Teaching Toddlers Plural Nouns
Let’s discover 3 tips for teaching toddlers plural nouns and fun activities you can use to support their learning at home.
Toddlers typically begin to use the plural -s at the end of words between the ages of two and three years old.
When they start to learn this, they may use the plural -s at the end of all nouns, even though some nouns in English have irregular forms, like feet, mice, and geese. That’s okay! This overuse of the plural -s often continues past the third birthday. If your child says “mouses,” you should still respond affirmatively to what they said, and then expand to model the correct plural. So you could say “Yes, they’re mice. They have long tails.” In time, this will help your child learn both regular and irregular nouns.
For now, we will focus on the regular plural nouns and teach your speech therapy tips and activities for teaching your toddler how to use the plural -s.
Tips for teaching toddlers to use the plural -s
Tip 1 - Practice with Toys: One versus Many
The first strategy for eliciting a plural -s is talking about your child’s toys. Toys are a great tangible and visual example of the concept of singular versus plural.
For example, you can show your child one car. You can also show them several cars. Ask your child, “Do you want one car or lots of cars?” while showing them a single car in one hand and several cars in the other hand. As you continue to practice, remember to pause and see if your child uses the plural -s to talk about groups of toys on their own.
Tip 2 - Practice with Food: “Gummy” or “Gummies”
Next, try practicing with a snack your child really enjoys. First, offer a choice of two options at snack time. Show your toddler one gummy in your left hand or many gummies in your right hand. Ask them which one they want — one gummy or many gummies? Most toddlers would prefer to have more than one. The goal is to have them imitate the plural word you used in your question. Give it two or three good tries with 5 to 10 seconds of wait time after you ask the question with the word you want them to imitate. If they do not repeat it back after two or three attempts, then have them point to request (if they haven’t already) or accept their attempt to imitate the word (for example, “gum”) before giving them the snack they asked for.
Tip 3 - Practice with Turns: One or Two
Once your child has begun using the plural -s to talk about things, you can also practice the plural -s while taking turns. You and your child can take turns during a variety of activities. Ask your child, “Do you want one turn or two turns?” Your child can either have one turn or two turns based upon their response. If your child simply responds by saying “One” or “Two” as opposed to “One turn” or “Two turns” you can say the longer response as an example for them. If your child does respond using words, you can model one turn and two turns by saying, “I am going to take two turns. One turn. Two turns.” as you take your turns within the activity. Continue to repeat the routine and provide your child with opportunities to imitate you and respond on their own as they are learning.
Teaching your toddler to use -s for plural nouns - 3 at home speech therapy activities ↓
At home speech therapy activity for teaching toddlers to use the plural -s
Getting Shoes On
Materials:
Shoes and socks that your child is going to wear, plus at least one extra of each.
Set-up:
Gather the shoes and socks as you get ready to leave the house or get dressed. Give yourself a little extra time so that you can focus on the new skill.
What to do:
In this activity, you will be teaching your child to say the plural “s” while putting on shoes and socks.
When it is time to get shoes and socks on, you will be asking your child if they want “sock” or “socks”, “shoe” or “shoes”. When you say the word with the plural “s” at the end, emphasize it a little by making the “s” sound a little longer and a little louder than you usually do.
Start with socks. In one hand, hold one sock. In the other hand, hold a pair of socks. Ask your child, “do you want sock, or socks?” while holding out your hands one at a time. They will likely point to the pair of socks, but may say “sock.” If they do this, repeat what they said and hand them a single sock (“oh, you want a sock.”) Then act like it was silly and say, “wait a minute! Not one sock, you need SOCKS!” and hand them the pair while emphasizing the plural.
You will do this same thing with the shoes.
Because you likely get shoes/ socks on every day, if you repeat the activity every day your child will start to hear the “s” sound that you are making and will start to learn what it means. It is okay if they don’t get it at first. Keep showing them the plural “s” and they will eventually say it.
Remember, the goal of this activity is the plural “s.” It’s okay if your child does not understand or use number words yet.
What to say:
When you practice at home, it might sound like this:
You: Do you want SHOE [showing one shoe in the left hand] or SHOES? [showing two shoes in the right hand]
Child: Shoe. [reaching for the two shoes]
You: Shoe? You want shoe? Here you go! [hands single shoe]
Child: No. [reaches for pair of shoes again]
You: Oh, SHOES. You want the SHOES. Here you go [hands pair of shoes]
You: Do you want SOCK or SOCKS?
Child: Socks.
You: Here are your socks!
Teaching your toddler to use -s for plural nouns - 3 at home speech therapy activities (this activity + 2 more!)↓
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Created In Collaboration By:
Stephanie Keffer, MS CCC-SLP
Stephanie Burgener-Vader, MA CCC-SLP
Melissa Sartori, MS CCC-SLP
Yvette Faire-Bostick, MS CCC-SLP
© 2020-2022. Stephanie Keffer, MS CCC-SLP. All Rights Reserved.
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