Language Game

On the drive home yesterday, M & R learned how to play "I Spy." It is a great game to help build descriptive language skills. Believe it or not, it is not easy for 3 year olds and 5 year olds to describe something. So what skills can this game build?

• language
• observation
• problem solving
• spatial awareness
• pre-reading skills

R's descriptions went something like this: "I spy a hat." or "I spy a white car!" or "I spy a big house!" However, by the end of the car ride, her descriptions became a little more complex (she dropped the noun so that she did not give the answer away and started using a few more adjectives), and she actually started guessing some of the answers. As our car ride took forty five miutes, she had a good amount of time to get the hang of it.

M, being a little older, described things by color, shape, texture, position, and even by the letter with which the item started. A box was no longer just a box; it was something that was brown, made of cardboard, and you can play inside it. K's boots were no longer just boots; they were brown with little fuzzy balls on them.

Suddenly, the world had developed a whole new dimension of possibilities for two little girls. The most mundane objects were now something interesting to describe.