Did you know that artistic and imaginative activities can develop your child’s listening skills, vocabulary, and even sense of humour? Furthermore, it can also improve their social skills, self-expression, and personal confidence. These are just a few benefits that activities such as speech and drama for preschoolers can offer.
But how do you introduce your child to these awesome activities without becoming an overbearing parent? Let’s face it – as a parent, we sometimes don’t see what our children are doing at or after school. This is where we must step in and become the voice for their future. If you want to know how to introduce speech and drama activities to your child and teach them how to embrace them, keep reading.
What Is Speech and Drama?
Speech and drama activities are some of the first things parents notice their children engaging in after birth. It’s how your child expresses themselves, learning words as they go. Many of these activities occur outside the classroom and are tremendously beneficial to children. These activities increase listening skills, promote vocabulary development, and boost self-esteem.
Speech and drama lessons help your child develop communication and performance skills. While it focuses on the spoken word, it also teaches them the significance of the written word. With reading, writing, and communication lessons, speech and drama activities work to shape your child’s communication skills. It allows them to hone their public speaking skills, learn stage presence, and gain confidence in their ability as an individual.
Why Introduce Speech and Drama Activities?
Children are natural storytellers, but as they grow older, few people take the time to listen to them. Speech and drama activities can help your child feel comfortable sharing their stories and retelling them in front of others. What’s more, it can also improve your child’s language, creativity, and self-confidence.
Children enhance their communication abilities and learn to work in teams when practising their speeches and skits. These exercises help boost your child’s self-confidence as they learn to overcome their fear of speaking in public. Furthermore, storytelling exercises assist your child in developing their creative skills and cultivating their imagination. They can expand their creativity by retelling their favourite stories or creating new ones.
How Should Speech and Drama Activities Be Introduced?
You may wonder how you can entice your child to be interested in speech and drama activities. While some children are instinctively drawn to these activities, others require some persuasion.
The greatest way to get your child to participate in these activities is to start them when they’re young. Begin introducing your child to simple speech and drama activities as early as preschool. They can begin by doing skits and then progress to acting out various characters in books. Most children will initially find it frightening to speak in front of their peers, but with practice and support, they can learn to manage their fear and gain courage.
These exercises don’t have to be strenuous or complicated. Instead, they should be fun and engaging so that your child will want to continue them throughout their school years. Remember not to be pushy. It’s acceptable if your child isn’t interested in speech and drama activities. While they may not recognise the advantages of these activities now, they will later in life.
5 Easy Speech and Drama Activities for Preschoolers
Here are 4 easy speech and drama activities for preschoolers that you can introduce to your child early on to get them interested in these activities.
1. Storytelling – When your child is old enough to understand that stories have a beginning, middle, and end, they can start to learn how to listen to these points. As your child hears you tell these stories, they will begin to pick up on certain words you use. Some of these words may be new, and your child will start to ask you what they mean. And the more often your child hears you use these words, the more likely he is to try them out himself.
2. Singing – As your child listens to the lyrics and sings along with you, they will start picking up on words and phrases they hear often. This is an excellent way to increase their understanding and usage of language.
Most children enjoy music and songs with catchy rhythms and lyrics that are easy to learn. Doing this regularly will help your child build a strong foundation for speech and language development. And it’s a lot of fun, too!
3. Reading Aloud – There are many books that are geared towards preschoolers, and most libraries have a selection of easy books for young children to read. Try making up stories, playing pretend games, or reading a rhyming book. When you read with expression and emotion, your child will learn how to do the same.
You can illustrate different expressions and use different voices for each character when reading books together. By doing this, you’re helping your child learn how to use varied tones and mimic others. As your child grows, they will learn to express their feelings and thoughts with words, not just actions.
4. Writing Stories – Begin by asking your child about their day and writing down their responses. You may also ask them to tell you a story or read it to them. In the process, prompt your child with open-ended questions like, “Why was that character happy?” or “What happened next?” to spark their imagination and get them thinking creatively. Writing stories with your child also helps them to better understand the rules of storytelling, which will benefit them in school.
5. Dramatisation – Dramatisation allows children to express their feelings through their bodies and emotions. As a result, it helps to boost confidence and enhance communication abilities.
Your child can act out different scenarios or make up their own stories while role playing. Depending on their age and interests, they can choose to act out various roles, such as superheroes, animals, or characters from their favourite TV show or movie.
By pretending to be someone or something else, your child is able to explore various ways of behaving, thinking, and feeling. They also can experiment with different emotions and ways of expressing these feelings through their voice and body movements.
Conclusion
When it comes to your child’s development, it’s crucial to ensure you do everything you can as a parent. This includes getting them involved in activities such as speech and drama exercises, which are an excellent approach to introducing your child to new skills that will serve them well throughout their lives.
Viv’s Schoolhouse is an accredited international preschool in Singapore that provides an engaging and stimulating learning environment with a curriculum designed for young learners to explore and discover through hands-on activities. With a team of experienced teachers dedicated to helping your child reach their potential through creative learning, Viv’s Schoolhouse is a great place to start preschool and experience the joy of childhood.