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Activities To Improve Prelinguistic Skills

Pre-linguistic skills are the first form of communication developed prior to the symbolic language, typically from 9-15months. Limited pre-linguistic skills in the early years are an indication of future concerns in the areas of language development, attention, concentration, behaviour, social interaction and play skills.

Prelinguistic skills which should be to make the child communicate better:

Gestures
Eye contact
Joint attention
Turn taking
Imitation
Name call response

Here are some activities you can try with your child to target each of the key pre-linguistic skills:

Gestures

Model Gestures: Use gestures when talking to your child, when you wave goodbye, point to objects, or shake your head for “no”, frequently during the daily life routine, then the children will start imitating these actions.
Respond to Gestures: When your child uses a gesture, respond to it verbally. If they point to a toy, say, “You want the ball?” This reinforces their attempt to communicate and connects the gesture with words.
Play Games That Involve Gestures: Simple games like “peek-a-boo,” “pat-a-cake,” or action songs like “If You’re Happy and You Know It” involve gestures and help children associate movement with meaning.
Role playing activities: Act out pretend scenarios (e.g, cooking, shopping) and encourage the child to use gestures to communicate actions.
Mirror play: Encourage the child to watch their gestures in the mirror. Copy each other’s gestures to reinforce recognition and imitation.

Eye contact

Peek-a-boo games: Peek-a-boo games can be played anywhere; from behind a curtain, when getting dressed, while having a bath or even when walking your baby in his/her pram. You can encourage your child to look at you by sitting at his/her level or opposite the child. Hide your face behind your hands and play peek-a-boo games.
What’s mummy/daddy wearing: You could try putting on and taking off a brightly coloured or interesting hat or gloves, a colourful scarf, sari or piece of material, sunglasses or a home-made paper plate face mask to play peek-a-boo games, encouraging your child to look at you.
Making faces: Make funny faces or sounds while looking at the mirror together. Wait for your child to look at you before you continue or wait for your child to copy you. You could also do this during bath times when sitting at his/her eye level.
Blowing bubbles: Before you blow bubbles, wait for your child to look at you. You may have to call out their name, help them anticipate blowing by saying, ‘ready, steady…’ or shake the bottle of bubbles to get their attention. You can encourage your child to look at you by placing the bottle of bubbles close to your face.
Ready, steady go! : You can play any ball game (i.e. skittles), blowing bubbles, a marble run or a car game with your child. Say ‘ready, steady’ and pause briefly to get his/her attention before saying ‘go’ and throwing the ball, rolling the car or blowing bubbles
Hand/glove or finger puppets: Put on a hand/glove puppet or a home-made sock puppet on your hand and wave your hands or wriggle your fingers close to your face to encourage your child to look at you. Similarly, you can use finger puppets or draw faces on your fingertips with washable paint, paint your nails or use hand paint on your hands. Place your hand close to your face and wriggle your fingers and hide them, encouraging your child to look at you.
Use favourite object: Hold a favourite toy or object close to your eyes and encourage the child to look up when talking or interacting with the object. Exaggerate your facial expressions while having conversation placing the object near to your face. Make sure you are sitting in the same eye level of your child.
Action songs: Use action songs. Make eye contact a part of fun, make the child do the action by holding the hands.
Stacking blocks: Make the child to look at your eyes before you hand them the next block. Make it a part of the routine.
Eye-contact countdown: Start with brief eye contact and use a countdown. Like say, “Look at me for 3,2,1” and gradually extend the time as the child becomes more comfortable. You can use any reinforcement for the child’s positive responses so the child will be encouraged.
Look and Tell game: Hold up a picture or object the child is interested in and say, “Look at me, then tell me what it is”.
Physical games: Play games the child likes, between say “Anu, Look at me” and then continue. This will also help to improve her response when her name is called. Or, STOP her from doing or playing the activity by calling her name simultaneously. Make her look at you by making her saying “Yes”.

Joint attention

Use of Interactive story books, give your child books instead of tablets or mobile. Using of interactive story books will enhance the Joint attention, sitting behavior of the child also the bonding with the parents. It will also improve the child’s language skills
Roll a ball/car down a ramp or throw a ball back and forth
Do a jigsaw together
Sing songs with actions, like “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”, and hold hands and dance to your child’s favourite song.
Hold a sheet or blanket with your child and rock a baby doll.
Play Hide and Seek with toys which your child is interested with.
Blow up balloons and letting them go to fly around the room
Physical games such as chase and tickles, build towers and knocking them down.
Bubble Play : Blow bubbles and pause to wait for the child to look at you or point. Encourage shared excitement by saying, "Wow, look at the bubbles!"
Flashlight Games : In a dim room, shine a flashlight on different objects. Encourage the child to look where the light is pointing and label the objects.
Point and Label : Use books or posters with vibrant images. Point to pictures, label them, and wait for the child to look at the item or your face.
Toy Surprise : Hide a toy under a blanket or inside a box. Use exaggerated facial expressions and excitement as you reveal it.
Snack Time Interaction : Hold a snack or favourite item in front of your face. Wait for the child to look at you before giving it to them.

Turn taking

When playing with your child, make sure you pause and wait and give them an opportunity to respond to you, using specific time limit with counting from 1-10.
Games that involve passing a toy to each other help to develop turn taking e.g. rolling a ball forwards and backwards, pushing a car to each other etc. You can model language too, “my turn, your turn”
Try to involve yourself in your child’s play, for example if your child is playing with blocks, you could get your own blocks and play alongside them. If they are ready, you can take a turn to put a block on their tower
Try playing games without toys; we call these games ‘people games. Your child may enjoy chase, tickles or peek a boo.
Pause and wait for your child to take their turn, remember their turn might be a look, a smile, a movement or a sound. When they respond then take your next turn.
Board Games or Simplified Card Games : Play simple games like "Snakes and Ladders" or "Go Fish." Use visual cues like a "turn-taking card" to help the child know when it's their turn.
Bubble Blowing : Take turns blowing bubbles. Say "Your turn to blow!" and "My turn to pop."
Pretend Play : Set up a pretend tea party or store where each person takes turns pouring tea or being the cashier.

Imitation

Imitating sounds:

Encourage your child to continue making sounds and engage in back-and-forth sound Games.
Imitate your child’s sounds
Pause to see if your child repeats the sound. If he does, imitate again to create a back-and-forth imitation game
Sing familiar songs and rhymes over and over
Once your child knows a song well, pause before a favourite part to see if your child will fill in the blank
Copycat Sounds : Sit face-to-face and produce simple sounds like "ah," "oo," "ba," or animal noises. Encourage the child to imitate by making it playful and rewarding their attempts. Exaggerate your facial movements .
Action Songs : Use songs with repetitive sounds and actions, like "Old MacDonald" or "Wheels on the Bus." Exaggerate sounds like "E-I-E-I-O" and encourage the child to join.
Silly Sound Games : Make playful sounds during play, such as car noises ("vroom") or pretending to sneeze ("achoo"). Pause and wait for the child to imitate.
Mirror Play: Sit in front of a mirror and make silly faces paired with sounds. Encourage the child to mimic both the facial expressions and sounds.
Verbal Imitation Cards : Show picture cards with simple words (like "cat" or "car"). Say the word slowly and clearly and prompt the child to repeat.
Play-Based Imitation : Use toys that encourage sounds (e.g., animal figurines or vehicles). Say phrases like "moo" for the cow or "beep beep" for the car and prompt the child to copy.
Imitation Chain: Start with a simple sound and gradually build to two-word phrases (e.g., "ba" → "ba-ba" → "ball"). Reward any attempt to encourage progress.
Snack Time Sounds : Hold a desired snack and model words like "yum," "more," or "please." Wait for an attempt before giving the snack.
Rhythm and Sound Games: Tap on a drum or clap while saying a sound or syllable. Pause and wait for the child to imitate the sound or rhythm.
Imitating actions on objects:
Use matching sets of objects to play with your child so that you both have the same objects
Get face-to-face with your child and imitate exactly what he does with the objects once he enjoys this game, try showing him a different action with the object. Pause expectantly to see if he will imitate, if he doesn’t gently help him to.
Praise your child for imitating your action, whether you helped. Go back to imitating his choice of actions for a while before trying again.
Keep it fun! Add silly sound effects and label the actions as you go.
Imitating facial expressions and gestures:
Pick a gesture in a favourite song. When it gets to that part of the song, begin the gesture, then help your child to imitate by moving her hands. Reward her by continuing the song.
Each time give your child less and less help, so he is doing it more independently.
Don’t worry if he doesn’t do it exactly. Give lots of praise and encouragement.
Use exaggerated facial expressions when playing with your child and in all your daily routines together.
Try playing in front of a mirror together and making silly faces and sounds.

Name call response

Find a few of the child's favourite treats or activities (like chips and bubbles). When the child is focused on something else, call his name while standing behind them, then gently touch their shoulder and give them a chip or blow bubbles. Gradually, move a bit further away and wait a second or two before touching their shoulder. This way, the child will learn that good things happen when they hear their name.
To teach your child to look at you when you call, it's important to limit distractions. Start in a quiet room by turning off the TV and asking siblings to play elsewhere for a few minutes. Remove any toys or clutter that could divert his attention. This calm setting will help him learn to respond better. Once he’s comfortable, you can gradually introduce louder and busier environments, like the living room or toy room.
Music can be a powerful tool to capture a toddler's attention - two-year-old and preschoolers often love it. If your child responds enthusiastically to music, try incorporating it into your interactions with them. When calling their name, try using a sing-song tone of voice, making it a fun and engaging experience
Name Calling Hide and Seek : Hide behind furniture and call the child's name. Encourage the child to find you by following your voice. Celebrate when they respond.
Name Call with Reinforcement: Call the child's name when he is engaged in a preferred activity (playing with toys or watching a video). Reward with positive reinforcement when they respond (clapping, praise, or a small treat).
Interactive Play with Name Calling: Engage in a game like catch or ball rolling. Call the child's name before throwing the ball and encourage eye contact.
Bubbles and Name Response: Call the child's name before blowing bubbles. Only blow bubbles when they respond.
Name Call Freeze Game: Play music and have the child dance. Call their name randomly to prompt them to freeze.
Snack Time Interaction: Hold up a desired snack and call the child’s name. Wait for eye contact or a response before giving the snack.

Activities To Improve Prelinguistic Skills

Speech Therapy Department | Feb 10, 2025

Activities To Improve Prelinguistic Skills

Prelinguistic skills which should be to make the child communicate better:

Gestures

Eye contact

Joint attention

Turn taking

Imitation

Name call response

Here are some activities you can try with your child to target each of the key pre-linguistic skills:

Gestures

Model Gestures: Use gestures when talking to your child, when you wave goodbye, point to objects, or shake your head for “no”, frequently during the daily life routine, then the children will start imitating these actions.

Respond to Gestures: When your child uses a gesture, respond to it verbally. If they point to a toy, say, “You want the ball?” This reinforces their attempt to communicate and connects the gesture with words.

Play Games That Involve Gestures: Simple games like “peek-a-boo,” “pat-a-cake,” or action songs like “If You’re Happy and You Know It” involve gestures and help children associate movement with meaning.

Role playing activities: Act out pretend scenarios (e.g, cooking, shopping) and encourage the child to use gestures to communicate actions.

Mirror play: Encourage the child to watch their gestures in the mirror. Copy each other’s gestures to reinforce recognition and imitation.

Eye contact

What’s mummy/daddy wearing: You could try putting on and taking off a brightly coloured or interesting hat or gloves, a colourful scarf, sari or piece of material, sunglasses or a home-made paper plate face mask to play peek-a-boo games, encouraging your child to look at you.

Making faces: Make funny faces or sounds while looking at the mirror together. Wait for your child to look at you before you continue or wait for your child to copy you. You could also do this during bath times when sitting at his/her eye level.

Ready, steady go! : You can play any ball game (i.e. skittles), blowing bubbles, a marble run or a car game with your child. Say ‘ready, steady’ and pause briefly to get his/her attention before saying ‘go’ and throwing the ball, rolling the car or blowing bubbles

Action songs: Use action songs. Make eye contact a part of fun, make the child do the action by holding the hands.

Stacking blocks: Make the child to look at your eyes before you hand them the next block. Make it a part of the routine.

Eye-contact countdown: Start with brief eye contact and use a countdown. Like say, “Look at me for 3,2,1” and gradually extend the time as the child becomes more comfortable. You can use any reinforcement for the child’s positive responses so the child will be encouraged.

Look and Tell game: Hold up a picture or object the child is interested in and say, “Look at me, then tell me what it is”.

Joint attention

Use of Interactive story books, give your child books instead of tablets or mobile. Using of interactive story books will enhance the Joint attention, sitting behavior of the child also the bonding with the parents. It will also improve the child’s language skills

Roll a ball/car down a ramp or throw a ball back and forth

Do a jigsaw together

Sing songs with actions, like “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”, and hold hands and dance to your child’s favourite song.

Hold a sheet or blanket with your child and rock a baby doll.

Play Hide and Seek with toys which your child is interested with.

Blow up balloons and letting them go to fly around the room

Physical games such as chase and tickles, build towers and knocking them down.

Bubble Play : Blow bubbles and pause to wait for the child to look at you or point. Encourage shared excitement by saying, "Wow, look at the bubbles!"

Flashlight Games : In a dim room, shine a flashlight on different objects. Encourage the child to look where the light is pointing and label the objects.

Point and Label : Use books or posters with vibrant images. Point to pictures, label them, and wait for the child to look at the item or your face.

Toy Surprise : Hide a toy under a blanket or inside a box. Use exaggerated facial expressions and excitement as you reveal it.

Snack Time Interaction : Hold a snack or favourite item in front of your face. Wait for the child to look at you before giving it to them.

Turn taking

When playing with your child, make sure you pause and wait and give them an opportunity to respond to you, using specific time limit with counting from 1-10.

Games that involve passing a toy to each other help to develop turn taking e.g. rolling a ball forwards and backwards, pushing a car to each other etc. You can model language too, “my turn, your turn”

Try to involve yourself in your child’s play, for example if your child is playing with blocks, you could get your own blocks and play alongside them. If they are ready, you can take a turn to put a block on their tower

Try playing games without toys; we call these games ‘people games. Your child may enjoy chase, tickles or peek a boo.

Pause and wait for your child to take their turn, remember their turn might be a look, a smile, a movement or a sound. When they respond then take your next turn.

Board Games or Simplified Card Games : Play simple games like "Snakes and Ladders" or "Go Fish." Use visual cues like a "turn-taking card" to help the child know when it's their turn.

Bubble Blowing : Take turns blowing bubbles. Say "Your turn to blow!" and "My turn to pop."

Pretend Play : Set up a pretend tea party or store where each person takes turns pouring tea or being the cashier.

Imitation

Imitating sounds:

Encourage your child to continue making sounds and engage in back-and-forth sound Games.

Imitate your child’s sounds

Pause to see if your child repeats the sound. If he does, imitate again to create a back-and-forth imitation game

Sing familiar songs and rhymes over and over

Once your child knows a song well, pause before a favourite part to see if your child will fill in the blank

Copycat Sounds : Sit face-to-face and produce simple sounds like "ah," "oo," "ba," or animal noises. Encourage the child to imitate by making it playful and rewarding their attempts. Exaggerate your facial movements .

Action Songs : Use songs with repetitive sounds and actions, like "Old MacDonald" or "Wheels on the Bus." Exaggerate sounds like "E-I-E-I-O" and encourage the child to join.

Silly Sound Games : Make playful sounds during play, such as car noises ("vroom") or pretending to sneeze ("achoo"). Pause and wait for the child to imitate.

Mirror Play: Sit in front of a mirror and make silly faces paired with sounds. Encourage the child to mimic both the facial expressions and sounds.

Verbal Imitation Cards : Show picture cards with simple words (like "cat" or "car"). Say the word slowly and clearly and prompt the child to repeat.

Play-Based Imitation : Use toys that encourage sounds (e.g., animal figurines or vehicles). Say phrases like "moo" for the cow or "beep beep" for the car and prompt the child to copy.

Imitation Chain: Start with a simple sound and gradually build to two-word phrases (e.g., "ba" → "ba-ba" → "ball"). Reward any attempt to encourage progress.

Snack Time Sounds : Hold a desired snack and model words like "yum," "more," or "please." Wait for an attempt before giving the snack.

Rhythm and Sound Games: Tap on a drum or clap while saying a sound or syllable. Pause and wait for the child to imitate the sound or rhythm.

Imitating actions on objects:

Use matching sets of objects to play with your child so that you both have the same objects

Get face-to-face with your child and imitate exactly what he does with the objects once he enjoys this game, try showing him a different action with the object. Pause expectantly to see if he will imitate, if he doesn’t gently help him to.

Praise your child for imitating your action, whether you helped. Go back to imitating his choice of actions for a while before trying again.

Keep it fun! Add silly sound effects and label the actions as you go.

Imitating facial expressions and gestures:

Pick a gesture in a favourite song. When it gets to that part of the song, begin the gesture, then help your child to imitate by moving her hands. Reward her by continuing the song.

Each time give your child less and less help, so he is doing it more independently.

Don’t worry if he doesn’t do it exactly. Give lots of praise and encouragement.

Use exaggerated facial expressions when playing with your child and in all your daily routines together.

Try playing in front of a mirror together and making silly faces and sounds.

Name call response

Name Calling Hide and Seek : Hide behind furniture and call the child's name. Encourage the child to find you by following your voice. Celebrate when they respond.

Name Call with Reinforcement: Call the child's name when he is engaged in a preferred activity (playing with toys or watching a video). Reward with positive reinforcement when they respond (clapping, praise, or a small treat).

Interactive Play with Name Calling: Engage in a game like catch or ball rolling. Call the child's name before throwing the ball and encourage eye contact.

Bubbles and Name Response: Call the child's name before blowing bubbles. Only blow bubbles when they respond.