Supporting your child's communication

Supporting Your Child’s Communication: A Guide for Nursery and Reception Parents

Why Communication Skills Matter
Communication is more than just talking—it’s about listening, understanding, and expressing ideas. Strong communication skills help children make friends, manage emotions, and succeed in learning.

Children develop skills at different rates, but by 4 years usually children will: 

• Listen to storybooks with pictures and answer some questions about a story you’ve just read together.  
• Understand and often use words for colour (e.g. ‘red’), number (e.g. ‘three fingers’) and time (e.g. ‘tomorrow’).  
• Start to be able to answer questions about ‘why’ something has happened, although this still might be at quite a basic level. 
• Use sentences that have 4 – 6 words in them, for example ‘I want to play with cars’.  
• Start to link 2 sentences together by using ‘and’. For example, ‘I went to the park and I had ice cream’. 
• Talk about the future and the past. For example, ‘I will watch you’ or ‘I jumped down’. Their sentences aren’t exactly like adults’ yet, so they may still make some mistakes such as saying ‘runned’ for ‘ran’.  
• Answer simple problem-solving questions, for example ‘What do you do when you’re hungry/cold?’  
• Tell a short story about something they have seen or experienced. For example, ‘Two boys played with the ball. It went over the fence.’  
• Enjoy make-believe play and start to play cooperatively with others. 
• Start to like simple jokes even if they don’t understand them. 
• Start conversations with you and with other people. 
• Use words instead of actions to argue with you or with their friends. 
• Ask many questions using words like ‘what’, ‘where’, and ‘why’. 
• Can say the sounds p, b, t, d, m, n, w, k, g, s, f, l and y in words when they are talking. For example, they say ‘sun’ and ‘car’ as an adult would. They may still have difficulty using more complicated sounds like sh, ch, th and r. However, adults who don’t know them can mostly understand them. 
• Talk quite smoothly. They don’t repeat the first sound in words or get stuck trying to get a word out. 

Children develop skills at different rates, but by 5 years usually children will: 

• Listen to and follow requests without having to stop what they are doing. For example, they can listen to you and answer while they carry on playing. 
• Understand longer instructions, for example ‘Find your crayons, draw a picture and give it to Grandma’. 
• Understand and answer questions about simple stories with no pictures. 
• Choose their own play mates and play make believe games, such as pretending to be Spiderman. 
• Take turns in longer conversations and stay on the same topic. 
• Understand words like ‘first’ and ‘next’ in a sentence. For example, ‘First we’re going to the shop, next we’ll play in the park’. 
• Understand words such as ‘above’, ‘below’ and ‘between’ to describe the position of things. 
• Use long and detailed sentences. For example, ‘We went to the park but we came home because Joe hurt himself’. Don’t worry if they still make little mistakes like saying ‘sheeps’ instead of sheep or ‘goed’ instead of went. 
• Talk about things that have already happened or will happen in the future. For example, ‘Yesterday we went to visit Auntie Jan’. 
• Talk about things they imagine or make up, using words like ‘I think…’. 
• Say most words clearly when they are talking – people who don’t know them can understand them all the time. Don’t worry if they still struggle with some sounds like th, str or r, or make little mistakes like saying ‘wabbit’ for rabbit, ‘bow’ for blow or ‘sketti’ for spaghetti. 
• Talk quite smoothly. They don’t repeat the first sound in words or get stuck trying to get a word out. 

Top tips to help your child's commuication to develop.

1. Talk With Your Child Often

• Narrate your day: Describe what you are doing (“I’m chopping carrots for lunch”).

• Ask open-ended questions: Instead of yes/no questions, try “What do you think will happen next?”

• Encourage conversation: Give your child time to answer and show interest in their ideas.

2. Listen and Respond

• Show that you value what they say by listening carefully.

• Repeat or expand on what they say to model new vocabulary (“Child: ‘Dog run.’ You: ‘Yes, the dog is running fast!’”).

3. Read Together Daily

• Choose books with pictures and simple stories.

• Point to words and pictures as you read.

• Ask questions about the story: “Who is your favourite character?” or “What do you think will happen next?”

4. Play and Explore Language

• Role play and imaginative play: Pretend shops, kitchens, or doctor games encourage dialogue.

• Singing and rhymes: Nursery rhymes and songs help children hear and play with sounds.

• Games with words: Simple games like “I Spy” build listening and descriptive skills.

5. Encourage Social Communication

• Arrange playdates or group activities where your child can talk, listen, and take turns.

• Encourage polite greetings, asking for help, and sharing ideas.

6. Model Good Communication

• Speak clearly and use correct grammar.

• Show curiosity and enthusiasm about language.

• Be patient—give children time to express themselves fully.

7. Celebrate Effort

• Praise attempts to communicate, not just correct answers.

• Celebrate small successes—every word, question, or story counts!

Tip for Busy Parents: Even a few minutes a day of focused communication—talking, reading, or singing—makes a huge difference over time.

Useful links 

Speech and Language UK - a charity organisation offering free advice and service to families, including an advise line, free resources and webinars to support families.

Click their logo to be directed to the help for families section of their website:

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