Knock Knock! A fun Language game for babies and toddlers

 

This little game just evolved from our play and it was so engaging and fun for both Bubba and Hman.

It was so engaging for them as it is repetitive and we all know how much children like repetition. Repetitive play is so important in building the pathways in the brain, skills need to be repeated in order to become automatic and with speech disorders such as Apraxia, creating those pathways can take a whole lot of repeating! With a catchy little song, that we made up,  and fun words it really inspired Hman to make many verbal attempts. During the game I was able to focus on many of our targets whilst also encouraging those attempts at speech. I'm sure this little game will be requested to play again.

Suitable For

All children, 6months - 4years of age.

 

Speech and language Focus

Words -    knock,    door,    open,    hello,   bye. (either watching you model them and hearing them, or attempting them) Depending on which toys you use either their names, eg. cat, teddy, dolly and what they say or the sounds they make. (knock was actually a good word for us as Hman has 'rock', although the front then back movement of the tongue is really advanced in knock we were started on a sound he could produce, we didn't get 'knock' but we did get 'ock' which I was extremely happy with. Any attempt is a huge success and deserves praise.

          

Joint Attention - making eye contact with you when making requests and interacting

 

Turn Taking - turn taking is an extremely important skill in the development of language as it is essential for conversations. Depending on the age of your children, they may be able to have some power over the turn taking by saying or signing 'my turn' 'your turn'.

Joining Two Words - If your child has some single words they may be ready to attempt two word combinations such as 'knock, knock' 'door open' 'hello ____'

 

Other learning

Social Skills - Greetings! acting out greetings. Turn Taking

 

What you will need

A door! Any door in your house will do. We just used the door to Bubba's bedroom but you could alter this game to use a cupboard or even a large box.

Some toys! Stuffed animals or teddies work well for this game. It's a good idea if your child has apraxia to pick some that have any of your focus sounds or that your child may be able to attempt to say and have some success at. Leave or alter any tricky ones. For example, we called the caterpillar 'Bug'...  'Big   Bug'! As  'b' is a focus sound and caterpillar is just too long complex for him to attempt just yet.

 

 



How to Play

This is how we played however it's good to follow your child's lead an play on their interest level.

 

1. First I choose one toy to 'hide' behind the door by quickly sneaking it their while Hman (pretended) to hide his eyes and Bubba sat waiting in anticipation. I shut the door

 

2. Then we knocked on the door and both boys LOVED this. We sang

knock, knock, knock. Knock on the door

knock, knock, knock. Who Is Hiding? 

 Using the sing song voice is excellent for little ones to pick up the rhythm of the words and join in.

 

3. Then I asked "who could it be, who is hiding?" Sometimes I would ask "do you think it is Bunny or Dog?" Making sure he is making eye contact with me when appropriate.

 

4. Then we'd open the door and oh wow, "who is it?" "it is Bunny"

 

5. I would model "hello Bunny" and encourage Hman to say Bunny. I changed this to just the 'b' sound as he couldn't get bunny and then I adjusted it to just getting his lips together giving him plenty opportunity to watch my lips and practice. Rewarding any attempt at this was very important in developing his confidence and his feelings of success. He just laps up any praise and gets so excited to know we think he is super clever. Remember to encourage and praise attempts.

 

6. Then we'd make Bunny hop and hop around with him and we made up different actions for each of the toys. After a minute or two when they had had enough we'd say "bye bye Bunny (dog, bug, frog etc)" and start over again. Our focus for Hman was on the 'bye bye' and Bubba enjoyed blowing kisses.

 

7. For the next round Hman picked a toy to hide behind the door. My focus was getting him to practice turn taking and understanding "my turn' and 'your turn'. The next go it was my turn to hide the toy again and so on. Bubba was just happy to be a part of it all!

 

 

This was just so much fun and great for both ages to participate in and I'm super sure you'll have lot's of laughs playing this one!

 

Wishing you all the power of communication!

 

Katey