separate words and can identify familiar
words in favorite books or familiar environments (e.g., reading the stop sign or a
favorite restaurant name). Invite them to write sounds or words on a dry erase slate
and then trace (and erase) with a q-tip.

Their fine motor skills vary and some children can produce all letters and many
pictures with precision and accuracy. Others may struggle to maintain size and form.
A fun way to support sound writing (over letter writing) is to put hair gel, food
coloring, and glitter into a zip lock bag. Tape the bag to the table and use it as a
squishy surface for drawing sounds (e.g., you say “aah” as opposed to “a”) or words.
To further foster fine motor and writing abilities, have your child draw and write
letters or words in shaving cream, finger paint, sand, or rice. Invite your child to
experiment with all sorts of writing tools, such as paints, chalk, bath crayons, clay,
etc. Have him use blocks or magnets to put sounds together and make early words
based on phonetics (e.g., “rope” is spelled the way it sounds: rop). A fun app that uses
the letter’s sound as opposed to its name: ABC PocketPhonics Lite: Letter Sounds and
Writing + First Words.

Children this age begin to play with language. They make up stories based on fantasy,
but tell these tales as if they are real. Encouraging story-telling will advance their
cognition, linguistic abilities, and creativity. They are beginning to understand
concrete riddles (”Knock, Knock.” “Who’s there?” “Boo.” “Boo who?” “Why are you
crying?”), love silly language, nonsense rhymes, and bathroom talk. Feeling short on
jokes? Check out these classic Knock-Knock jokes.
Phonetic Word Games
Isolating individual phonemes (sounds) lets children command the system that makes
up words and is the basis of reading:
 Have your child tell you the individual sounds he hears in words (remember,
sounds, not spelling, so they would hear 3 sounds in “three:” th, r, (long)e.;
frog would have 4 sounds: f, r, o, g.
 Switch out letters: See if he can manipulate isolated phonemes by making new

words as they switch out sounds (e.g., replace the /c/ in ‘cat’ with /b/ (bat)).
 Make a hopscotch board with letters or phonetic words instead of numbers.

Have your child say the sound or read the word before hopping onto the
square.
 Write letters or phonetic words onto the Candyland color cards. Have your
child say the letter or read the word in order to advance to the colored space.
A fun learn-to-spell app is Learn to Spell: Reception Class.
 Play with Nina the Naming Newt and her friends, or Clifford the Big Red

Dog's phonics game — both games will allow your child to identify letters,
sounds, and rhymes by category.
 Come up with Rhyming words while passing the time. For online fun,

try Super Why.

 Isolate sounds at the beginning, middle, and end of words.

*If learning to read is hard for your child, he needs support. The newest research on
literacy development in children emphasizes the importance of providing reading
interventions sooner rather than later.
5 Games for Speaking, Listening & Thinking
Immy and I play a lot of verbal games, especially in the car
or while waiting for things to happen. These games are
great for developing speaking and listening skills, and
thinking and reasoning abilities. As I have indicated below,
you will find that some of them are suitable to play with
verbal children from about the age of three years old, and
others are more suitable for kindergarten through
elementary aged children.

1. How many? This simple game started when Immy was

around three and fascinated by animals but it can easily be
adapted to other themes. I would start by asking a question
about a specific animal attribute (see some examples
below) and she would call out as many responses as she
could think of;

o How many animals can you name that hatch from eggs
as babies?
o How many animals can you name that have patterns on
their bodies?
o How many animals can you name that eat leaves?
o How many animals can you name that live in the sea?
 o How many insects can you name that have six legs?
o How many vehicles can you name with four wheels?
o How many things can you name that are cone shaped?
o How many things can you name that can fly?

2. I’m thinking of…: A simplified version of 20 questions,

and somewhat easier than I Spy when on the move in the
car, we start this game with a single object in mind and the
phrase, “I am thinking of something ….,” and then name a
feature or attribute of the object or thing. So it might begin, “I
am thinking of something that is blue.” The other person is
welcome to make a guess or ask for another clue and we go
back and forth between clues and guesses until they work
out the correct answer.

3. Guess who? We started playing this game when Immy

was four and play it in much the same way as we do game
#2 but focus on a storybook or movie character or an actual
movie instead of an object.

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4. Secret Message: This well known game is best played
with a group of children from kindergarten age upwards.
Everyone sits in a line or circle and the first person whispers
a short message to the next person in line, with the
message then being passed from person to person in
whispers along the line or around the circle. The last person
announces the message they have heard to the whole
group and everyone has a good laugh at how the message
had invariably changed as it has been passed along.

5. Sound tennis: Great for children who are learning initial

sounds or blends (or even children who have mastered
them), I have Immy’s pre-primary teacher to thank for this
one. The players agree on an initial sound or blend, say ‘P,’
and then take turns back and forth, each saying a new word
that begins with that sound, until the round comes to a finish
when one player cannot think of a new word beginning with
the nominated sound. We allow the other player, the
‘winner,’ to choose the new sound for the next round.
LEARNING COLORS AND SHAPES
ACTIVITY
by Sheryl Cooper

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During one of our recent circle times, our preschoolers loved

this activity that included learning colors and shapes. After
reading a shape book, we set the color bowls in the center of
the circle. During the activity, our preschoolers identified the
shapes they were given and placed them in the matching color
bowl. These simple hands-on activities at circle time allow all
the children to be involved at once, building self-confidence.
 Save
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.
Circle time is a great way to introduce concepts to our 3 year
olds through group activities.

Save

In this circle time activity, we sorted shapes by colors after

reading “The Shape of Things.”
Color bowls were placed in the center of the circle, and 3 foam
shapes were given to each child.

Save
They were then invited to come to the center of the circle
(when called) to sort their shapes into the matching bowls.

Save
The children placed their shapes in front of them.
Save
 Save

As they did so, they told us the color and the shape, if known.

Activities such as these allow me to assess the children. By

taking pictures, I can go back and look at them later and make
notes in my assessment binder. This helps greatly when it is
time to do evaluations.
 Save

Group activities promote awareness of a community.

Everyone is working together on the same activity. They are
learning how to come forward and share. They are learning to
help each other when solving problems. They are listening to
each other.
When planning circle time activities, we make sure they are
not too long. For 3 year olds, we keep each group time under
15 minutes. For this reason, we have 3 or even 4 separate
circle times during our 3 hours. Our first circle time is after all
the children arrive. This is when we say good morning and
introduce the materials we will be using. Our second circle
time is before snack, when our class helper reports the
weather and we do a group activity. Our third circle time is
after snack, as we are transitioning to leave for the gym. We
use this time to sing songs and do finger plays. Our last circle
time is when we return from the gym and need to calm our
bodies down. This is when one of the teachers will read a
story.
 Save

A successful circle time is when the children are engaged.

 Save

What I love most is how excited the children are to participate.

It is presented in a fun way. When we are finished, the
children like to look at the end result. They know that together
they made it happen. Collaboration. “Team work”, as they like
to say.
HOW TO HAVE SMALL GROUPS
WITH PRESCHOOLERS
by Sheryl Cooper

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It took me a long time to embrace including small groups in

my 3 year old class. I mean like a decade! I had no idea how to
have small groups with preschoolers!
But, as I always do, I just keep reading early childhood articles
and blogs. And I loved how they were incorporating small
groups into their daily schedule!

And so, I gave it a try. We started super slow, with just one
small group while the other children played. (I obviously still
wasn’t a true believer.) But when I saw how wonderful that
one group worked, I decided to take the plunge. I’m here to
say we’ve been doing small groups with our preschoolers for
many years now and it rocks! They love it!
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.
Disclosure: This post reviews products provided free of charge
from Discount School Supply. We have been purchasing many
of our supplies from Discount School Supply since 1999. This
post contains affiliate links.

HOW TO HAVE SMALL GROUPS WITH

PRESCHOOLERS

When planning small group activities for our preschoolers, I

think of various skills I’d like to develop. We play many games
that include numbers and letters. We work in our journals,
thread, and work with scissors to strengthen our fine motor
skills. We practice self-help skills such as pouring water. We
sort colors and work on shape recognition.
How we organize our small groups:

Towards the end of each preschool day in our 3 year olds class
is when we have our small group activities. We divide our 16
children into 4 groups, and each group works on a skill. Three
of the groups are led by a teacher or assistant and the 4th
group is independent. We only have 1 small group per day.
The following school day the children will move to a different
small group. So, it takes 4 days to complete 4 groups with
rotations.
An example of a small group activity:
I wanted to provide an activity that would involve color and
number recognition.
Discount School Supply had asked if I would review
their Colorations Glitter Dough, so I decided to use it with this
small group activity.
Since the theme was rainbows, the colors Discount School
Supply sent were perfect. I simply removed them from their
air tight containers and placed them on our table as an
invitation for my small group.
I decided to make this be a color and number recognition
activity. I included pipe cleaners that matched the glitter
dough, and gave each of the children a number card.
I handed each child a mound of glitter dough and they found
the matching pipe cleaners. They counted the appropriate
amount to place into the coordinating dough.
I would then ask them to remove a certain amount of pipe
cleaners from the dough.
It was actually simple addition and subtraction for those who
were ready.
HOW TO HAVE SMALL GROUPS WITH
PRESCHOOLERS – MORE IDEAS:

Organizing a Small Group (Pre-Kinders)

Small Group Games (education.com)

The How and Why of Using Small

Groups (brighthubeducation.com)
Oral Language Game

As I've mentioned before, oral language is a huge predictor of

future reading success. A common saying among reading
professionals is, "If a child doesn't hear a word, that child won't
say that word. If he doesn't say it, he won't read it." You can
help your child grow his oral language with easy and fun games.
We've been playing a super simple oral language game using
objects we have lying around the house.

Supplies:
variety of small objects from around your home
large clear container with lid
How to Play:
Fill large container with small objects from around the home.
Screw on the lid. Show the item to the tub to your child and say,
"I spy something (object) and you use it to (description)" When
the child guesses the correct object, unscrew the lid and let that
child hold the item.
For added challenge, let your child try giving clues to you.
(When I play with my 2 year old and 4 year old, I give clues to
both of them. Then my four year old gives a clue to me!)
Here are some of the objects we included the last time we
played.
Some of the clues we used were, "I spy something black and you
use it to fix your hair." or "I spy something with black and white
spots and it is an animal."
I've also found it is good to include figurines like batman or
Papa Smurf because the boys LOVE when they get a special
character!

Try to include a variety of concepts in your clues such as:

color words
categories (animal, food, transportation)
number sense (I spy an animal with four legs)

My boys love to play this game over and over again. I love the
language that is built each time we play.
Toddler Language Activity: Make
an Experience Book
march 18, 2013 by stephanie 26 comments

last updated thursday, march 20, 2014

*The twins are 26 months actual, 24 months

adjusted

Hi friends! Today I want to share a quick

communication-boosting tool that I created using
pictures from our farm field trip. I’m always on the
look out for toddler language activities, and this
one is also excellent for early literacy, too!

Toddler Language Activity:

Make an Experience Book
Experience books are a great language and
literacy tool, as well as a fun way to remember
special activities and outings. In my recent family
chalkboard post, I talked about using pictures and
objects to help children with emerging language
talk about past events.

Experience books are the perfect tool to help my

two-year-olds share their memories with other
important people in their lives. When used in this
way, we don’t necessarily just sit down and read it
to them like a typical book. Instead, I might say
something like, “Sydney, did you tell Mimi about
the day we went to the farm?” and hand her the
book to show my mother. Rather than just having
the child sit passively while the adult reads, the
child takes the lead, flipping through the pictures
and using them as a visual reference to point to
while they are talking. Meanwhile, the pictures
and words help the adult (usually Daddy or a
grandparent) have enough contextual information
to understand what the twins are saying, even if
their speech isn’t perfectly clear yet. It makes for
a much more successful and satisfying
communication experience for both parties and
provides great language practice for the little
ones!
Of course, the pictures can also be used like a
typical book, and the twins bring them to me
several times a day to read. Pairing the words
with the pictures great for early literacy, and they
love to point to the print as we read together.
When writing the text for these books, I try to use
simple sentences with repetitive text, and I do a
lot of auditory completion (pausing in my reading
to encourage the twins to finish my sentences on
their own). This helps them become active
participants in read-aloud time, which is very
important for language development and later
reading skills.
Creating the book was easy- I just took photos
from our trip and used PicMonkey to add the text.
I printed them out on our home printer and then
laminated them for durability. To hold them all
together, I used a hole punch to clip a corner of
each picture and then had my son help me thread
the pictures onto a metal ring. The books last a
long time and can be tossed into a purse or bag to
occupy little ones on outings. The metal ring is
easy for an adult to open up, so the pictures could
be used in sequencing activities later on if
desired, or you could add several mini-books to
one ring. We have also made experience books
by just sticking pictures into small photo albums
from the dollar store. The books themselves don’t
need to look “pretty” as long as they get you and
your child talking together!

Experience books are a tool that I used

extensively when doing speech therapy with
children with language disorders and autism. It is
a great way to encourage language-sharing
across contexts and is also a wonderful a
wonderful confidence booster for the child. You
might consider creating one for your little one to
share with his/her teacher after a special outing or
vacation!
L is for Listening Skills
{3 Science Games to
Play}
Trisha July 30, 2013 Science
The letter L is up next in our A to Z Science series for toddlers and
preschoolers at Inspiration Laboratories. L is for Listening Skills.
Listening Skills
Listening is an important science skill as well as an important life
skill. Listening is a part of making observations. In order to become
better listeners, we need to practice {just like anything else}.
Practicing skills is always more fun when it’s in a game format. I’ve
got 3 quick and easy listening games perfect for toddlers and
preschoolers to share with you today. I’ve compiled a list of listening
games and activities, too!
A Listening Box

A listening box is similar to a touch box or mystery bag. You place an

object in a closed box or bag. The child reaches her hand inside the
box or bag and tries to guess what’s inside. She uses her sense of
touch to help her out. It’s the same concept with the listening box only
she’ll use her sense of hearing to hear what’s inside the box.

1. Choose some objects that make noise to place in your box one
item at a time. {Bells, rattles, crinkly paper, you get the idea.}
2. Place one of the objects in the box. {Hide the items not in use in
a separate box or bag.}
3. Make noise with the object in the box.
4. Ask your child what is making the noise. What is that sound?
What makes this noise?
5. Show the object to your child and let him make the noise.
6. Repeat with new objects.

Sound Eggs
Sound eggs are always popular with kids. There’s just something
delightful about shaking the eggs and guessing what’s inside. It’s the
same idea as the listening box only this time all of the objects are
inside eggs and the sound is produced by shaking the egg. Be careful
when using the sound eggs as you will most likely choose small items
that can easily be swallowed. Keep the egg closed and always
supervise.

Here are some ideas for what to put inside the eggs:
 bells
 rice

 pom poms

 beans

 marbles

 beads {different sizes and materials}

 wooden circles
  puzzle pieces
 milk caps

 rocks

 googly eyes
Sound eggs make a great matching game. Fill two eggs with the same
objects. Have your child shake the eggs and try to match the sounds.

Aiden filled our sound eggs with the objects below.

What’s That Sound? {A
Listening Game that Gets
Kids Moving}
I’m all for activities that get kids up and moving. Aiden loves
anything if it’s a race. Our Letter Sounds Race and Tape Race prove
that point. This game practices listening skills and gets kids moving a
bit.
All you need are some objects that can make noise or you can
hit/touch to make a sound.

How to Play:
1. Have your child stand on one side of the room. Place the noise
making objects with you on the other side of the room.
2. Ask your child to turn around facing away from you.
 3. Make a noise with one of the objects.
4. Ask your child to run across the room and choose the object that
made the noise.
5. Reset and play again.
To make the game easier, listen to all of the sounds before you start
the game. Ask your child to describe the sounds. Does it sound like a
drum? Does it sound like water dripping? Is it metallic sounding?

Take It Outside
Practice your listening skills outside. My husband is an avid birder
and used to do research before becoming a teacher. His love of birding
has been passed on to my son. Aiden loves searching for birds and
trying to identify them. Use your listening skills to distinguish
between different types of birds. Can you tell the difference between
the song of a Northern Cardinal and the call of a Blue Jay? The
Cornell Lab of Ornithology has an awesome online bird guide to help
you learn if you’re interested.
What else can you hear outside?

Share Your Explorations

Head over to the Science for Kids Community on Google+ and share
pictures of your listening explorations. Or stop by the Inspiration
Laboratories Facebook page and share with us there.

More Listening Activities to

Try
 Try our Do 3 Things Listening Game.
 Head outside and see what you can hear. We love this Outdoor
Sound Hunt Inspired by Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?!
 Check out this collection of listening games and activities!