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Right from birth and all the way into childhood, getting face-to-face with your child is an important tool in their language development.
Looking at your face, they might start to recognise eye , their favourite voices, facial expressions and watch mouths as they move - all ways they can learn about language.
Here's how you can get started, no matter what stage your child is at…
How to get started
Babies typically start to make eye from around six weeks old, though different babies develop at different rates. From that moment, and into their childhood, face-to-face time is very important.
Newborns can only focus on things a short distance away, around 20-30 centimetres, so the key is to get nice and close, but even as they get older, getting down to your child's level and allowing them to tune into your face has plenty of benefits for their developing brains.
Your child can learn by watching your mouth movements and how they correspond to the sounds they can hear, including words and sentences.
It's also an opportunity for them to explore the different parts of your face, which you can point to and name using single words like 'nose', or 'eyebrows', and then discover what different emotions do to the shape of your face. Pull a face and then ask them to copy it.
Once they're ready, you could use this game as a way to start talking about their feelings.
There are loads of opportunities to get face-to-face during the day - from changing nappies, to sitting at the dinner table - but you can also make it a central part of your play time.
Why does facing your child make a difference?
Children are constantly learning from looking at your face, often by copying your expressions and mouth movements.
Eye is also a great way to bond with your child.
Face-to-face games to play with under-fives
There are lots of ways to bring face learning into play time. Here are some games to try with under-fives…
What's in the bag? -Take a pillowcase and fill it with ordinary items - your child will love the surprise of what you pull out and name for them.
Roll the ball -This is also a great way to teach your child about taking turns, as you the ball to one another.
Copycat -You don't even need to copy words, just any noises or actions they might make is a great way to make them feel listened to!
Name game -When you're out and about, take a moment to get down to their level and spend time naming the things you can see.
Blowing raspberries -Lots of fun and a great way to learn how to communicate - raspberries help your child develop tongue and lip control.
