Spring

Yarn Speech is proud of its home base in the beautiful capital city of Canberra, Australia. In September, a springtime flower festival called Floriade occurs. If you ask any Canberran, they will say Floriade is one of the city's most exciting events, generating increasing tourism to the region.

What is Floriade?

Floriade is Australia's biggest celebration of Spring. Commonwealth Park is transformed into a beautiful canvas of colour and creativity with stunning arrays of flowers.

While Floriade's beauty is undeniable, it also presents a unique opportunity for parents and caregivers to work on their children's communication skills. The festival's rich sensory environment is ideal for language learning and speech practice. Here are some strategies you can use at Floriade - or any garden for that matter, this spring!

Expanding to add adjectives, like colour

When children are learning to talk it can be easy to just use 'naming' words, but try to expand using adjectives for longer utterances. When observing some flowers, you might try:

• "Can you see the yellow flowers?"
• "What about the pink flowers? Where can you see them?"
• "The tulips have such a wonderful pattern. I can see a purple tulip, a yellow tulip and a white tulip!"

Include body parts and how you use them

Floriade offers a multi-sensory experience perfect for expanding your child's descriptive vocabulary. Try these prompts:

• Sight: "What colours can you see from up here?"
• Smell: "Let's carefully smell this rose. What do you think it smells like?"
• Touch: "Can you feel this leaf gently? Is it smooth or rough?"
• Hearing: "Listen closely. Can you hear the bees buzzing around the flowers?"

Encourage decision-making and expression

Instead of asking a yes or no question, try including a choice:

• "What would you like to do now? Would you like to go on the Ferris wheel or look at the flowers?"
• "What colour do you think this flower is? Blue or yellow?"

Let us know if you have any other ideas for incorporating speech development into your next garden trip!

Let's Yarn at [email protected]