This activity gives your child a chance to play independently with markers or crayons in a controlled space.

Today’s activity: Use a large box that your child can sit inside comfortably.

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Painting is fun. It’s another way to practice holding a writing tool and using eye-hand coordination.

Today’s activity: Use a small bowl of water for your child to dip the paintbrush in. Paint on colored construction paper or a cardboard box. The wet area turns dark, so you child can make a work of art without a mess.

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At this level your child will develop a pincer grip with index finger and thumb, move arm across midline and scribble with a variety of writing tools.

Today’s activity: Practice using pincer grip, picking up objects and putting them into a container with a slot or small opening. Use objects like craft sticks, pompoms, corks, paint swatches, scarves, straws, playing cards.

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By the end of this level, your child should look at books with you for at least 5 minutes. They need to learn that time with books is pleasant. The trick is to be done before your child starts squirming away.

Today’s activity: Gradually increase the time your child will stay with books by making the pages really interesting and doing just a little bit more per page. Touch and name pictures or do an action like driving the truck or a sound effect like beeping.

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Children at this level like to look at books on their own. If it’s one you’ve read with them, they will look for favorite pictures or turn pages back and forth. You might hear them talking out loud as if they are reading.

Today’s activity: Model how to handle a book every time you read together. Include getting the book and putting it away as part of the routine of using books. Have 2 or 3 books available on a shelf for the child to use on their own.

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Children at this level are not able to use all the speech sounds. They use consonants at the beginning of a word more often than to one at an end of the word. It’s often hard to understand their speech.

We want your child to learn that their speech is effective. Don’t make them try to repeat the word “better.” Focusing on articulation is for later, after they are communicating more.

Today’s activity: When your child says something, always show that you understand their meaning. You can repeat the word as a way to show that you know what they said. This gives them a good model of the word.

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Asking for information is an important function of communication. Children learn how to ask questions from your examples. When you model the question and then the answer, they learn they can go to you to get information.

Today’s activity: When you hear a noise, act like you’re listening carefully and ask, “What’s that?” Use the hands-up gesture along with the question. Look around to show you are trying to figure it out. When you find the answer, name it. If you don’t know, model the gesture and words, “I don’t know.”

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When your child is interested in something, they are more likely to want to talk about it. They will be interested in the word you use to label it.

Today’s activity: When your child is interested in something, get their attention by being excited and asking, “What’s that?” When they look at you, then model the word that names the object.

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Your child is learning how to coordinate their movements in more precise ways. For speech, they need to coordinate all the muscles from their chest up to their mouth. They need to control air flow from their lungs, turn their voice on and off, and move their tongue to many places in their mouth. Blowing helps your child learn to coordinate their airflow and round their lips.

Today’s activity: Take turns blowing a feather or tissue paper back and forth. Make it a fun, turn taking game. Vary it by blowing through a straw.

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When you rchild uses an animal sound or car sound, they’re expressing a meaning. You understand what they’re talking about. That’s communication.

Take advantage of your child’s natural interests to engage them in communication opportunities. They’ll participate more often and for longer periods of time when they like the topic.

Today’s activity: Model animal sounds, machine sounds and other environmental sounds that refer to things of interest to your child. Reinforce their use of the sounds by responding to their meaning.

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