Learning Eat and Drink

Last Updated on Saturday, 24 October 2009 05:39 Saturday, 07 July 2007 09:54

Choose one of your child's soft toys like a doll, teddy bear, or stuffed dog.  If your child doesn't have any toy spoons or cups then get a few from your cupboard.  Today you will be providing your child lots of cues for the words "eat" and "drink."  If your child already says those words then you can choose words like "juice" or "cookie" or any other drink or food item you feel it is important for your child to learn.

Sit down on the floor with your child.  Take a spoon and feed the stuffed toy.  When you feed it feel free to make some lip smacking eating sounds.  Your child will likely find these sounds easier to imitate than the words.

Once you have made the lip smacking sounds say the word "eat-eat"  I find it helpful to say the target word several times.  Many toddlers find a double word easier to imitate than a single word so instead of "eat" say "eat, eat."

Give your child a chance to feed the stuffed toy.  When your child is feeding the toy you can describe what he is doing by saying "eat-eat."  Everytime you feed the stuffed toy say "eat-eat" and do the lip smacking sounds.  Continue taking turns feeding the stuffed toy.  You may end up saying "eat-eat" 100 times or only twice before your child loses interest.  Once your child starts to lose interest grab the cup and give the stuffed toy a drink.  As you do it say "drink-drink" and a satisfied drink sound like "ah."  When your child gives a drink to the stuffed toy describe what he is doing by saying "drink-drink."  

If your child seems bored with this game feel free to change things up a bit to make it more interesting.  The goal here is to provide lots and lots of models for the words eat and drink.  So try feeding the stuffed toy silly things around the room like your finger (you can create a great "owe" to go along with that), the remote, a pillow, a chair, etc.

Most importantly, have fun!