Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about those little brain muscles that help children understand, remember, reason, and figure things out. Mostly because I’ve been working on comprehension skills with one of my own little friends.
Comprehension Skills
Well, technically we’ve been targeting comprehension, recall, reasoning, and problem-solving. And, yes- we’ve definitely answered questions about books and completed worksheets. But– we’ve also colored, played games, looked at pictures, made guesses, and talked about what she did over the weekend.
Comprehension, recall, reasoning, and problem-solving don’t just happen when we sit at a table with a book and a worksheet of questions.
They’re happening all day long.
Real-Life Example
Think about this. What actually happens when you ask a child: Where are your shoes?
Comprehension: the child has to understand what you’re asking
Recall: they remember where they’ve been
Reasoning: they think about where the shoes might be
Problem-Solve: they decide where to look for them
That’s a lot of processing over a pair of tiny shoes.
Supporting the Skills
When you start looking at these skills from this perspective, it’s much easier to get a little more creative about how to support them.
Read the book – but make a few adjustments
Books are fantastic for building these (and many other) skills! BUT, we don’t have to read the entire story and then ask the questions.
Show the pictures
Ask simple questions while you’re reading:
- What do you see?
- Where is the dog?
- Uh-oh! What happened?
- What do you think will happen next?
Turns out, simply noticing, remembering, and talking about what’s happening is oftentimes plenty of work for those little brains.
Visual Supports
Give them something to SEE
Friend, if you’ve been around for a while, you knew this was coming! Visual Supports give children something concrete to reference while they’re trying to understand a question, remember information, or figure something out.
Ideas for Visual Supports:
- Draw a picture (stick figures work, I promise!)
- Use items and pictures from the book, story, or activity to offer choices
- Redirect them to the page where the problem or reasoning occurs
Visual supports aren’t just for schedules or communication boards. We use them to support cognitive development too!
Fun > Work
Make. It. Fun!
If you’ve spent any time with children, you know some of them hate the word: work. This becomes especially true when said work involves a skill they are not confident in.
My solution? Make it fun. Play is learning in early childhood and these skills are certainly included.
Some of my favorites to play when targeting these skills:
- I Spy
- Puzzles
- Matching games
- Go-Fish
- Memory
- Scavenger Hunts
- Coloring pictures related to the story we read
- Hide and seek with items
- Connect 4
- Tic-Tac-Toe
All of these provide opportunities to understand directions, remember information, make connections, make predictions, and solve problems.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Use what you’re already doing! The beauty is, these skills can develop during centers, transitions, snack, recess, art, cleanup, and the random conversations happening throughout the day.
Honestly? That’s really the point.
The activity changes, but the skills do not. Don’t be afraid to get creative! Look for all the little opportunities throughout the day to get those brain muscles working.
Want to keep building these skills?
You don’t have to start from scratch—or add a bunch of extra activities to your day. If you’re looking for a little more support, here are a few resources that can help you keep building communication, comprehension, and those everyday thinking skills:
Need something visual?
Visual supports can make it easier for little ones to understand what’s happening, remember information, make choices, and figure out what comes next. You can find some of my favorite visual supports here.
Explore Visual Supports
Want to use books?
Books are a great place to practice comprehension, recall, reasoning, and prediction—especially when we slow down, look at the pictures, and talk about what we see. My book companions can help you turn familiar stories into even more opportunities for communication and learning.
Find Book Companions
Looking to understand more about early language development?
If you’re wondering how all of these skills fit into the bigger picture of communication development, my Early Language Development Handbook breaks it down into practical, easy-to-use information for the adults supporting little learners every day.
Learn About the Handbook
And remember: you don’t need a special activity for every skill you’re trying to build. Sometimes the best place to start is with the book, toy, routine, or conversation that’s already right in front of you.
