Kids really do say the darndest things… I have never had a bad conversation with a child. Either it is entertaining or it is eye-opening, but it will never be a bad conversation. I don’t have children of my own, but I have many friends who have children of varied ages, and man… I have had the best conversations with them.
When I was a child, aged 4-6, I used to go to speech therapy once a week. My mother noticed that I was having difficulty pronouncing certain sounds like: “ch”, “sh”, “th” and in South Africa we have a special sound from a few of our 11 official languages spelled “hl” (usually in the beginning of certain words). So, certain parts of my speech were underdeveloped, and because I used to talk a lot, my mother was able to pick it up easily.
How does regular conversation benefit children?
- It stimulates their brains and aids in the development of their vocabulary and comprehension skills.
- It gives them something to think about. An answer to the same question may change from day to day - this is not necessarily a bad thing, at least they are thinking about it.
- We all know the benefits of developing the imagination. It’s so much better to think in colour, than in black and white.
Great Conversation Starter Questions
These questions are all great for helping a child to get to know themselves better, as well as for you to get to know them better:
- What do you like to do for fun?
- If you could live anywhere, where would it be? Why do you want to live there?
- What do you do if you find out that somebody doesn’t really like you or want to play with you?
- What has been the best day of your life so far?
- What do you do when you are feeling sad?
- What do you do when you are feeling happy?
- What is your favorite story?
- What is your favorite animal?
- What is your favorite colour?
- What is your favorite Movie?
- What is your favorite food?
- Who do you like to play with?
- What is your favorite toy? Why?
- What are you grateful for?
- What do you like about yourself?
These are just a few of the fun questions that you can use as conversation starters with children. Some of the questions are better directed to slightly older children like 6-year old’s.
@what-did-she-say
