Kids can develop language skills when child care providers simply talk with them. Even infants learn from all types of conversations they hear. They learn when you talk in a sing-song voice, and they learn when you read to them. That’s why it’s important to talk to infants early and get them familiar with language. I recommend to parents that they begin speaking to their children while they are still in the womb.

When children are 6 months old, child care providers should use phrases that they want them to be able to use in the future. These conversations can take place during one-on-one times with an infant, such as diapering and feeding times.

It doesn’t matter what you talk to your infants about. What’s important is that you talk to the kids as much and as often as possible. If you are outside with a child and he or she points to something they see, for instance a bird, then say, “Yes, isn’t that pretty? It’s a bluebird, and they fly. See how high they can fly? What do you think about the bluebird?” It doesn’t matter that they don’t fully understand what you are saying. They are taking it all in and learning language skills by hearing you talk to them.

It’s important to give each child individualized attention so that they feel loved, important, and that you are paying attention to them. In this one-on-one time, it’s also important to respond to what the kids say to you, so that it’s like a natural conversation with back and forth between you and the child.

Open-ended questions are very important to starting conversations because it gets kids thinking and encourages children to use language to describe their thoughts and feelings. When they starting thinking about an open-ended question, they are searching for words to use to answer the question. This in turn encourages thought process, which also helps kids develop language skills.

It doesn’t matter in which language you speak to the child because at this stage of development, infants can learn different languages at the same time. Babies can make all the sounds of all languages in the beginning. So when you talk to them, you are teaching them which sounds to make to be able to use a particular language. What’s important is that you talk with the child.

I have a 2-year-old girl in care that I’ve had since she was 5 months old. She has excellent language skills and will constantly start up conversations with me. I really think she is this way because I have always taken the opportunity to talk, sing and converse with her. I used diapering time to strike up conversations with her even before she could speak. When I change her diaper now, she knows it’s time for conversation.

I think it’s important to start conversing with babies before they even can talk. I think it teaches them what words to use, appropriate ways to talk to others, tone of voice, and everything else about language. I constantly engage kids in conversation and talk to them about everything because it teaches them to be good thinkers. It stimulates their brains –like exercising a muscle.

I have one-on-one time with the kids when I pick them up from school. While we’re in the car, I point out what landmarks we see on the road and I tell them where we are headed and what we are going to do for the day. I think it’s a great time to engage the kids in conversation and introduce new words into their vocabulary.