ACTIVITIES TO DEVELOP COMPREHENSION OF LANGUAGE
5-7 years
Remember to reinforce the rules of good looking, good listening, good sitting and
good waiting when playing any of these games. If listening and attention seems to be
a problem, try using our advice sheets tackling this difficulty first.
The order of these activities does not reflect the normal developmental pattern of language
acquisition. Any activity can be picked out from the selection depending on the resources
you have available.
 Form boards - Using a form board with a range of different objects, get the child to
replace the pieces according to instruction. e.g. start with “put in the tree”; advance to
“put in the ball and the telephone”; then try “put in something that flies”; can progress to
“put the ball in before you put the telephone in”.
 Books - Look at a book and ask simple questions. Get the child to point to objects in
the picture. Start at simple understanding of nouns e.g. point to the cat, point to the
tractor. Progress to adjective noun phrases e.g. point to the red cup (remember this
will only show comprehension if there is an alternative cup for the child to discriminate
against). Next step is verb phrases e.g. point to the boy that is running (again, there
needs to be an alternative choice). Negation and prepositions can similarly be
introduced e.g. point to the girl that is not wearing a hat; point to the bird in the tree
(again, there needs to be an alternative choice). Some pictures may lend themselves
to offering the opportunity for a child to predict what may happen next, e.g. which boy
will win the race?
 Find me - Collect a variety of objects and spread out on the table. Can they find the
one that e.g. you use to drink with, eat, wear etc. Vary the objects and amount of
information that you give to the child according to their level of understanding.
This could be based on vocabulary relating to science or humanities – use pictures if
you can’t collect objects.
 Posting - Collect a variety of objects and spread out on the table. Name an object for
the child to pick up and post/put in a bag/box.
Make this harder by asking the child to collect two objects. If they only remember one
repeat the whole instruction back (i.e. repeat both items again) otherwise you reduce
the level of the instruction.
The above activity can be varied by having a selection of objects and a teddy and dolly
(or two different toy favourites.) Ask the child to – ‘give teddy the spoon’ or ‘give dolly
the sock.’ Each instruction has two information carrying words for the child to
understand, so if you need to repeat it, again say the whole phrase. Don’t break it
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down. See additional sheets for an explanation of information carrying words and
further activities.
 Concepts – Specific concepts such as big and little can be taught by collecting a
range of pairs of objects – one big and one little of each, e.g. a big car and a little car,
big and little spoon, big and little brick. Ask the child to: ‘give me the big spoon’ or
‘point to the little car.’ When teaching these sorts of concepts use only one pair at a
time e.g. big and little OR long and short. See resources for Black Sheep Press for
picture materials.
 Shopping game - using pretend items and ask the child to ‘buy’ two or three items
depending on their level of understanding. You can then develop this so the child has
to “buy” some “fruit”, or some “meat”, displaying understanding of categories.
 Hide and Seek - Place objects around the room and get the children to bring you
things either by name or by description e.g. bring me the apple; bring me something
you would find in the bathroom.
 Actions - Give the child a sequence of two to three actions to do. For example ‘touch
your nose and then clap your hands’ or ‘stamp your feet, touch the floor then put your
hands in the air.’ To help the child initially you could do the actions as you say them so
they have a visual clue. As they improve stop your demonstration of the actions.
 Barrier Games - Collect two identical sets of objects, one for you and one for the child.
Put a barrier between you (e.g. a folder) so you can’t see each other’s objects. Give
each other instructions about where to position the objects in relation to each other
(e.g. “put the book under the pen”) Remove the barrier and see if the objects are in the
same place?
This can also be carried out using pictures (that you have photocopied or simply drawn
yourself) to be coloured. For example ‘colour the man with a hat blue’ / ‘colour the big
square red’ etc.
 Sequencing skills – get children to match sequence patterns, this can either be by:
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copying the colour pattern of a string of beads, expanding in complexity and
length.
Copying the colour pattern of a string of beads as shown on a picture, again
increasing in complexity and length.
Use pre-drawn patterns for the child to colour match.
Use simple story pictures to create story sequence. (See Black Sheep
Resources).
 Everyday sequences – Use digital camera to record children doing simple actions,
e.g. eating biscuit, drinking, building tower of blocks. Take series of pictures to show
beginning, middle, and end of the action. Then get the children to arrange the pictures
in the correct order. This can also be done by drawing simple pictures. The activity
can be progressed to develop the child’s prediction skills. Show the start of a series of
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pictures and get the child to draw what they think will happen next. Similarly, show the
end of the sequence and ask them to draw what would have happened first.
 Flick Books –use “flick books” by drawing stick men in slightly changing positions to
create a moving picture of an action. Once you have shown the child how it works,
shuffle the pages and get the child to put them back in the right sequence. You can
progress this by getting the child to draw their own books.
SUGGESTED RESOURCES
Color Cards can be purchased from http://www.speechmark.net/search/color%20cards
A5 version
 Basic Verbs
 Adjectives (involves comparatives e.g. big/little long/short)
 Prepositions
 Basic Sequences
 Guess What
Pocket Color Cards
 Early Opposites
 Early Actions
 Early Sequences
 Shape and Size
Story Cards – also available from Color Cards website. Stories, with photocopiable
resources that reinforce verbs, adjectives and propositions. Aims to aid generalisation of
concepts. Comes with finger puppets in verbs and prepositions pack. RRP: £34.95 + VAT
Black Sheep Press – picture resources available on CD Rom as well as card copies
http://www.blacksheeppress.co.uk/
 Vocabulary
 Verbs
 Prepositions
 Negatives
 Sequences
Black Sheep Press – picture resources available on CD Rom as well as card copies
http://www.blacksheeppress.co.uk/
 Big/Small
 Long/Short
 Hot/Cold
 Same/Different
 Before/After
 First/Next/Last
 Comparatives
 Rate (e.g. quick/quicker/quickest/quickly)
 More than/less than
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 Heavy/light
 All/except
 Either/or
Comprehension Ages 5 – 7 Published by 2001 Scholastic Ltd. ISBN 0-439-01914-1 Book of
photocopiable resources increasing in complexity through the book.
LILAC – Lessons for Inclusive Language Activities in the Classroom Key stage 1.
ISBN 0-937857-71-8 Published by “The Speech Bin Co”. Available from Winslow Press, Telford
Road, Bicester, Oxon. OX6 0TS. www.winslow-press.co.uk
Listening Skills 3 Books - Early Years and Key Stages 1 and 2. Available from Winslow Press,
Telford Road, Bicester, Oxon. OX6 0TS. www.winslow-press.co.uk Item No. 51670
Comprehending and Verbalising Visual Clues Available from Winslow Press, Telford Road,
Bicester, Oxon. OX6 0TS. www.winslow-press.co.uk Ages 3.5 to 7 Item No. 50882
Speaking, Listening and Understanding Available from “Speechmark Publishing Limited,
Telford Road, Bicester, Oxon OX26 4LQ. www.speechmark.net Order Code 0025139 Age
Range 5 – 7
Developing Language Concepts Available from “Speechmark Publishing Limited, Telford
Road, Bicester, Oxon OX26 4LQ. www.speechmark.net Order Code 0024762
Pocket ColorCards Range of packs of cards covering topics such as actions, opposites,
sequences, shape and size. Available from “Speechmark Publishing Limited, Telford Road,
Bicester, Oxon OX26 4LQ. http://www.speechmark.net/search/color%20cards
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