How to talk to infants and toddlers while they play: language that fosters connection, confidence, and creativity by Cara Tyrrell, M.Ed.

Get ready to play as you learn to speak infant and toddler!

Explore how intentional language during play helps infants and toddlers build meaning, connection, confidence, and a lasting love of learning. Grounded in play-based neuroscience, this workshop examines the powerful relationship between adult expressive language and the ways young children process, understand, and respond to the world around them.

Participants will look closely at how language supports child-led play, self-exploration, and early problem-solving. The session will introduce different types of prosocial play and explore how specific phrases can nurture curiosity, creativity, and communication in developmentally appropriate ways. Through a linguistic lens, participants will also examine common habits in adult language, consider how young children interpret what they hear, and identify more effective ways to communicate during everyday interactions.

Based on The Talking Triangle Framework from Talk to Them Early and Often, this session brings theory to life through modeled examples, video clips, and ready-to-use sentence starters that participants can immediately apply in the classroom or at home. Educators will leave with a practical approach to using language during play in ways that support cognition, strengthen early identity, and foster deeper connection in the first three years.

Learning objectives:

• Explain the difference between receptive and expressive language in preverbal infants and toddlers.

• Name three types of child-led play and describe their early learning benefits.

• Identify five sentence starters that support connection, encourage curiosity, and cultivate creative thinking in infants and toddlers.

• Apply intentional language strategies by generating developmentally appropriate phrases for everyday play and interactions.