5 to 11

There will be lots of nativities in school. At home you could try playing games around the nativity such as a treasure hunt with the Nativity characters finding animals and talking about where they live.  

Make a Christmas card and talk to your child about who it is for, how you are going to send it etc and encourage them to talk about what they are putting on their card using different words to describe the items e.g. the big sparkly tinsel, Rudolph’s shiny nose, Snowman’s cold  nose.  

Elf on the shelf is a fun game to encourage positional words. You could talk about where he is e.g. under the bed, on the shelf, behind the sofa, next to the TV.  

Act out your child’s favourite TV / Christmas stories with your child and talk about what they are doing or what will happen next. 

There are lots of toys around that are fun but will also help to develop your child’s language. Games such as ‘Guess Who’ are a great fun way to talk about what people look like and also develop their negatives. You could also use games such as pairs or snap.  

If you use a stocking you could get your child to guess the present by describing what it feels like before they open it.