Garden Activities for Language Development
By: Vanessa Mera, M.S.,CCC-SLP
Garden Activities for Language Development
Gardens are magical places where children can explore, play, and learn about the world around them. As a speech-language pathologist and the author of the Spanish bilingual children's book Luna and Mar’s Garden Exploration / Exploración del Jardín de Luna y Mar, I’m passionate about finding ways to support early language development through fun and engaging activities. Inspired by the themes of my book, here are some garden activities that parents can do with their children to promote bilingual language development.
1. Nature Scavenger Hunt
Create a list of items for your child to find in the garden, such as a red flower, a smooth rock, or a crawling insect. As they find each item, encourage them to describe what they see. This activity promotes vocabulary building and descriptive language skills. You can make it bilingual by asking them to name the items in both English and Spanish.
Example phrases:
"Can you find a red flower? What does it look like? ¿Puedes encontrar una flor roja? ¿Cómo es?"
"This rock is smooth. Esta roca es suave."
2. Planting and Growing
Involve your child in planting seeds or small plants. Talk about the steps involved in planting and what plants need to grow. Use action words and sequence terms to describe each step, such as dig, plant, water, and grow.
Example phrases:
"We need to dig a hole. Then, we will plant the seed. Necesitamos cavar un hoyo. Luego, plantaremos la semilla."
"The plant needs water to grow. La planta necesita agua para crecer."
3. Sensory Exploration
Encourage your child to use their senses to explore the garden. Ask them to describe what they see, hear, smell, and touch. This helps expand their sensory vocabulary and encourages them to use descriptive language.
Example phrases:
"What do you hear? I hear birds singing. ¿Qué oyes? Yo oigo pájaros cantando."
"How does this leaf feel? It’s rough. ¿Cómo se siente esta hoja? Es áspera."
4. Storytelling with Garden Creatures
Find insects or small animals in the garden and create stories about them. This imaginative play helps develop narrative skills and encourages creativity. Use characters from my book, Luna the cat and Mar the dog, to inspire your stories.
Example phrases:
"Let’s make up a story about this ladybug. Maybe Luna and Mar are friends with the ladybug. Inventemos una historia sobre esta mariquita. Tal vez Luna y Mar sean amigos de la mariquita."
"What exploration do you think they will go on? ¿Qué exploración crees que tendrán?"
5. Garden-Themed Crafts
Gather natural materials from the garden, like leaves, flowers, and sticks, to create art projects. While crafting, talk about the materials you’re using and the steps you’re taking to create the artwork. This activity supports fine motor skills and language development.
Example phrases:
"We are using leaves to make a collage. Estamos usando hojas para hacer un collage."
"Let’s glue the flowers here. Peguemos las flores aquí."
6. Labeling Plants and Objects
Label different plants and objects in the garden with bilingual tags. This visual aid helps children associate words with objects and reinforces their vocabulary in both languages.
Example phrases:
"This is a sunflower. In Spanish, it’s called girasol. Esto es un girasol."
"Look at the tomato plant. Mira la planta de tomate."
By incorporating these garden activities into your routine, you can create a rich language-learning environment for your child. Not only will they enjoy the beauty and wonder of the garden, but they will also build important language skills that will serve as a foundation for their future learning.
Happy gardening and learning!
Join Luna, the cheerful cat, and Mar, the playful dog, on an exploration through their colorful garden in Whiskerwood.
As Luna and Mar adventure through the garden, each page introduces a shape or color, helping children build their vocabulary in both English and Spanish.
The garden comes to life, with illustrations showing Luna and Mar interacting with a variety of plants, flowers, and critters!
