Five Receptive Language Games to use with a Chick-fil-A Placemat

Can you love a fast food restaurant too much? Is it a problem if we head to my favorite lunch joint and my 2 yr-old asks me if I'm getting a chicken sammy and a diet cocoa? I'll let you be the judge but lets just say my love for Chick-fil-A runs deep.

So, imagine my joy when we decided to eat inside the restaurant recently (yes, we're fancy) and as soon as I saw the placemats, I started thinking of many different ways to use them to build language skills. Their placemats are awesome on their own for the sole fact that they stick to the table. Chick-fil-A may have different designs at different locations, but this should give you an idea of how to use them. I love activities that require no prep and can be done on the fly. Playing these simple games with my toddler while we ate totally enhanced our experience. It's also an easy way to see what your child knows in a low-stress environment.

What are Receptive Language Skills? These are skills related specifically to comprehension. Simply - What does your child understand? There is more to it than that, but at the most basic level, it's comprehension.

The goal of these activities is to create fun, low-key language practice in a natural way. They start very basic, with matching a name to a picture and get more complex (categorizing by attributes).

1. I spy: You can do this for very young children just by naming animals and seeing if they can point to them. E.g. I spy a lion! (Kid points to lion).

2. Animal/Sound Matching: "I'm looking at an animal that says _______." e.g. I'm looking at an animal that says quack quack! (Kid points to or says duck). If a field of twelve is too many, fold the placemat in thirds so they only have 4 choices as shown in the picture below.

3. What animal Eats That? "Can you find the animal that likes to eat ____?" (flies, hay, worms, hunt for it's food etc)

4. How Does the Animal Move? "Point to the animal that ____" (hops, rolls in the mud, runs, flies etc)

5. Categories. Which animals like water? Which animals could you find on a farm? Which animals, would not make good pets? Group the animals into mammals versus birds versus amphibians! There are so many different groupings which will continue to strengthen language connections.

And a Bonus!

Depending on the age and ability of your child, you can combine functions and attributes to add complexity. You can talk about size and colors of different animals. For example- I see something small and green that can hop. It may seem obvious but your child has to be able to eliminate different options while scanning the mat for the answer. They also have to have background knowledge that a horse and frog are not the same size (even though they look that way on the mat). A horse-sized frog would be terrifying. After you've done these, see if your child can be the describer and you be the guesser. That is great practice for expressing language in an organized way, which is a post I'll save for another time.

I've broken these games down into simple ways to incorporate language in a fun way into your meal (or bring one home and use it when you need something fast).

Bottom line, if you need to reset your day, head to Chick-fil-A. Do you think they'd give me a free Spicy Chicken Sammy and a "diet cocoa" for this unsponsored but filled with love, post?