Who has never played with their children to imitate the sound of animals? It is one of the most universal games that exists between parents and children and also one of the most fun. But it's not just about having a good time since animals and language development They are more united than people think.
For the little ones, doing as if we were a cow, a dog or a chicken is something that they enjoy at unsuspected levels. And why are we going to fool ourselves, for us too, since they live their role as if they were doing a great play, getting into the role in all its facets: sounds, gestures, actions ...
And that of animals will always be a very interesting topic for our children when we want to play with them while we learn. That magical world of different beings so different from each other: some fly, others swim, some have hair, others have a beak ... The animal kingdom helps us unselfishly in the optimal development of our children.
The case at hand, the use of animal sounds when we are playing with our children, is not very far from carrying out this educational function since, among other things, promotes language development and auditory discrimination of the little ones.
I really like this type of resources because among the many advantages it has, one of the most important is simplicity and the great game it gives. And it is not necessary great toys, videos or photographs to do so. Even without any of that, simply with our imagination, we can travel through many animal environments without leaving home.
However, if we can use fittings, dolls or stories illustrated with animals, we can draw more attention to the little one and get him to get more involved in the exercises so that, once inside, we put our imagination to work.
Another of the strengths of this type of games is that we can do it anywhere and anytime: at home, in the car, on the way to nursery school ... Where we want. All we need is for our little one to be motivated to take part.
We can also benefit from everything that this type of games offers at any age. The little ones will enjoy listening to a thousand and one different sounds while discovering the fabulous animal kingdom, while the little ones can have fun sorting the animals by their different sounds.
In addition, there are a thousand and one ways to play with the sounds of the aniamels. We can play to identify animals by their characteristic sounds by asking them directly (How does the lion do?, Who does kikiriki?…), Or we can play to imitate the sounds of animals directly, as if we were playing movies.
Another option that young and old like very much, and that we could already see when we talked about how to tell a story, is to get fully into a story that we are telling our son and make “special sound effects”. This will make the little one enter fully into history and be encouraged to imitate us or even, in the event that we are mistaken for sound (And suddenly, the mighty lion climbed on the rock and shouted its characteristic sound: muuuuuuuu), interact with us.
For them it is still a game, but for us it is something else, since using animal sounds we are facilitating our son to recognize that each animal emits a different sound that characterizes him in front of the others, facilitating the sound discrimination in addition to promote the correct articulation of the different speech sounds and increase their vocabulary.
As you see, animals and language development They are more united than we can think at first. So don't think twice about imitating farm animals or zoo animals in your visits with your children, since you will discover that both they and you will have a great time while your children learn skills new.
