Every family will have different night time routine that works for their family. Incorporate language in whenever and wherever you can. The phrases “It’s time for…”, “last one”, “let’s go…”, and “it’s your/my turn” can be used in many different activities.
Bath Time: Bath time is a perfect opportunity to expand and work on language development. Talk you your child about the water and how it feels. Identify and label body parts as they are being cleaned. (ie. Where is your belly? There it is. I’m going to tickle it.”) Sing songs such as “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”, “Row Row your boat, “This Little Piggy”, and “If your Happy and you Know it”. I add versus in such as “If your happy and you know it kick your feet or splash around. Make it fun for your child!
Brushing your teeth: Teach your child different concepts such as top, bottom, up, down, front, back, in, and out while they brush. Sing a song about brushing your teeth such as “When you wake up in the morning you brush your teeth brush brush brush your teeth. When you get ready for bed you brush your teeth brush brush brush brush. UP down up down around we go. Brush your teeth.” The sillier the better.
Reading Books: When reading books focus on interactions versus the words on the page. Point, discuss, and make comments of what you see on each page. There is so much language within the pictures that can be missed if you are just reading the words. You could say “I see a…”or “Look at that…”. If your child points to something in the picture expand upon it. (ie. That’s right, it’s a ….The dog is running. Go dog go. Where is the…?) If you are reading a book that has a spider sing the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” or a bus sing “Wheels on the Bus”.
Good Night:Every night, we have the same routine for going to sleep. My daughter hugs and kisses both my husband and I. My husband covers her with a blanket and gives her Winnie. She has to have Winnie the Pooh to sleep. During this routine, we expand upon what she is saying. We make comments about what we are doing. “Mommy’s going to give you a big kiss”. Mommy wants a kiss. Mommy is kissing daddy. “ “Daddy’s Winnie? No? Mommy’s Winnie? Ohh it’s Claire’s Winnie.” “Do you want light off? Turn light off. It’s time for night night.”
Any activity you do during the night can be included in your night time language routine. Others may be putting on pajamas, saying prays, and cleaning up your toys. The amount of language at bedtime is endless. Remember to make it fun!
