Let's get talking this holiday

In the bustling environment of school, children are constantly immersed in a sea of communication opportunities, from debates in the classroom to animated discussions with friends during lunch. However, the home environment may not always provide the same level of communication opportunities. Here's an engaging activity to get children and parents talking over the holiday period - the creation of 'promise tokens.' 

The Activity 

To kickstart this activity, all you need is a blank piece of paper and a dash of creativity. Follow these steps to create personalised promise tokens that encourage meaningful conversations: 

1. Divide the paper into 8 equal-sized boxes. 
2. Time options – in each box, have the children write down different time lengths (e.g., 5 minutes, 10 minutes) to provide both the child and the parent/carer with options for the duration of their conversation. 
3. Topic selection – in four of the boxes, let the children choose four topics they’d like to talk about with their parents/carers. These could range from sports and holiday traditions to family stories and personal interests. 
4. Blank spaces for future conversations – leave the remaining 4 boxes blank, allowing either the child or parent/carer to fill them in at a later date. 
5. Creative expressions – encourage the children to decorate their ‘talking tokens’ with a festive theme to make the activity visually appealing and engaging. 
6. Cut and share – once the tokens are complete, cut them out, and they are ready to be used!  

These promise tokens offer a great starting point for conversations. Children can ‘spend’ them to initiate quality talking time with their parents/carers or siblings. From using them during the daily routine, to surprise conversations, these ‘talking tokens’ offer a fantastic way to not only strengthen family bonds but to also boost children’s speech and language skills whilst away from the classroom.

Infant Language Link

Did you know that our award-winning package - Infant Language Link is filled with fun resources to support speech, language and communication needs both in school, but also at home? Take a two-week free trial to find out how Infant Language Link can help your school. Click here for your free trial.

Discover even more speech and language Christmas activities: 

Take a look at our Communication Christmas Countdown to help you support your children with speech and language needs this festive season. Click here to read the Communication Christmas Countdown

The great thing about language is that it is all around us, in virtually everything we do. With every season, every event and every experience comes an abundance of opportunities to help our children to learn and use new language ideas. Click here to read our blog - The language of the holidays 

Christmas be an exciting time for many, but for children with speech, language, and communication needs, it can be a challenging time to keep up with the new challenges that Christmas school activities can bring. Find out how best to support your children with SLCN when it comes to the school performance, Christmas crafting and those long assemblies. Click here to find out some top tips.