Play Ball!

Everyone wants to be playing outside during the summer! Whether it is in the backyard, at the park, or at the beach, there are many activities that can be accomplished using a ball.

Language Learning Opportunity #1: Basic Concepts

“I want the big ball!” “Give me the spikey ball!”

  • Adjectives are the words that we use to describe things. Talk with your child about colors, size, and quantity while you play. Some balls have interesting textures, such as being squishy, or spikey. 

“The ball is under the table.” “Look the ball is on top of the chair.” The ball is up”. “Look the ball came down!”

  • Prepositions are words that tell where things are. Tell your child where the ball is, or have them tell you (e.g., behind, in front, under, over, on top, etc.)!

Language Learning Opportunity #2: Actions

“Catch the ball!” “Throw the ball!” “Kick the ball!” “Roll the ball!”

  • Let’s talk about verbs!  There are so many action words that we can talk about while playing with a ball. You can catch, roll, throw, kick, and bounce. Show your child all of the different things that a ball can do. 

Language Learning Opportunity #3: Sentence Expansion

“Which ball do you want? Oh the big ball” “Should it go up or down? Oh! You want big ball up!”

  • There are many opportunities for your child to request while playing outside with the ball! Expand on your child’s utterances. If they say “I want ball”, model some expanded sentences, such as, “oh you want the red ball”, or “you want the big ball”. 

Language Learning Opportunity #4: Anticipatory Language 

“READY, SET, GO!”

  • “Ready, Set, go” is a phrase that indicates that something exciting is going to happen! This is an excellent way to work on joint attention. Slowly say “Ready, set” and wait for your child to make eye contact with you, anticipating that you will say “go”. Say “go” and give them the ball!  

  • Use the same phrase to try to get your child to generate the word “go”.  Slowly say “Ready, set” and wait for your child to attempt to say “Go”. Eventually you can combine this with other words, such as, “go ball!”. 

Language Learning Opportunity #5: “Wh” Questions 

“What is your favorite food?”

  • Ask your child “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, and “why” questions while playing ball with them. You can ask a question, and have them answer it before you throw the ball to them. 

  • Write questions on masking tape, or painters tape, and place them on the ball. Throw the ball and have your child answer the question that their fingers landed on.

Language Learning Opportunity #6: Social Skills

“Sara, are you ready?!”

  • Eye contact is important for having a conversation. You can use a ball with your child to encourage eye contact. Make sure your child makes eye contact with you before you throw them the ball!

Language Learning Opportunity #7: Reinforcement

“Say ‘sh’ five times!”

  • You can have your child say their articulation word, describe a picture, or make a sentence before you throw them the ball. Playing ball can be an excellent reinforcer to target many speech and language skills!

There are so many ways to encourage communication with your child with an activity as simple as playing ball!

Donald Gould