If I find myself with in the same room as a baby or toddler, I talk constantly. I narrate everything I am doing, often throwing in the sign language that I learned when my daughter was a baby. Mom reminds me with my nephew that I should only use signs he knows. This is a good point.
Seriously, though, this is one of the best ways to build both vocabulary and narrative skills (two of the American Library Association’s identified skills for pre-reading readiness. This definitely continues as children reach preschool-age and become more verbal themselves. Check out this link from the Johnson County Library to see more: 6X6). The reason this works is that kids are hearing words used in context, and they are seeing how stories work.
Stories have:
1. 1. Sequence (one thing leading to another)
2. 2. Characters who have goals and obstacles
3. 3. A beginning, a middle, and an end
It takes a while to recognize this, but the more that kids play with books that include these elements, the more natural it will feel for them to build them into their own stories.
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