Have a go at these activities which support communication and language development, the building blocks of reading and writing.

Pelmanism

Play a game of pelmanism (pairs). If you have a game, great but if you don’t then spend some time drawing sets of pictures, make sure you draw 2 the same. Initially use a maximum of 5 pairs or it becomes very hard to find a pair. Take turns to turn two cards and see if you get a pair. If you get a pair you get to keep it. The winner is the one who has the most pairs when all the cards are gone. You can make a twist on this game by drawing pairs of pictures that relate to one another instead of being the same e.g. hammer and nail or knife and fork. These games help with communication and naming things or explaining the connection and also with turn taking.

3 word stories

One person picks a person or animal, place and a thing e.g. a giant, the zoo and a car. The other person’s challenge is to tell a story that includes all three of those things. Then swap. This is a great game for playing while in the car or out for a walk, somehow it helps inspiration!  This helps develop vocabulary as well as usually being very funny as children quickly catch on to weird and wonderful combinations!