Children Chatter Matters 

1. Sandwich Sentences 

As with many tasks, extending a sentence is easier when you make it visual – and seeing as lunchtime has universal appeal, this activity is a fun place to start.

The concept is that, much like a sandwich, a complex sentence requires a start and end (the bread) and an extra bit in the middle (the filling). 

Show your child a picture of a sandwich to help explanation, if you have a larger picture you could get the child to write their sentences on it, if it makes things easier. 

For extra help, you could also provide the ‘bread’ of the sentence yourself, and ask the children to only provide the ‘filling’ – ‘I went to the zoo ________________ because it’s fun’, for example.

Bonus points for any ‘extra’ fillings to make the sandwich tastier – ‘I went to the zoo with my sister and roared at a lion, because it’s fun!’. 

2. The Five Ws 

The five Ws are 'Who? What? When? Why?' and are ideal for helping children to remember how a sentence can be stretched. For example:

‘Who?’ My little dog.

‘Is doing what?’ My little dog eats biscuits.

‘When?’ At lunchtime, my little dog eats biscuits.

‘Where?’ At lunchtime, my little dog eats biscuits in the kitchen.

‘Why?’ At lunchtime, my little dog eats biscuits in the kitchen, because they’re yummy!

When your child gives you a sentence, identify any information that could be added and ask them the corresponding W question.

The Five Ws can be turned into a memory game, with five participants. Each can represent one of the W’s (perhaps by holding a piece of card with the word written on, if it’ll help to remind them of their place).

One child is the ‘Who?’ and chooses the subject of the sentence. Another child is the ‘What?’ and adds the action to the sentence. Eventually the ‘Why?’ will need to remember the four parts of the sentence which preceded, and add their ending.