Who Needs? You Need!
Prep: None | Activity Time: 1鈥3 Minutes
Babies begin to pay attention to the sounds of speech as soon as they can hear your voice. When we talk to babies, we instinctively exaggerate words, slow down our speech and elevate the pitch of the words we use. By varying the rhythm of our speech, we can help babies distinguish between different speech sounds or syllables in words and even identify where one word ends and the next word begins.
- Your voice!
Step 1: Pick a routine from your day that involves something your baby needs, such as a clean diaper, a bottle or a pacifier.聽
Step 2: Play the game: 鈥淲ho Needs? You Need!鈥 Use real words to describe the items you are using during your routine to build vocabulary.聽
Step 3: Change the rhythm of your voice as you say the words slowly in some sentences and quickly in others. This will help your baby listen to the different sounds and syllables that make up words. For example, you might say this slowly:聽
鈥淲ho needs a clean聽dia 鈥 per?鈥濃疉nd then say this quickly: 鈥淵ou need a clean diaper!鈥澛
Or you might say this slowly:
鈥淲ho needs a bot 鈥 tle?鈥 and then say this quickly: 鈥淵ou need a bottle!鈥
Find more easy at-home activities to help build your baby's pre-reading skills, or find a recommended children's book to read with your infant.