Did you know that teddy bears are proven to be beneficial in developing children’s language skills? This may surprise you, but language development is a wonderful side-benefit to having soft toys and teddy bears around the house. Not only do Bears 4 U stock a great range of teddy bears and stuffed toys, but they can also be personalised adding a unique dimension and instant connection for any child who received one.
Here are some of the ways cuddly toys can help kids to improve their language skills:
Using Verbs – If your child is just starting to string sentences together, their teddy bears can help them to start to use verbs! Parents or carers can use simple phrases like ‘cat climbing’ whilst making a cuddly cat ‘climb’ up the sofa. The child can then copy the phrase. Not only does this help with their vocabulary, but it also helps to reinforce key concepts. Plus, it’s simple to do.
Using Descriptive Words – Children can be wonderfully descriptive and playing with soft toys can help to reinforce this. Is your child’s teddy soft? Fluffy? Plump? Shiny? Smooth? Heavy? Light? There are so many descriptive words that you can use here. Try lining up your child’s cuddly toys and seeing if they can think of one word to describe each one.
Naming Body Parts – Another educational activity is to help your child to learn words for body parts using teddy bears. For example, ‘nose’, ‘eyes,’ ‘ears’, ‘mouth’, ‘legs’, ‘paws. Try playing doctors and nurses with teddy bears as patients. ‘What’s wrong with teddy? Has he hurt his leg?’ this is a simple way to help toddlers to understand the names of body parts.
Finding Words for Emotions – Teaching a child to understand and regulate their emotions can begin at a very young age. Children tend to experience ‘big feelings’ which can feel overwhelming and frightening, as they may not have the capacity to understand what is happening. You can use teddy bears to re-enact some of these emotions. Have a bear stomp angrily across the floor during play. ‘Teddy is angry today!’ is such a simple sentence, but it can help your child to understand and give a name to their own feelings.
Make Sense of Pronouns – Many children get pronouns muddled up, which is where teddy bears can come in handy! It can be easy to get ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘him,’ and ‘her’ a bit confused. By clearly referring to your teddy bears’ pronouns, you can help your child to understand which pronoun to use.
Improve Vocabulary with Imaginative Play
Children have huge imaginations, and the sky is the limit when it comes to what they can dream up. Why not pretend that your cuddly toys are going to the moon? Or diving deep under the ocean? This can be a great way to introduce new words. ‘We’re going deeper under water!’ can help to introduce the concept of depth to children, while you can introduce older kids to the concept of gravity by having their teddy bears do huge jumps across the ‘moon’ (or bed, or sofa).
There are so many ways that teddy bears can be used to help to improve children’s vocabulary and language skills. Educational resources don’t have to be expensive – you can use your child’s much-loved bears!
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