Ways to Improve Sentence Length for Preschool Children

Talk About It

• Your child's language development directly correlates to his ability to write. If he can say it, he can attempt to write it. He is fairly new to the English language, and at this developmental stage his vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. However, he may not always know how to say what he's thinking. Making lots of time to talk about many different topics helps your child's writing in several ways. It builds vocabulary, gives him lots of topics to draw from when he decides to write and gives him lots of words to use that will become details in his writing.

Write About What You Know

• Writing about what your child has already seen or experienced will take the pressure off him to come up with the right words for a story since he will already have the experience and most of the words for it in mind. If you write about something abstract or a future event, your new writer will have to do the increased work of mentally processing what might happen, figuring out the words needed to write it, and putting it down on paper in the best way possible. Talking and writing about a concrete event before writing makes the task of writing easier.

Read and Retell Books

• Preschoolers love to read their favorite books over and over again. Use this desire to help your child develop stronger writing skills. After reading a favorite book together have your child retell the sequence of events. Encourage greater detail by asking, "What happened next?" After the verbal retell, record his favorite part on paper. Start by drawing a picture, then write the words together, encouraging him to use the language and details the author used. Drawing the picture and using the author's words will increase your child's vocabulary and give him the language and details he needs to write longer sentences.

The Five W's and an H

• Who, what, when, where, why and how are not just for journalists. Use these basic questions to help your child grow his sentences by playing Grow Worm. To play, use index cards to draw the head and tail of a worm. Have your child think of a sentence that tells about a time he had fun (or was sad, or surprised). Write each word on a separate index card. Say, "This is a baby worm. We're going to help him grow." If you are starting with the sentence, "I went to the park," you will prompt your child to add more words by asking him to think of who, what, when, where, why or how and adding new words to the worm's body. Celebrate the new, more detailed sentence.

Use the Five Senses

• Your preschooler wants to touch, taste, smell, see and hear things for himself. Use this to help him add interesting details to his writing. Prepare a sensory experience with something to see, hear, taste, smell or feel; for example, eating ice cream together. As you eat, talk about what you are experiencing with your five senses. After you're finished, draw and write about it using words that you used as you ate. You could model this by drawing a picture and writing, "My bumpy, red ice cream was sweet and cold on my tongue." Then, have your child think of his own sentence to illustrate and write.