Two-year-old “Telephone”

Your child won’t yet be able to truly play the game of “Telephone” for awhile, but a modified version can be fun. At this age, your child is practicing listening, waiting, modulating the volume and tone of their voice, and repeating what you say: Telephone is a great combination of all four. It’s also a great way to get older siblings and other family members involved.

HERE’S HOW TO PLAY TELEPHONE WITH A TWO-YEAR-OLD:

• Start by playing a whispering game: choose a word, say it aloud for everyone, and practice saying it at different volumes. Whispering is tricky at this age, and know that your child may not be able to—and that’s ok.
• Next, whisper a word or sound into your child’s ear and ask them to say it aloud. Chances are they may whisper it back to you; see if they can say it in a normal indoor voice. Then, offer them a word and switch places (they may invent their own word or silly sound!)
• If they seem to be getting the pattern, try it again with another person or two: sit in a circle, choose a word, and send it around—it’s fun even when the final word is different than the one you started with.
• With 2-year-old Telephone, success is sending a word all the way around: all that listening and repeating still requires a lot of concentration!
• In addition to single words, try short phrases, silly sounds, and nonsense words.