3 – 5 YEARS

Your three-year-old’s speech is now understandable for the most part. She proudly has a vocabulary of about 1 000 words, and uses more and more pronouns – and some plurals – correctly. She knows at least three prepositions, more commonly used verbs, and starts putting together three-word sentences already.

Set aside some dedicated time during which you chat with your child about everything that happened during the day. You can tell stories over and over, your child will never tire of them. Give her the space for imaginary play and talk about colours, shapes and what happens when. At four years: Your child will know the names of well-known animals. She’ll enjoy playing imagination games and point out and name familiar objects in picture books and magazines. She starts understanding concepts such as “over” and “under”, and uses about four prepositions. She can start following less concrete orders and finds it easier to repeat words, sentences and sounds.

Give your child the opportunity to use her listening skills. Page through magazines and books together, and discuss the things you see. Teach her songs and rhymes. Talk about the days of the week, things that have happened, and things that are still to come. Your five-year-old: Her speech should be completely understandable. Her language becomes ever more descriptive, she starts using longer sentences, and they’re generally grammatically correct. Her vocabulary increases rapidly. She can describe the functions of familiar objects and carry out two to three orders at the same time. She can sing entire songs and recite poems. Typical things that she’s now getting the hang of are days of the week, her age, and most opposites. She can count to 10, knows six c colours and three shapes and has a simple concept of time. Allow y your child to make up and tell her o own stories. YB