Cow Patties & Conversation: How Every Walk is a Lesson in Language
“Cow Patty! Cow patty!”
Not quite a year ago, I went on a walk with my daughter, Timberlynn. I didn’t know it at the time but it was the week before her sister, Wrangler, would be born (you can read that story here). It was one of those rare Winter days when the Midwest is blessed with weather so nice you don’t even need a coat. Timberlynn was in the stage of toddler language development when they’re constantly asking, “What’s that?”
We went through the normal: “Tree”, “Grass”, and “rocks”. Then she noticed something on the ground. My husband practices rotational grazing and the cows had just been through the area we were walking.
“What’s that?” She asked.
“Cow Patty”
“What’s that?”
“Cow poo-poo, so please don’t touch it because it’s dirty and you have a snack you’re eating.”
She giggled and pointed to the cow patty as close as she could without touching it. The rest of our walk was spent identifying “cow patty” after “cow patty” with such joy I couldn’t help but laugh and get a few pictures.
My husband Carson later was taking a walk with her and she showed him her love of “cow patties” and he turned it into a fun game of kicking the dried ones so that they went poof!
While we were just having fun in the pasture, these moments were actually helping in Timberlynn’s development.
Why Talking to Your Toddler Matters for School Readiness
According to a Stanford University study, it’s important to talk to babies and toddlers. It doesn’t just give them new words, it builds their ability to understand language quickly which frees up their thinking to learn even more words. Talking directly to our babies and toddlers is proven to build their language skills way more than TV or listening to other people’s conversations. Good language skills set the foundation for success in school later, without this foundation children struggle with schoolwork. In fact the size of a child’s vocabulary when they start kindergarten is one of the best indicators of their ability to learn to read and do well in school.
Babies and toddlers have short attention spans that increase as they grow. A study conducted in Uppsala, Sweden found that children’s different abilities to hold attention did not affect their learning language. However the parent’s ability to make the most of their children’s attention and use these opportunities to talk to them was the key factor that affected their learning.
How to Use Expansion and Extension to Build Vocabulary
Speech therapists teach a method called Expansion and Extension to help parents utilize those teachable moments:
- Expansion (Build the sentence) When your child says something you respond with the “proper grownup” sentence version.
- Child says, “Cow patty!”
- You say, “Yes, that is a cow patty.”
- Why it works: You’re teaching proper grammar, while showing you’re paying attention and understand.
- Extension (Build the idea) When your child says something you add something new detail or idea.
- Child says, “Cow patty!”
- You say, “That is a big, brown cow patty!” or “The cows left that patty behind.”
- Why it works: You’re adding adjectives, verbs, and concepts like cause and effect.
One more example:
- Child says, “Baby Cow! It’s cute!”
- Expansion: “That calf is so cute!”
- Extension: “The cute calf is following its momma. It might be hungry.”
Speech Milestones: Talking to Children Ages 1 to 4
According to research funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, as babies grow into children, changing approaches for different milestones can help maximize their learning language:
- Age 1-2: The amount you talk matters most. The more words they hear from you, the better.
- Ages 2-3: The variety of words is important. Try to use many different names for things and descriptive words.
- Ages 3–4: Explanations and storytelling are most helpful. Talk about the past, the future, and how things work. Pro tip: Reading together, especially Bible stories, can spark these conversations.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND THE WORD
Don’t underestimate your babies! By the time children are three-and-a-half-years-old, they are ready for real explanations about how the world works, and can hold conversations about the past or future. This age presents a prime opportunity to double-down on teaching God’s word, both in concepts and stories.
Long before researchers studied the best ways to teach children, God already knew. We just need to follow His directions.
“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
Deuteronomy 6:6-7
References:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5510534/pdf/nihms-661012.pdf
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3440540/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11803541/
https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/speech-and-language
For further reading the following is an online resource of free educational handouts written by speech-language pathologists and special educators:
