5 Easy Ways to Work on Expressive Language with Toddlers at Home

Parents play a key role in helping your toddler build expressive language skills. Expressive language is how your child uses words and sentences to communicate their thoughts, needs, and feelings. Fortunately, you don’t need any fancy tools to encourage language growth—many simple, everyday activities can make a huge difference. Here are five easy ways you can support your toddler’s expressive language development at home.

1. Narrate Your Day

One of the simplest yet most effective ways to help your toddler with language is to narrate your day as you go about your routine. Whether you're preparing meals, getting ready for the day, or running errands, describe what you are doing, seeing, and feeling. For example, "Now we are cutting the carrots. Look at the orange carrot! It’s crunchy when I cut it."

By hearing you label and explain everyday actions, your toddler will start associating words with objects and actions, expanding their vocabulary in a natural way.

2. Use Choices to Encourage Speech

Offering choices is a powerful way to get your child talking. Instead of handing them what they want, give them two options and ask them to choose. For example, “Do you want the blue cup or the red cup?” or “Would you like the apple or the banana?” This method encourages your toddler to use words to make their preferences known and helps build sentence structure.

Don’t worry if their responses are short at first—celebrate the small wins, and over time, you’ll see their language grow.

3. Read Together and Ask Questions

Reading to your toddler is one of the best ways to expose them to new words and language patterns. While reading, take breaks to ask simple questions like, “What’s this?” or “Where’s the dog?” Point to pictures in the book and wait for your child to respond.

Books with repetitive phrases or rhyming patterns are particularly engaging for toddlers and encourage them to join in. You can even turn it into a fun guessing game: “What do you think will happen next?”

4. Sing Songs with Actions

Toddlers love music, and singing songs with actions—like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” or “The Wheels on the Bus”—is a great way to encourage expressive language. Not only do songs help children learn new words, but pairing words with actions makes it easier for them to remember and understand what those words mean.

Encourage your toddler to join in by repeating phrases or performing the actions with you. The repetition and rhythm of songs are excellent for helping toddlers with word recall. As your child becomes more familiar with the songs you sing, pause to see if they can finish the line or fill in the word you missed out.

5. Pretend Play

Engaging in pretend play is an excellent way to encourage your toddler to use language creatively. Everyday items like toy animals, cars, dolls, or even kitchen utensils can become the centre of imaginative play. For example, you might pretend to cook a meal together and say, “Let’s make soup! What do we need? Should we add carrots or broccoli?”

Through pretend play, toddlers practice using new words and phrases in different contexts, boosting both their vocabulary and their confidence in speaking.

Helping your toddler develop expressive language doesn't require special tools or toys. By simply talking, singing, playing, and reading together, you’re providing the perfect environment for language growth. The key is to keep it fun and interactive—your toddler will pick up on your enthusiasm and be excited to learn!

Remember to be kind and share joy!

-            Allanah (speech therapist)