There are many activities you can run in your setting to benefit children who speak more than one language.

Celebrations display

Create a display that shows all the different festivals that are celebrated by the children in your setting.

Topics

When looking at topics such as toys, traditions, transport and food, look at examples from different children’s home countries and cultures.

Parent visits

Invite parents to come into the setting and tell children about the country that they come from.

Jelly beans game

The children spread out and listen for you to call out different types of bean. They have to make a movement in response:

• jelly beans (wobble about)
• jumping beans (jump)
• string beans (join hands with others to make a string)
• broad beans (stand with arms and legs spread wide)
• baked beans (crouch down into a ball)
• runner beans (run around).

This game is repetitive and involves actions, which will help bilingual children to memorise words easier and faster.

Whatever the weather

Print and laminate 3 different weather symbols – raincloud, sun and snowflake.

Fill a box with a selection of clothing items suited to different weathers, eg coats and anoraks, hats and caps, shoes and boots, shorts and trousers, t-shirts and jumpers.

Ask the children to sort out the clothing to suit each type of weather.