What You Need

• Nothing

How to Do this Activity

Listen for sounds your child repeats often and find natural ways to repeat them to help your child build a foundation for language. Let’s take “ba,” for example. Simply repeat “ba, ba, ba” back to your child, pausing to allow her to respond in kind. This begins the give and take of a conversation. Other ideas include: sing “Bah, Bah, Black Sheep,” roll a ball around, point to different bottles in the kitchen, or emphasize the bye when saying “bye-bye.”

What Your Child Learns

Through this activity, your child learns that you are interested in the sounds she makes. She begins to understand that those sounds form the basis for communication and she's motivated to keep trying.