Communication Development: By 5 Years

Communication Development: By 5 Years

Look for opportunities to increase the number of different words your child uses. Make your own books with your child. Play games that help with taking turns and concentrating. 

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Here is some information about how children's communication skills usually develop by the age of 5. Below are some activity suggestions to encourage communication from 5 years. Use the language that you are most familiar and comfortable with. 

By 5 years, what should my child be able to say and do?

  • understand and use more concept words, such as 'tallest', 'same', 'bigger', 'medium'
  • respond to instructions while busy doing something else
  • generally use complete, well-formed sentences 
  • should still be developing some aspects of more complex language structure, such as using irregular past tense; for example, they may say "runned" for 'ran'
  • take turns in much longer conversations 
  • ask the meanings of words, and try to use new words
  • retell stories they have heard in the right order, using some story phrases; for example, "once upon a time", "the end"
  • ask for help appropriately; for example, "excuse me can I have....?"
  • adapt their talking to a listener's level of understanding; for example, when talking to a baby sister
  • identify first sounds in words; for example, "puku starts with p"
  • be starting to link letter names with letter sounds; for example, 's' = 'ssss'
  • recognise some familiar written words
  • write their own name
  • be understood by unfamiliar adults all of the time. A few sounds may still be developing; for example, thrl and some consonant blends, such as string, cloud, spider, tree

What are some tips to help my child's communication development at 5 years?

  • look for opportunities to increase the number of different words your child uses, particularly around new experiences. Try to use a wide range of naming and describing words
  • make your own books with your child – write the story together
  • play games that help with taking turns and concentrating; for example, 'What's the time, Mr Wolf?', hide and seek, snakes and ladders, memory match
  • give your child plenty of opportunities to play with other children. This is a great way to develop talking and social skills

Graphic of a father kneeling at a table with 2 children - they are making something in a mixing bowl

References

If you would like to look at anything in more detail, this list of references might be a good starting point.

Acknowledgements

The content on this page has been produced in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and adapted from Much more than words | Manuka takoto, kawea ake (2014).

This page last reviewed 17 November 2020.

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