Following on from the adventures in my latest blog where we explored Newcastle’s beaches, it’s now time to stop in at our local parks and playgrounds to see how you can stimulate your child’s language whilst getting outside in different parts of our beautiful city. We are incredibly lucky to have so many fantastic parks in Newcastle, some with a coastal view, so you can continue your adventure from the beach, straight to the park!
I’m picturing King Edward Park, Foreshore Park, Dixon Park, Empire Park or other popular ones further into town like Centennial and Civic Park. We are really spoiled for choice and most suburbs will have their own parks and with that a great variety of places to visit, no matter how old your child. An additional bonus is that we not only have fantastic outdoor parks but also indoor playgrounds (Little Sandpiper, Megamania, The Secret Garden and Ninja Parc – which we are lucky to have above us at our Newcastle Clinic) in Newcastle, so regardless of the weather, there’s always somewhere to visit to build your child’s communication skills and make learning language FUN!
Visiting King Edward Park with Kids
Let’s stop and picture that we’re heading down to King Edward Park, picnic rug in tow, with a ball to kick around and those joggers on ready to get on that playground equipment! You can start by encouraging your child to name the things they can see around them: trees, slide, swings, benches, monkey bars, dogs, climbing nets, tables, birds, rotunda (very cool new word for them to learn and the meaning in case they ask: a building that is round and often has a dome. You’re welcome!)
King Edward Park has so many different areas to explore. Down the bottom, at the right time of year, you can see the beautiful sunken flower gardens. Try talking to your child about the flowers, their colours, what they smell like and about how we can help them to grow. Use questions to build your child’s expressive language skills, like ‘what can you see?’, ‘what colour is it?’, ‘where is it?’, and ‘what should we do next?’.
Use the Environment to Work on Vocabulary
Further up the hill is the fabulous grassed area with the rotunda, a great spot to stop for a picnic or to kick a ball around. Work on your child’s vocabulary by using verbs to describe what you are doing with the ball, such as ‘kicking, throwing, tossing, bouncing, rolling’. You can also practise turn-taking during this activity, ‘Mum’s turn!’, ‘Wait for your turn!’, or ‘Your turn now!”. Turn-taking is a valuable skill for making friends, waiting, being patient, negotiating and problem solving. So giving your child opportunities to practise this is of great benefit and also loads of fun!
Children love being little helpers (ok, yes I hear you, they love being little helpers most of the time), so you can work on their receptive language skills (understanding) as you set up your picnic by getting them involved! Give them instructions like, ‘put the plate on the rug’, ‘put the drinks next to the salad’, ‘can you get the cheese AND the crackers’. By providing instructions to your child about what they need to do, you are exposing them to different nouns and prepositions (position words) and in turn developing their receptive and expressive language skills.
Opportunities to Grow Receptive Language
Now it’s time to get ready and go further up the hill to the playground (if you’ve managed to keep your child away from it up to this point! High fives to you if you have!) You can continue to work on your child’s receptive language as you go by telling them to do things such as, “first put your ball on the rug’, ‘climb up the ladder first, then slide down’, and ‘put your legs over the bar before you lean back!’. Using position words such as, ‘in, on, under, through, above’ and sequence words like, ‘before, after, first, next, last’ will expose your child to different concepts which will in turn help them develop their understanding and build their sequencing skills.
Beyond the park on the southern boundary are the remains of the Shepherds Hill Battery and at the foot of the eastern cliff face is the Bogey Hole. Newcastle is teeming in history (I sense my next blog theme coming on!) and you can use these spots to continue to stimulate your child’s language. If you have an older child, you can discuss the history behind these places and have them discuss why they think they are there and what they think they may have been there for.
Tips for Growing Language Skills in our Parks and Playgrounds
As you can see, getting outside and playing in our own backyard is an easy and FREE way to work on your child’s language skills. There are parks and playgrounds everywhere and they are often already a part of a family’s routine! Remember talking to your child, asking them questions and having them telling you about what they are doing and seeing is the perfect way to stimulate their language.
Don’t forget though, that we are always here to help. If you have concerns with your child’s speech, language, fluency or feeding development please don’t hesitate to be in touch with A Growing Understanding.
You can also find us at our Stories events once a month at Merewether (Stories on the Sand), Warner’s Bay (Stories Under the Tree) and Williamtown (Stories Under the Hangar). These are free community events where you and your child can enjoy stories, take part in fun craft activities and receive advice from experienced Speech Pathologists! Visit our Facebook page where you can see all of the details for the remaining events for this year. In the meantime, I hope that you enjoy building your child’s communication skills whilst exploring all of our parks and playgrounds!
