Words & stories
Finish the song
- Builds: Joining in with words
- 10 min
- Ages 1–3
- Calm
- No mess
From the house
- Nothing, just your voice
How to play
- Sing a song they know well, like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” or “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”.
- Stop just before a word they know and wait with a big, curious face: “Twinkle, twinkle, little…”
- Whatever they offer, a sound, a wave or the word, sing it back to them and carry on.
- In “Old MacDonald”, let them pick the next animal and make its sound.
Fit it to your child
- Easier: Sing the same song every day and leave out only the very last word.
- Harder: Pause on the rhyming word at the end of a line, like “Humpty Dumpty sat on a… wall”, and notice together that wall and fall rhyme.
Words to use
- star
- moo
- baa
- quack
- more
- again
Why it helps
A pause in a song they know gives them a turn to say the word, and singing is slow and repetitive, so the sounds are easier to copy.