‘Nurturing Babble to Chatter and Beyond’ provides tips for how childcare practitioners can enrich children’s language through day-to-day activities, alongside tips that can also be used by parents at home.
The programme was launched at the first of a series of nationwide seminars, by language expert Elizabeth Jarman, who developed the Communication Friendly Spaces approach.
The seminar was attended by nursery managers from Busy Bees nurseries, who received a pack to help them pass on the new approach to nursery staff.
Ms Jarman said, ‘We all of know just how important communication skills are, at all stages of life. Children who talk the most are the ones who are likely to go on to read the most and write the most, helping them to access opportunities at school and in the longer term their communities.
‘The programme offers flexible suggestions and tips to engage children, to consolidate and naturally extend their communication skills. It’s a timely initiative and one which I hope will really help Busy Bees ensure that all of their children get the best start in life.’
The launch of ‘Nurturing Babble to Chatter and Beyond’ followed research into both existing practices conducted within nurseries and the opinions of practitioners and parents on a range of associated topics.
As part of this research, Busy Bees surveyed parents – some whose children attend a Busy Bees nursery and some whose children are cared for either at home or in a different setting - about their views on childhood language and communication development.
Of the 103 parents surveyed, half admitted to being confused about the best method of nurturing the child’s language development and 70 per cent believed there was not enough formal guidance available to new parents regarding the best way to support a child’s language development.
Lisa Snell, childcare and curriculum manager at Busy Bees, who led the development of the programme, said, ‘There has already been some positive feedback from the nurseries using the tools within the “Babble to Chatter” programme.
She explained how staff at Busy Bees in Mardley Hill saw their children move to a particular area of the room and ‘realised this was a hot spot for talk.’
‘Nursery staff went on to provide chalkboards and chalks and now the little ones gravitate towards this, writing and chattering to each other. This is Nurturing Babble to Chatter in practice, using the theories behind the development of language and enabling children to chat.’
The next seminar will take place in July, with new dates to be announced in autumn.
