Good attention and listening skills are vital for joining in with activities and interacting with other people. They are the foundation that underpins all language development.
Developing good attention and listening skills are essential to help your child to become a good communicator. These skills will also help your child understand and use language.
Early years development of attention
The ages should be treated as a rough guide, as each child is unique and will develop at their own pace.
Pregnancy
Even before your baby is born, you can help their development. See our video below on the importance of talking to your bump when you’re pregnant.
0 to 3 months
- Build interaction skills – eye contact, turn-taking and pausing – these are the foundation of all later communication development.
- Copying games help to establish neural pathways needed to develop communication.
- Singing.
- Talk in very short sentences.
3 to 6 months
- Different cries to communicate needs.
- Tickling games, peek-a-boo.
- The adult should use key words (such as ‘up’).
- Repetitive songs and rhymes.
- Label everyday objects and events as they happen.
6 to 9 months
- Responding to environmental sounds
- Babble begins – copy baby’s sounds to build a conversation without words.
- Beginning to relate key words to objects and events (such as, “milk”, “bye bye”)
9 to 12 months
- Understanding of key words is developing – talk in short sentences of one to two words, use gesture and pointing.
- Baby may be using “bu” “mu” and “du” – model the word you think they’re trying to say.
- Leave a space for baby to respond when you play turn-taking games.
- Copying games (such as, clapping, making faces) to build turn-taking through play.
- Use baby’s name before speaking to get attention.
18 months to 2 years
- Attention to activities is developing but can’t shift between activity and spoken instruction – need to say child’s name, ensure they’ve stopped what they’re doing, and then speak to them.
- May be understanding up to 100 words – still benefit from short, simple sentences of two to three words – use clear facial expression and gesture to support understanding.
- May be using up to 50 words and beginning to combine them (such as “Daddy car”).
- May be using speech sounds “p,b,m,w” now – model correct pronunciation of words but don’t expect child to repeat.
- Pretend play is developing.
2.5 to 3 years
- Attention to activities is developing but may still find it difficult to shift between activity and spoken instructions – say child’s name, and ensure they’ve stopped what they’re doing to speak to them – don’t assume the whole group will listen!
- Use sentences of two to three key words to highlight words they know.
- Beginning to understand concepts like “big/little” and “in/on/under”.
- May be using sentences of two to six words, asking simple questions and talking about what has already happened – model correct sentence structure but don’t expect child to repeat it.
3 to 4 years
- Understanding longer sentences with three to four key words (such as, “put your farm animals in the box”).
- Beginning to use pronouns “he/she” and asking “why?” questions.
- May experience some developmental non-fluency (stumbling over words) as spoken language progresses rapidly – give time to finish speaking, maintain eye contact, don’t comment on how words are said.
- May not be able to produce and use sounds like “f, l, y, th, r, s, ch, j” – model correct pronunciation without expecting child to repeat.
4 to 5 years
- Understanding questions and concepts of time (such as, yesterday, morning).
- Understands most everyday conversations.
- Beginning to enjoy rhymes and word play.
- May still have difficulty using tenses correctly (such as, “I runned”) – model correct structure without expecting child to repeat.
Games and activities
Here are some activity and game ideas to try with your child.
Copying rhythms
Ask your child to copy a simple rhythm on a drum such as, two quick beats, a pause, and one quick beat. You can make a drum using an empty margarine tub.
Identifying objects
Put some objects which make different noises in front of your child. When your child shuts their eyes, make the noise of the object – for example, shake the keys. Ask your child to identify the object. When they can identify each one, see if they can identify two sounds, in the correct order.
Clapping for their name
Make up a story with your child’s name in it or change the name of a storybook character to that of your child’s. Ask them to clap their hands every time they hear their name.
Silly sentences
Tell your child silly sentences such as, ‘It’s sunny outside, so I’m going to wear my wellies’! See if they can work out why they’re silly.
Asking for objects
Show your child a range of objects and ask for two or three items. See if they can remember the items in the correct order.
Shopping
Play pretend shopping and ask for some items such as, ‘a biscuit and an apple, please’ (you can use real tins, fruit or toy ones).
Packing for a holiday
Use a suitcase and real or doll’s clothes – ask your child to pack for a holiday – for example, “pack trousers and a scarf”.
Post box
Make a post box out of a shoebox, cut some pictures out of a comic or magazine and ask your child to post them.
Other games
Play ‘Simple Simon Says’ or ‘Do This, Do That’.
Following instructions
Ask your child to:
- point to two or three body parts
- give you related objects such as plastic farm animals or doll’s furniture
- give you unrelated objects (harder to do) such as a sock and a book
Watch the video below for more activity ideas to do with children aged 3 to 5 years old.