Best Christmas gifts for Bilingual Children – gifts supporting speech development!

Am I the only one doing late Christmas shopping? If you are too and also struggling for gift ideas – here I am to help you!

The list will be helpful to you not only for Christmas time, you can actually use it during the year, when searching for gift ideas. Trying to find something fun and at the same time educational is not the easiest task to do, but it is not impossible!

Books!

Perfect for any age: babies, toddler, young kids and teenagers. It is great choice for older kids as you can actually encourage them to read in minority language – just choose the book connected to their interests or favorite characters. If they have just started reading journey, choose comic books – not too much text and easy to understand as pictures are self-explanatory.

Babies – books with colors, animals, first words, textures. Flap books
Toddlers – Interactive books, Flap books, Picture story books ie All around Bustletown series (many details, different activities changing with different seasons), Rhyme books, Books for bedtime stories
Young kids – Picture story books, Level one readers books, Usborne Flap Books (very informative, fun with discovering information hidden under the flap) – Space, Human Body, the Earth and many more!
Older kids/Teenagers – Any book that is in their area of interest – read with them but encourage them to read on their own as well. Kids encyclopedias are a great choice too, they can learn and develop language skills at the same time!

CDs – music/audiobooks

You can keep boost the use of minority language with a minimum effort – whenever driving a car, listening in the background when playing with kids or just story during quiet time or in the evening. It can be either music, nursery rhymes or audiobook – plenty of choice here!

(photo: The 10 Best children’s audiobooks | The Independent | The Independent)

Interactive toys

All of them in your minority language. Let’s be honest – children love new toys and those which make sounds or play some music – even more! Just always remember that although they can play on their own, the greater language experience will be when you will play with them.

Board games!

Love it as much as books! Same as with the books – you have plenty of choice depending on your bilingual child’s age. Some of them will be great for any age, ie Charades, Dobble, Story cubes.

Toddlers – Matching card games, Lotto games
Young kids – Ludo (encourage counting in your minority language), Memory game, Simple dice games, Card games (Dobble), Storytelling dice games (Story cubes)
Older kids/Teenagers – Any board game appropriate for their age, use this family time as a chance for you to communicate in minority language. Scrabble is a great choice for older kids, great way to learn and spend family evenings.

Theatre/Cinema tickets

If only you have opportunity – that’s fantastic activity that you can enjoy in your minority language. We tend to spend Christmas in Poland so we can’t wait for our next chance to do it! Adam was in theatre for the first time last autumn (he was just over 4 years old) and he’s excitement was priceless! He was even brave enough to have a picture with the actors after the play! Thank you Grandma for arranging it for us!

Hand puppets

Mentioning theatre, that’s my next thought about great activity idea! Create your play at home! If your little one can’t talk yet, do it for them 0 I promise that they will absolutely love it! And as they get older, they can take part in it to. Developing speech and imagination, a little bit of role play – perfect idea for any age!

Flashcards

Perfect for any age and plenty of ideas here! As they’re little, they can recognize and point at the pictures. As they start to speak, they will name what they see and as they get older, you can cover a picture and let them read to guess what is covered!

Noun Flashcards – Junior Learning UK