Skill: Imitating Sounds
When getting your little one to start imitating sounds, their are several easy strategies that I have had great success with!
- Pair movement with sounds: Developmentally, most children imitate movements (clapping hands, putting arms up, etc) BEFORE they imitate sounds. So pairing movements with sounds makes imitating sooooo much more fun (and less intimidating)! Also, children will imitate sounds before they imitate words; so keep this simple by modeling sounds, not words. This is why many children love saying “Uh oh”; they have paired that something drops (which is funny) to a sound, making it motivating to say!
- Repetition: Repetition is going to be a strategy that I recommend over and over again (no pun intended)! Just when you think you have done it enough, do it again! Have you ever noticed that babies and toddlers love to read the same books or watch the same tv shows over and over again? It’s because it makes it easy for them to process information and to learn!
- Create an element of anticipation: Now that you’ve paired a sound with a movement and did it over and over and over again…if you start pausing before doing the movement, your child will likely grin with anticipation. They can’t wait for you to make the sound! Often times, if you provide that wait time, allowing them to anticipate the sound, they very well MAY try to imitate it! Praise any attempt at imitating, even if it doesn’t sound like the sound you made.
Here are some examples of sounds and movements:
Sounds Movements/Activity
- Aaah – Choo (sneeze) ———————–Put object on head -have it fly off as you sneeze
- Shhh Shhh ————————————————– Scratch the floor or your clothing
- Boom ———————————————————— Knock a tower of blocks down
- Ha Ha ——————————————————————- Tickle a stuffed animal
- Oooops ————————————————————– Toy car crashes into something
PLAN:
-Choose ONE movement and pair it with ONE sound.
-Play with this activity, periodically pairing the sound with the movement OVER AND OVER AGAIN. In a 15 minute period, you might pair the sound with the movement 10+ times!
-After you’ve done this for awhile, pause for a few seconds BEFORE pairing the sound with the movement.
-Your child may giggle or laugh expectantly. He or she may just look at you expectantly. Your child may attempt to imitate the noise or the movement. Whatever your child does, make this a fun activity and praise any attempts!
Materials: Anything you have in your house!
Download this FREE handout to try this at home!
