10 Creative play ideas to encourage your baby to talk

According to Dubai-based therapy centre Sensation Station, a 1-year-old will usually use 2-6 single words, while a 2-year-old often has 200-300, and will combine words together. That’s a huge leap in just one year!

If your child is a little slower off the mark, there’s plenty you can do to encourage them. Here are some simple tips to help toddlers get talking…

Young children can’t differentiate between contrasting sounds in order to focus on what you’re saying.

As they get older, this will help them see how your mouth moves when pronouncing words, and which objects you’re talking about.

Listen to their babble, wait for a pause, and respond as if they’ve just made perfect sense – “yes I love my porridge too!”

Even before 12-months-old, simple actions like waving while saying “bye-bye” will help make the connection.

Talk to your tot about what they’re doing, and repeat the name of the object.

Try incorporating actions and, before long, you may notice that your little one starts to understand simple commands from the such as “clap your hands.”

Not only will the repetition help, but adding an extra word will start to show them how to make simple sentences.

Reading the same books regularly will let them associate pictures with words, and as your child grows in confidence, you can pause to see if they can finish the sentence.

“Find me your shoes”, “go and get your hat” - these simple things will cement use of language in every day life and make your toddler feel a huge sense of achievement.

Try to keep calm, look for non-verbal cues, and give plenty of praise along the way.

For more tips, tricks and milestone information follow @chattyness_slt on Instagram.