Blowing longer streams of bubbles at least once a day is a great way to strengthen your child's abdominal muscles.
Engaging in a fun afternoon activity such as blowing bubbles is a simple and easy way to model actions and descriptive words to increase your child's language.
After all, bubbles are magic. They shimmer, shine and of course, they disappear. It is a mesmerizing exercise that will not only keep your child engaged, it is something you can both enjoy but with a wide variety of benefits for both parents and kids alike.
If you are looking for ways to encourage your child's language, here are some foolproof ways you can help promote speech, simply by using bubbles:
Teaches new words.
Repetition is the key. Encourage your child to ask for more, to count to three and to blow bubbles 'again' to help broaden their vocabulary.
Motivator.
First work. Then bubbles. If you need to do a less desirable activity such as snap cards or reading, use the bubbles as a motivator to get your child engaged.
Helps position and strengthen the tongue.
To produce speech sounds correctly our mouth and tongue need to be positioned a certain way. To do this you need to strengthen their oral motor muscles and a simple ten or twenty-minute exercise with bubbles can do just that.
Promotes eye contact.
When blowing bubbles with your child, wait until they show signs of excitement before you blow, it will keep them engaged and in turn, helping boost eye contact as they wait in anticipation.
Taking turns.
Playing with bubbles can reinforce basic skills such as sharing. If the adult blows the child can pop and vice versa. It is the perfect activity to encourage taking turns which will benefit them for years to come.
Sign language.
Use every opportunity to heighten communication skills even if that means through sign language. Alongside exaggerated descriptive words, teach the signs for more, again, please and all done.
Teaches lip-rounding for speech.
Many children with speech and language difficulties have issues with making an O or W shape with their lips. Bubbles can help children mimic those shapes by simply blowing. It won't address the issue but it will help in the long term.
Strengthens the core.
Blowing longer streams of bubbles at least once a day is a great way to strengthen your child's abdominal muscles which can help increase longer sentences.
And that's not it, not only is playing with bubbles a great way to promote speech and language, it can help with a host of developmental skills such as fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and gross motor skills over time so dust out the bubble wand, make some bubbles and get the mouth moving.