Prepositions - from toddler to kindergartener

One of the easiest concepts to work on with children from around 2 years - 6 years, which boosts vocabulary, ability to follow directions, and even cognition, is prepositions!

What are some prepositions you can work on, by your child's age?

1. Age 2 - in and on - these are the most basic prepositions, and they are actually part of "Brown's Morphemes" - a chart developed by child psychologist Roger Brown who studied children's acquisition of language. According to Brown, "in" and "on" phrases are some of the first phrases a toddler develops. "In box" or "on table" are some of the phrases a toddler may say. And it is okay if "the" or "a" is eliminated, since the child is just trying to form phrases. So at this age, "in box" is just as valid as "in the box."

2. Age 3 - under, over, on top - These are slightly more complex prepositions, which are often present in stories, or in nursery rhymes, at this age.

3. Age 4-6- in front, behind, in between, next to - These are much more complex prepositions, and can be targeted in preschool, or in kindergarten, using a variety of modalities.

And how can you, as a parent / caregiver, work on prepositions in daily routines - to boost cognition, receptive language and expressive language?

Well, here are some ideas that are relatively easy to incorporate -

1. For toddlers, just repeat "in an on" phrases over and over again during play. Some great activities include playing with blocks ("on top!"), doing puzzles ("put in"), racing cars ("boy in the car"!).

2. For children around 3 years, work on some basic "coloring" - "blue goes under" , "pink over the car" and "green on top!"

3. For preschoolers and kindergartners, introduce hide and seek! "Is mom in front of the chair or behind the chair?" or "who is in between the chair and the table" or "somebody is next to the lamp..."

These are activities that are already part of a child's daily routine. So just take a couple of minutes to really emphasize and repeat phrases and sentences (2 -3 repeats, maybe 2-3 times a day) with the prepositions! It's a small change, but it's worth it, for the benefits to speech and language.

Finally, check out this story / game on prepositions by Smarter Speech SLP for K-2 on Teachers Pay Teachers, if you are interested in even more preposition power!

Happy Talking!

Disclaimer : Smarter Speech is a pediatric speech therapy / speech-language pathology practice for toddlers and children providing in-home and teletherapy services in and around Mountain View, CA and Los Gatos, CA. Smarter Speech Blog aims to provide free speech and language tips for parents educators and therapists. However, this post is not providing speech-language pathology services. This is general information, not speech -language pathology or speech therapy. This article does not assume or create a client – SLP relationship. The author is not liable for any losses or damages due to actions or failure to act based on the content in this article. If you need assistance with a child’s speech or language needs, please contact a speech-language pathologist in your area.