Playing and turn taking blog
Turn taking is an important skill for children to develop patience, friendship and later in life, conversation skills. For example, waiting patiently, to play fairly with another child and siblings and taking turns when others are talking. It is essential for children to develop the ability to take turns to support them in both play and communication. You can easily practice turn taking skills with your child through many fun games. These games can be easily found at Kmart for inexpensive prices or maybe you already have these games at home and ready to use.
Here are some fun games you can use to practice turn taking with your child:
- Kicking a ball
- Blowing bubbles
- Building blocks
- Snakes and ladders
- Memory card games
- Computer games
- Uno
- Jenga
- Connect 4
- Trouble
- Many more!
Here are some tips and tricks to support your child while they are learning:
- You can show your child that you are waiting patiently for your turn. Children learn a lot by watching you too.
- You can use a timer to help keep track of when your child’s turn starts or ends. You can easily set a timer on your phone.
- You can use verbal reminders such as ‘wait for your turn,’ ‘your turn,’ ‘my turn’ to support your child. It is important to keep the language consistent to support your child’s understanding.
- Remember to give your child praises if you can see them waiting patiently for their turn.
When starting out, we suggest practicing with just you and your child. This will allow them time to become familiar with waiting for their turn. When your child is feeling more comfortable with turn taking, we suggest adding another player to the game to challenge your child to wait a little longer than usual. This will support their ability to play in a group setting such as at school with a group of friends.
Talking Matters provide speech pathology and occupational therapy for children of all ages. Your child can further develop their play and communication skills with our friendly therapists. To find out more about Talking Matters, you can check our website or call our office on (08) 82557137 to book in your appointment.
Have fun playing together
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