Are you looking for practical speech and language activities for Early Years that feel playful, natural and achievable within an ordinary nursery or school setting?
Communication does not develop only during adult-led group work. Young children build language while they move, explore, repeat actions, share attention, solve problems and play alongside responsive adults.
The outdoors can provide valuable reasons to communicate. Children may need to ask for help, describe what they notice, negotiate with friends, retell an experience or use gestures, sounds and words to influence what happens next.
In this episode of The Muddy Puddle Teacher® Podcast, Sarah speaks with the co-founders of Thriving Language, Becky Poulter Jewson and Rebecca Skinner, about how speech, language and communication can be supported through outdoor learning and play.
Thriving Language is a Community Interest Company combining specialist Early Years knowledge with speech and language therapy. Becky and Rebecca work together to help educators and families create environments in which children are listened to, understood and given meaningful opportunities to communicate.
Listen : Let’s Help Talk Thrive Outside with Becs and Becky
Explore our Speech, Language and Communication Outdoors Resources
Meet the Guests
Who Are Thriving Language?
Thriving Language was co-founded by Early Years specialist Becky Poulter Jewson and speech and language therapist Rebecca Skinner.
Their work brings together two closely connected areas of expertise: understanding how young children learn through play and understanding how speech, language and communication develop.
This combination allows them to consider the child, the environment, the adults and the communication opportunities available throughout the day.
Thriving Language provides Early Years consultancy, staff training, workshops, speech and language support and guidance for families and educational settings. The organisation also contributes to university Early Childhood Studies programmes and produces books and practical resources for practitioners. Learn more about Thriving Languages
Meet Becky Poulter Jewson
Becky Poulter Jewson is the Director of Early Years and an author at Thriving Language.
She has more than 25 years of experience working with children and families as a qualified Early Years lead. Her interests include enabling environments, free-flow play, patterns and schemas of play, team development and supporting two-year-old children.
In the podcast notes, Becky is described as loving outdoor and natural environments where children can engage deeply and have time to play. She has led Early Years teams across Gloucestershire and delivered training to practitioners beyond the county.
Her Early Years perspective helps settings consider how routines, spaces, resources and adult interactions either encourage or restrict children’s communication.
Meet Rebecca Skinner
Rebecca Skinner is the Director of Speech and Language Therapy and an author at Thriving Language.
She qualified as a speech and language therapist in 2001 and specialises in Early Years speech, language and communication. Her work includes supporting educational teams and families to understand children’s communication and help them participate more successfully.
The original podcast notes also describe Rebecca as working for Thriving Language and the NHS and identify her specialist experience relating to cleft lip and palate.
Rebecca’s contribution helps practitioners recognise that communication is broader than spoken vocabulary alone. Children may communicate through movement, gesture, facial expression, play, sounds, behaviour, symbols and shared attention.
Visit Thriving Language Online
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thrivinglanguage/
Facebook https://en-gb.facebook.com/thrivinglanguage/
Twitter https://twitter.com/thrivelanguage @thrivelanguage
LinkedIn Becky Poulter Jewson & Rebecca Skinner
Books by Thriving Language
Speech and Language in the Early Years
Becky Poulter Jewson and Rebecca Skinner are the authors of Speech and Language in the Early Years: Creating Language-Rich Learning Environments.
Published by Routledge, the book focuses on creating environments that support young children’s speech, language and communication. It draws on Becky’s Early Years experience and Rebecca’s speech and language therapy expertise. (Routledge)
This makes it especially relevant for Nursery practitioners, Reception teachers, teaching assistants, SENDCos and leaders who want communication support to become part of everyday provision rather than a separate intervention delivered only at certain times.
Start a course now – Supporting Speech and Language in the Early Years Outdoors
Outdoor Learning Specialism: Speech, Language & Non-Speaking Learners
Speech, Language and Communication for Healthy Little Minds
The pair also wrote Speech, Language and Communication for Healthy Little Minds: Practical Ideas to Promote Communication for Wellbeing in the Early Years.
This book connects communication with emotional wellbeing and presents practical approaches for Early Years practitioners.
It is particularly useful for settings exploring the connection between language, relationships, emotional literacy, participation and children’s ability to communicate what they need.
Explore the Book: Speech, Language and Communication for Healthy Little Minds
Rebecca Skinner is also connected with the Adventures of Mindy and Mo series, which uses rhythmic, rhyming stories to support speech-sound development.
Why Is Outdoor Play Good for Speech and Language?
Outdoor play can create genuine reasons for children to communicate.
A child may want an adult to help move a heavy object, explain where water is flowing, tell a friend what they are building or invite somebody into an imaginary game.
These moments make language purposeful.
Rather than being asked to name an object for an adult, the child is using communication to make something happen.
The outdoors can also provide experiences that generate vocabulary. Children may encounter words linked to texture, movement, position, sound, size, weather and change.
They might discover that an object is rough, slippery, balanced, underneath, overflowing, enormous or fragile.
Real experiences can make words easier to understand because the child can see, feel and act upon the meaning.
Outdoor communication does not have to involve constant adult questioning.
Adults can comment on what children are doing, repeat and extend their language, introduce useful words and leave time for the child to respond.
Explore our Communication and Language Outdoors Guide and Early Years Outdoor Learning Hub.
What Is a Language-Rich Outdoor Environment?
A language-rich environment is not simply an area covered with printed labels and vocabulary cards.
It is a place where children have meaningful experiences, responsive adults and time to communicate.
A strong outdoor environment may include open-ended resources that encourage children to combine, move, build, fill, empty, hide, transport and create.
These actions naturally introduce words linked to position, quantity, movement, problem-solving and storytelling.
Language also develops through repetition.
A child may repeatedly transport objects, pour water or cover items. Rather than stopping the repeated play, adults can observe the pattern and add language that matches what the child is doing.
For example, an adult might say:
“You carried another one.”
“It has gone underneath.”
“The water is overflowing.”
“You covered it completely.”
The adult is not testing the child.
They are giving useful language to a meaningful experience.
Becky’s expertise in patterns of play and enabling environments is especially relevant here because children’s repeated actions can provide important clues about what interests and motivates them.
Try this resource to start your journey at supporting speech outdoors: I Spy and Talk Outdoors
Communication Is More Than Spoken Words
Speech, language and communication are related, but they are not identical.
Speech refers to the sounds and words a person produces.
Language includes understanding and using words, sentences and meaning.
Communication includes the wider ways in which people connect and express themselves.
A young child may communicate by looking, pointing, moving closer, taking an adult’s hand, making a sound, changing facial expression or repeating an action.
Adults need to notice these attempts and respond.
When an adult recognises a gesture as meaningful, the child learns that their communication has an effect.
This can encourage further interaction.
Outdoor play may provide more opportunities for children to communicate through their whole bodies. They can show, lead, demonstrate, build and act rather than relying only on spoken responses.
This can be particularly helpful for children with speech, language and communication needs, autistic children, children using alternative communication and children who are learning more than one language.
Visit our Speech, Language and Non-Speaking Learners Outdoor Learning Specialism.
How Should Adults Talk to Children Outdoors?
Adults often want to encourage communication by asking questions.
However, too many questions can make an interaction feel like a test.
A child who is repeatedly asked, “What is that?”, “What colour is it?” and “What are you doing?” may have fewer opportunities to lead the conversation.
Comments can be more supportive.
Instead of asking, “What are you building?”, an adult might say:
“You have made a very tall tower.”
Instead of asking, “What is the water doing?”, they might say:
“It is running quickly down the pipe.”
The adult can then wait.
This pause gives the child time to respond through words, sounds, gesture or action.
Adults can also repeat and expand what a child says.
If a child says, “Car go,” the adult might respond, “Yes, the red car is going down.”
The child’s communication is acknowledged while a slightly fuller language model is provided.
This approach should remain natural. Adults do not need to turn every moment into a language lesson.
The quality of the interaction matters more than the number of words spoken.
Why Listening Matters
Children need adults who listen with attention rather than adults who are always waiting to deliver the next instruction.
Listening includes noticing words, gesture, movement, play and behaviour.
Thriving Language’s approach has been described through the phrase “To be listened to is to be loved”, emphasising the relationship between communication, understanding and emotional connection. (LinkedIn)
When children feel heard, they are more likely to continue communicating.
Listening also helps adults understand what interests the child.
A practitioner may discover that a child who rarely joins adult-led language activities communicates extensively while transporting water, building with crates or searching for insects.
That information should influence how communication opportunities are planned.
The goal is not to force the child into the adult’s preferred method.
It is to understand how the child currently connects and build from there.
Two Outdoor Speech and Language Activities
Outdoor Sound and Listening Walk
Take a small group on a slow walk around a familiar outdoor space.
Pause in several places and listen together.
Children might hear birds, footsteps, leaves, vehicles, water, gates, voices or equipment.
Adults can model language such as loud, quiet, near, far, sudden, repeating, rustling and tapping.
Children can respond by pointing, copying a sound, selecting a picture, signing or using spoken language.
Keep the pace calm and avoid turning the activity into a memory test.
The main purpose is shared attention, listening and communication.
Build and Describe Together
Provide crates, blocks, tubes, fabric, sticks or recycled loose parts.
Allow children to build collaboratively.
Adults can support communication using words linked to position and action, including on, under, beside, through, higher, lower, carry, balance, turn and join.
Rather than directing the final outcome, the adult can help children communicate ideas and negotiate with one another.
This supports vocabulary, listening, turn-taking, problem-solving and imaginative language.
Find more ideas through our Early Years Communication Resources and 60-Day Free Trial.
How Can Outdoor Learning Support Children with SLCN?
SLCN means speech, language and communication needs.
A child with SLCN may experience difficulty understanding language, using vocabulary, producing speech sounds, forming sentences, following instructions or participating in conversation.
The outdoors can create useful communication opportunities, but simply moving outside will not remove these difficulties.
Activities still need to be accessible.
Adults may need to use visual instructions, shorter phrases, gesture, objects, repetition and additional processing time.
A child may need to see an activity demonstrated rather than relying on verbal instructions.
Choices may be easier when supported by pictures or real objects.
Groups should also be considered carefully.
A busy playground may create too much noise for some children to process spoken language successfully.
A quieter outdoor corner or small-group session may be more effective.
Outdoor learning should therefore be adapted to the child rather than presented as a universal solution.
How Does Play Support Language Development?
Play gives children a reason to use communication for many different purposes.
They may request, protest, negotiate, direct, imagine, explain, joke or repair a misunderstanding.
During role play, children experiment with language they have heard from adults and other children.
During construction, they use language to plan and solve problems.
During sensory play, they encounter vocabulary linked to texture, change and movement.
Children also communicate through repeated patterns of play.
A child who repeatedly encloses objects may be exploring ideas linked to inside, outside, hidden, full and empty.
An adult who recognises this pattern can provide relevant language without taking control.
Play becomes less language-rich when adults dominate the direction, constantly correct children or expect one predetermined outcome.
Children need time to develop an idea and revisit it.
Becky Poulter Jewson’s work includes a specific interest in free-flow play and patterns of play, while Rebecca Skinner brings specialist understanding of how adults can support communication development.
Supporting Communication Through Schemas
Schemas are repeated patterns of action or thought that children may explore through play.
A child may transport objects, rotate items, create enclosures, cover materials or repeatedly investigate trajectories.
These patterns can become rich opportunities for language.
A child exploring transportation may encounter words such as carry, heavy, empty, full, journey, arrive and deliver.
A child interested in rotation may explore turn, spin, twist, round, fast and slow.
Adults do not need to label the schema during every interaction.
The practical value is in recognising what the child is motivated to repeat and using that interest to support connection and communication.
The Thriving Language approach has highlighted listening through children’s schematic play as one way of showing deeper understanding of the child.
How Can Speech and Language Support Wellbeing?
Communication and wellbeing are closely linked.
Children need ways to express discomfort, make choices, ask for help, connect with others and communicate when something is wrong.
A child who cannot easily explain what they need may experience frustration, anxiety or withdrawal.
Adults may see behaviour before they recognise the underlying communication difficulty.
Supporting communication can therefore help children participate more successfully and feel better understood.
The book Speech, Language and Communication for Healthy Little Minds explicitly connects communication with wellbeing in the Early Years. (Routledge)
Outdoor learning can contribute by offering shared experiences, movement and side-by-side interaction.
Some children may find it easier to communicate while walking or playing beside an adult than during direct face-to-face questioning.
However, settings should still seek specialist advice when a child has persistent or significant communication needs.
Early Years practitioners are not expected to diagnose speech and language disorders.
When Should Practitioners Seek Additional Help?
Children develop communication at different rates, but practitioners should not rely only on the idea that a child will catch up.
Concerns should be discussed through the setting’s established SEND and referral procedures.
Practitioners should record what they observe, including how the child understands language, communicates needs, joins interaction and responds in different environments.
It is useful to note what helps.
A child may communicate more effectively in a small group, with visual support or during familiar outdoor play.
Families should be involved respectfully, and specialist assessment may be needed from a qualified speech and language therapist.
Thriving Language’s website provides age-and-stage information, but online guidance should not replace individual assessment where there are concerns.
What Can Educators Learn from Thriving Language?
The work of Becky and Rebecca shows that speech and language support should not be separated from the child’s everyday environment.
Communication develops through relationships, play, responsive adults and meaningful experiences.
Their partnership also demonstrates the value of combining professional perspectives.
An Early Years practitioner understands daily provision, group dynamics, play and environment.
A speech and language therapist brings specialist knowledge of communication development and need.
When these perspectives work together, support can become more practical and embedded.
The podcast encourages educators to view the outdoors not simply as a place where children can release energy, but as a communication-rich environment.
Children can listen, notice, explore, repeat, collaborate and use language for genuine purposes.
Listen to Thriving Language
In this episode, Sarah, Becky and Rebecca explore how speech, language and communication can thrive through outdoor experiences.
The conversation is especially relevant for Nursery practitioners, Reception teachers, teaching assistants, SENDCos, childminders, speech and language professionals and leaders developing communication-friendly provision.
Listen to “Let’s Help Talk Thrive Outside with Becs and Becky”
The original episode also directs listeners towards the Thriving Language website, social accounts, professional profiles and the organisation’s own podcast.
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Speech and Language Activities Outdoors FAQs
How can outdoor play support speech and language?
Outdoor play gives children real reasons to request, describe, negotiate, direct and share ideas. Movement, sensory experiences and open-ended resources can also create meaningful vocabulary and communication opportunities.
What are good speech and language activities for Early Years?
Useful activities include sound walks, storytelling, role play, construction, sensory play, songs, action games and collaborative problem-solving. The adult interaction and communication opportunities are more important than having specialist equipment.
Should adults ask lots of questions to develop language?
Not necessarily. Too many questions can make communication feel like a test. Comments, repetition, expansion and waiting can often encourage more natural interaction.
Can outdoor learning help children with SLCN?
It can provide meaningful communication opportunities, but activities must still be adapted. Some children may need visual support, reduced language, quieter spaces, smaller groups or additional processing time.
What is a language-rich outdoor environment?
A language-rich outdoor environment provides interesting experiences, responsive adults, open-ended resources and enough time for children to explore and communicate. It is not simply an area covered in printed labels.
How can adults support non-speaking children outdoors?
Adults can use visual symbols, objects, gesture, signing, communication aids, real choices and predictable routines. They should recognise all intentional communication rather than expecting spoken answers.
Do children need to speak during every activity?
No. Children may listen, observe, gesture, point, move objects, use symbols or communicate through play. Adults should allow different forms of participation.
When should a child be referred for speech and language support?
Persistent concerns about understanding, speech, interaction or communication should be discussed with the setting’s SEND lead and the child’s family. Practitioners should follow local referral pathways and seek qualified specialist advice where appropriate.
Author
Written by Sarah Seaman BSc, PGCE, MA
Founder of The Muddy Puddle Teacher®, qualified teacher, Bloomsbury author and educational consultant supporting schools to develop practical, inclusive and sustainable outdoor learning.
