3 and 4 year olds: Communication and Language
- I like listening to longer stories and I can remember a lot of what happens
- If I am really busy in my play, I can find it difficult to switch my attention and listen to what you say to me. It helps me if you use my name and say: “Please stop and listen”
- I can use lots of different words. I like to learn new words
- It helps me if you explain what new words mean
- I can understand questions and instructions that are more complicated and have two parts, like: “Please get your coat and wait at the door”
- When you ask me questions about why something happened, I understand, e.g. “Why do you think the caterpillar got so big?”
- I know lots of songs and enjoy singing them
- I can tell you a long story and talk about my favourite books. I know lots of nursery rhymes
- I am still learning how to use word endings. I might still make mistakes such as ‘runned’ for ‘ran’. Instead of correcting me, please reply and use the right ending, e.g. “Yes, I saw how fast you ran!”
- I am still learning to pronounce some words. These are sounds that I might still find tricky, e.g. j, th, ch, and sh
- I can use long sentences of four to six words
- I can use words and actions to explain my thoughts and ideas. I can give my point of view and disagree
- I like having long conversations with you and my friends
- When I am playing I talk to pretend: “Let’s go on a bus... you sit there... I’ll be the driver”