Animal sounds can help your toddler learn to talk…

January 15, 2021 Stephanie Keffer

As your child continues to grow and learn new things, they will naturally begin to imitate more complex movements. Generally, after your child has learned to imitate actions and gestures, both of which involve the movement of their body, they will begin to fine-tune the movement of their mouth in preparation for talking.

Did you know there is a completely separate area of the brain that controls the movement of your mouth specifically for talking? It’s time to start growing this part of your child’s brain by encouraging them to imitate sounds, including animal sounds.

Once this skill is mastered, the next step will be imitating words.

Tips for teaching your toddler to imitate fun sound and animal sounds

Tip 1 - Imitate facial expressions and sounds together

We’ll start by imitating facial expressions and sounds together. Imitating facial expressions is a great way to encourage your child to begin imitating movements with their mouth. As you encourage them to imitate your facial expressions, make sure you’re sitting in front of them so they can easily see your face.

Practice making different facial expressions, such as surprised, happy, and sad. As you do this, make a sound that corresponds to each expression. You could smile and say “EEE,” look surprised and say “OOO,” or frown and say “mmm.” While your child might only imitate the expression at first, with practice they should begin to try to imitate both the facial expression and the sound.

You can practice these expressions and sounds by themselves or as part of a game or activity you’re already playing with your child. For example, if you’re playing peek-a-boo, exaggerate the surprised face with the accompanying sound.

Tip 2 - Engage your child in sound play

Another way we can help your child learn to imitate sounds is through “sound play” — this can mean using excited sound effects, such as “weeee,” or just imitating babble. Engaging in sound play is a great way to begin imitating sounds because it allows your child to practice making sounds without the pressure of saying words for a particular reason — like saying “juice” to request a drink.

Sit face to face with your child and start by imitating the sounds that they’re making first. The goal is to engage in back-and-forth sound-making with your child, repeating the same sounds over and over. If your child continues to be interested in imitating sounds with you, try changing the sound you make and see if your child will imitate the new sound. You can practice using simple consonant sounds, like tuh-tuh-tuh or any of the sounds listed here. It’s likely your child is already making at least a few of these sounds when they babble.

Tip 3 - Imitate vehicle sounds and animal sounds

Once your child is imitating the sounds you make, you can start working on imitating specific sounds, like those that correspond with animals or vehicles. As you play together with your child, imitate sounds that relate to the toys you’re using, like siren sounds for a fire truck, helicopter or airplane noises, and animal sounds.

It is important that you practice these sounds within a context that makes sense. For example, practice animal sounds when reading a book about animals or playing with animal toys, but not when having a snack. This will help your child understand the meaning of the sounds as they learn to imitate them.

Don’t be afraid to use your body to pretend to be an animal while you imitate their animal sound, like using your arm as an elephant trunk while making an elephant sound. This can be a great way to capture your child’s attention and make it fun while you practice. Songs like “Old McDonald” are also great for practice with animal sounds. Pick a few sounds at a time and repeat them as many times as you can while you play with your child. Remember, it may take some time for your child to attempt to imitate you. Be persistent, and don’t forget to have fun!

Download our at home activities guide for teaching kids to imitate sounds ↓

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At home activity to encourage your little one to imitate sounds

Toy Microphone

Materials:

Toy microphone, or something you can imagine is a microphone (empty paper towel roll, empty toilet paper roll, even a stick)

Set-up:

Have your toy microphone (or similar shaped item) available. '

What to do:

You are going to be using the microphone to imitate each other’s sounds. Sometimes your child will make most of the sounds while you imitate them, and other times in the reverse. It is all teaching the idea of imitation.

What to say:

Make a silly sound or sounds into the microphone. This can be anything from “aaaah” to babble “batakadaboooo”. You are showing your child what to do with the microphone.

Now, it's their turn. Aim the microphone at your child to make sounds into. If they make a sound, you’re going to quickly aim the microphone back at yourself and imitate whatever sound they made (as best you can). Do this back and forth a few times.

Once they get the hang of it, you can try to reverse it and see if they'll imitate the sounds you make. This can be silly sounds, silly voices, animal sounds, truck sounds, literally anything! If your child knows their name, they may love hearing that, especially if you use varying voices to say their name--being silly is so fun to them!

Also, If your toy microphone has a Record feature, you don’t need to use it. But you can, --in the same way as above. Your child makes a sound, the microphone plays it back, then on your turn, record yourself imitating your child’s sound. You’re still imitating each other, just adding in a layer of the microphone “imitating” you and your child with the recordings as well.

Download our at home activities guide for teaching kids to imitate sounds (this activity + 2 more!)↓