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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

what do 3-4 year olds talk about together?

10 replies

deaconblue · 15/10/2009 13:31

3 1/2 yr old ds is struggling to cope with conversations with his peers at pre-school and the teacher suggested I might help by role-playing conversations with him with toys. He's the only 3 1/2 yr old I know though so while it would be easy to talk about things he's interested in, that's part of the problem, he needs some help in talking about other things.

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littleducks · 15/10/2009 13:37

I have a chatterbox 3.5 dd, she and her friends talk non stop but mostly nonsense

they talk alot about who is bigger/taller, this started off when they were forming a frindship about talking about being 3 in a "I'm three years old" "I'm three too" "You are three? I'm three too, i had a birthday then i was three" this can go on for ages

They talk about the toys, seem to describe what they are doing alot, ie "This is a drs kit, im going to be a dr" "Can i be a dr too" "No you can be a nurse" "I dont want to be a nurse, i want to be a dr" "You can be a poorly person" again goes on forever

Hope that helps, may be a bit girly though

thatsnotmymonster · 15/10/2009 13:39

Well it depends! My (now 4.5yo) ds has always been a good talker and he will talk about anything- loves talking about diggers, machinery, how things are made etc

My 3yo dd is less outgoing and her language skills were less developed- she talks to her friends about ballet, babies, pretending to make food, cups of tea etc

If I were you I would just talk to him about anything and everything. Ask him what he thinks about things, anything you can think of...
He's only 3.5 and they are not always the most sociable creatures at this age anyway. I wouldn't worry!

mankymummymoo · 15/10/2009 13:42

at the moment everything is role playing with my DS... conversations tend to go along the lines of...

DS: Pretend you are such and such and it was a sunny day and we decided to go to such and such a place. And when we got there we did this, that and the other and pretend you said x y and z, and then I said a, b and c. And then someone hit you so i had to tell them of and take them to the hospital.

Other child: OK.

DS is a rather bossy chatterbox !

Can you encourage him to ask questions maybe?

Although to be honest I think a 3.5yr old talking only about things he is interested in is pretty normal.

melpomene · 15/10/2009 13:42

Tricky one. IMO it's not typical for 3 1/2 year olds to sit around having conversations for long! Conversation at this age is often pretty random and disjointed; my 4yo often attempts to initiate conversations by approaching other children and saying "Who's taller? Me or you?" I think children of this age often don't listen to each other very well either.

You could try role playing situations where your ds compliments another child on something they have done, or suggests an activity/game to do together.

mankymummymoo · 15/10/2009 13:43

tell them off not of. sorry.

notyummy · 15/10/2009 13:45

Ages, favourite colours, favourite foods, favourite clothes.

Lots of 'pretending' games (who do you want to be? 'I'm the mummy'. 'You are the daddy.' 'Lets have dinner - what are we going to have? I am going to have X. Let fix x/y.'

Role playing based on what they do (swimming lessons/going on holiday for example for my DD recently.)

gorionine · 15/10/2009 13:47

DD4 is just about three, all she talks about (with anyone of any age) is spiders!

When Ds3 was 4 he wanted to make friends with another boy in the park and started conversation like this "I like chicken, do you like chicken?" I cannot remember the face of the other LO!

Original poster

deaconblue · 15/10/2009 13:48

thanks everyone. His vocab is huge and he can talk to adults for hours, just seems to be struggling with a way into conversation/playing with his peers. Particularly he finds it difficult if he starts talking about one thing and the other child (as kids do) randomly changes the subject.
Will practise games like doctors but try to be more unpredictable/child-like in my responses and see if that helps a little

OP posts:

Egg · 15/10/2009 13:58

My ds1 is 3.8 and talks about power rangers, star wars, a lot about food and what he likes to eat, about the other children at nursery and what they have that he doesnt (and therefore wants!). He also does a lot of role play and pretends to be various things like a fireman putting out a fire with a pretend hose etc.

Egg · 15/10/2009 14:02

Oh he also talks about ben 10 a lot. He is never allowed to watch it but has some of the toys etc and they seem to play ben 10 and power rangers games a lot at nursery. And yes he also talks a lot about how old he is and all the things he will do when he is 4 and a big boy!

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