Communication Development: By 3 Years

By 3 years, what should my child be able to say and do?

Say

Uses a vocabulary of several hundred words.

Uses describing words, such as 'fast' and 'small'.

Combines 3 or more words into a sentence; for example, "what's daddy doing?".

Talks about things that are not present.

Do

Understands instructions containing 3 keywords; for example, "get the spoon and the big cup".

Plays imaginative games such as pretending a block is a phone.

Takes an interest in other children's play and sometimes join in.

Takes an interest in playing with words; for example, rhyming words.

Is starting to recognise a few letters.

Is understood by unfamiliar adults most of the time; for example, the librarian or relatives they don't see often.

What are some tips to help my child's communication development at 3 years?

• give your child plenty of time to speak
• focus on what they are saying, not how they are saying it
• have fun reading books – talk about the story and characters and make it exciting
• point to keywords in books as you read
• involve your child with lots of everyday routines – talk about what you're doing and introduce new words; for example, "sweeping" when sweeping the floor
• add extra words to your child's sentences; if they  say "my car", you could say "that's right, it's a big car"