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Playgroup: Your Child's Speech and Language Classroom

When little ones get together for a playgroup, there's more learning going on than you might expect. According to Amy Chouinard and Cory Poland, speech-language pathologists and founders of Talking Child, LLC, a playgroup can help your child develop speech and language skills.

Here they share their guidelines for selecting or creating a playgroup, with tips on making the most of the speech and language benefits for your child.

What is a playgroup?

A playgroup is a group of young children who meet regularly to play and participate in structured activities.
You can create a playgroup at daycare, at church, with neighbors, or with a gathering of friends.

How can a playgroup benefit my child's speech and language development?

A playgroup provides the peer interaction and modeling so important to the development of speech and language.
Children watch their peers and interact with them in a different way than they do with their parents. (Hint: Watch two babies ôtalkingö back and forth in their own special language.)

What age should my child be for a playgroup?

Any child from birth to school age can benefit from a playgroup.
"Building blocks" of language start as early as two months of age.
Language acquisition milestones continue by leaps and bounds until around 4 years of age.
Between four and seven years of age, children fine-tune their existing skills.

What is the best age mix for a playgroup?

Your child will learn speech and language skills best from children who are slightly older and, more importantly, slightly more skilled.
While your child will learn best from slightly more proficient children, make sure that their ages are not so far apart that they lack common interests and cannot participate in activities together.
As a rule of thumb, the younger the child, the closer in age and skill level the peers should be.

How many children should be in a playgroup?

Smaller is better, especially for younger children.
Usually a group of 3 to 6 children is an ideal size.

What should we do in our playgroup?

A playgroup should have activities designed to meet the developmental needs of the children rather than simply keeping them occupied.
Both free-play and structured activities are important.
A typical schedule for children ages 7 to 15 months includes songs, finger plays, and free play.
A typical schedule for children ages 3 to 4 years may include a welcome song, craft activity, snack time, free play, and clean-up song.
Playgroups can also go on fieldtrips to the park, zoo, or library.
Some play groups alternate itineraries. For example, the first Monday of each month focuses on free play, the second Monday of each month focuses on structured activity, and the third Monday of each month focuses on generalization of skills through a field trip.

How often and for how long should we meet?

To maximize language development benefits, a playgroup generally should meet weekly for approximately two hours, but even monthly or biweekly meetings have been found to encourage language.