Nursery World - Learning & Development: Nature's way

Playing with sounds promotes young children's acquisition of language, says Steve Grocott

The Government guidance on the teaching of phonics, Letters and Sounds, features music extensively in its early sections.

There are many good activity ideas in the document and I particularly like the part about listening to children. It does, though, focus on more formal activities. Amidst all the debate about the appropriateness of formal and informal activities for young children, I think it's important that we continue to trust our instinct when developing children's language skills and look to nature's ways of facilitating language acquisition.

One example is the way babies and small children gurgle, babble and experiment with vocal sounds as they learn to take control of their voices. Older children love made-up words - as do adults - and we have a rich tradition of 'nonsense' poetry. Simply being aware of the pleasure children derive from experimenting with their voices can help us enhance the playful way in which we use songs and rhymes.

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