Not only is the parade a fun activity for the family, but it also serves as a great, natural environment for language!

Play language games, such as I-Spy to expand utterances and build receptive (guessing based on attributes) and expressive (describing) language skills. If your child is an early language learner then you can model, model, model! Talk about what you see as it goes by, label what they point to, point and direct their attention to something they haven’t seen yet (e.g., “Look! It’s a leprechaun.”). Get your child excited about what they’re seeing and experiencing by having them interact by waving to the people in the parade, commenting (e.g., “Whoa!” “Wow!” “No way!”), dancing to music that’s playing, etc.

After the parade, for preschool children and older, recap who and what you saw to support narrative skills. You can support expanding your child’s narrative by retelling the experience with them (e.g., “After the giant clover we saw…”).

Enjoy the spring weather and help those language skills bloom!