How to Develop Communication Skills in Preschoolers

Explore practical tips and activities to learn how to develop communication skills in preschoolers. Tips designed to foster effective communication abilities in young children, setting a strong foundation for their future success

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Communication is the ability and desire to connect with others by exchanging ideas and feelings verbally and nonverbally. Without it, humans could not learn anything from their peers, and human evolution would be much more difficult, if not plain impossible.

In this article, we explore how to develop communication skills in preschoolers.

Why are Communication Skills Vital for the Development of Preschoolers?

There are several reasons why communication skills are important which is why it is important to learn how to develop communication skills in preschoolers.

They help preschoolers better express their needs and emotions.
Preschoolers depend on their adult caretakers to help them with things they cannot do independently, and effective communication enables them to express their needs.
Communication skills are also essential tools that children use to navigate the world around them. Through communication, they can ask questions and receive answers. A child who is understood by those around him will feel confident and have an optimistic view of life.

They contribute to the development of thinking and speaking

Communication can be nonverbal, spoken, interpersonal, or written. These forms allow little ones to participate in conversation and listen to what others say. This practice teaches preschoolers new words and expressions and improves their communication skills.

They help consolidate social skills

Learning to communicate with adults and other children equips preschoolers with the capacity to establish positive relationships and make friends. Moreover, communication skills help them comprehend unwritten social clues like body language, eye contact and tone of voice.

They contribute to their academic and social success

A child who easily understands new information and can convey it clearly and concisely will be able to use it in the proper academic and social settings, contributing to his success as a child and as an adult.

They prevent frustration and promote positive conduct

Children who feel they cannot express their emotions or needs can become frustrated with themselves and the ones around them. As adults, we encounter that same problem when we fail to communicate effectively. Powerful communication skills turn frustrated conduct into a positive one, as they feel encouraged to speak when people they interact with can understand what they express.

How Do Children Develop Their Communication Skills?

Communication starts from the moment children are born. Soon after birth, babies express themselves through sounds (crying), facial expressions, and body movements.

Later, babies advance to babbling and cooing and then to a stage where they express their joy or lack of content by moving their arms or legs. As they grow, little ones learn to point, make grimaces, smile and establish and maintain eye contact with their caretakers. The communication skills that children learn help build patterns in their brains, patterns that contribute to their balanced psychological and biological growth.

Although the development of communication skills doesn’t happen at the same pace for all children, there are certain milestones certified by experts that can tell you if your child is making the proper progress for his age.

Around nine months, most children attempt saying simple words and use gestures to communicate; at 28 months, they begin to put simple sentences together, and when they are three years old, they can talk to their parents or friends about experiences like how their day was in the daycare centre or kindergarten.

How Do You Teach Communication Skills?

You can learn how to develop communication skills in preschoolers with the help of simple and effective methods like:

Playing games

Games like “Telephone games” or “Show and Tell” teach your child the communication skills he needs to express his needs and feelings.

In a Telephone game, you pretend to speak to your child through a receiver, and you can encourage him by smiling as he finds and states the words he wants to say to you.

In Show and Tell, ask your little one to point to an object around him and say a few words about it: the colour, shape or what it serves for.

Another game that stimulates communication skills is Catch. In this version of the game, you toss a ball to your child, and he tosses it back. The person throwing the ball asks a question, and the one catching it offers a reply to that question. You can use this game to ask your preschooler questions about his day in the daycare or learn about what he liked and disliked most about his day. This game mimics the rules of conversation and teaches your child how to carry on a conversation by asking questions or providing answers.

Practicing conversation

By engaging your child in a conversation and listening to what he has to say, you help him communicate and build self-confidence. You can expand the simple words your child states by adding different features. For instance, if your little one says “flower”, you can say, “Yes, that is a beautiful yellow flower”. That teaches him to express the names of things and some of their characteristics for a higher understanding of the world around him, which contributes to building self-confidence.

Ask for his opinion on different matters, like what he thinks about the conduct of a child he met on the playground or about a new cartoon he has seen on TV. This teaches him to reflect on his feelings and formulate and express opinions.

Provide him with choices, like choosing the kind of juice he wants to drink, so he understands what choice means and how to express a preference.

Using Role Play

Role-play is an extraordinary tool that allows your child to observe and learn how others communicate. You can pretend to be a character that your child loves and communicate fondly with him. Or you can pretend you are your child when he is having a difficult day and verbalise feelings you imagine he has: sadness, disappointment, or fear. This teaches the little one that it is alright to feel different types of emotions and how to express them.

How Can I Improve My 3-Year-Olds Communication Skills?

One of the games answering the question “how to develop communication skills in preschoolers” is “I Spy”. The rules are simple:

Choose an object around you.
Say, “I spy with my little eye something that starts with the letter V.”
Ask your little one to guess the object you are thinking of.

Another game that improves your 3-year-old’s communication skills is a word scavenger hunt: Give your child a list of simple words like tree, book, plate, and flower and ask him to find them in or around the house.

Reading and storytelling are invaluable tools for improving the communication skills of your preschooler.

Reading books encourages children to read the words in the story and exposes them to written language in a fun way. By asking them to formulate questions about what you have read, you help the children learn how to express verbally their ideas and opinions.

Storytelling encourages preschoolers to put into words what they are imagining, and that improves their communication skills and creativity.

Although challenging at times, teaching your child how to communicate effectively is one of the most rewarding parenting experiences. Each of his successes is a step towards becoming an efficient communicator as an adult in both his personal and professional life. So, given this, it is important to learn how to develop communication skills in preschoolers.

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