Around three to four-years-old your child will probably be asking lots of questions and be actively learning language. Your child will learn lots of new words by listening to you and other adults, as well as listening to stories. They will show more interest in communicating and might like to tell stories and have conversations. Your child will understand most of what you say and might guess the words he doesn’t know. Generally, they will understand many more words than they can say.
Around three, your child will say sentences with three to five words or even more. Other people will understand what they are saying most of the time. They will point to parts of pictures – for example, the nose of a cat – and name common objects. Visit I Can to learn more about what your child can say and understand at this stage and how to help their speech development.
If you have any worries about your child’s development at any stage, you can speak to your health visitor for advice and support or visit a Talking Walk-in session.
Talking Walk-ins are:
- Play-based drop-in sessions where you can speak to a Speech and Language Therapist, Family Hub worker or other staff.
- For pre-school aged children where there may be a concern about their speech, language or communication.
Find out more and your local session on our website.
Useful resources
- To learn more about what your child can say and understand at this stage and how to support your child’s speech, visit I Can Ages and Stages or Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust’s speech and language section.
- BBC Tiny Happy People has fun activities you can do with your child to help them learn and encourage their speech and language development.
- You can find more support for a child with a stammer at The Pod.
- AFASIC supports parents and represents children and young people with speech, language and communication needs.
- Hungry Little Minds provides simple, fun activities for children from new born to five to support with your child’s development.
- The Institute for Health Visiting has useful resources for parents on Supporting your child’s speech, language and communication development.
- National Literacy Trust has resources and information for parents, early years settings and schools to promote language and literacy development.
Page last reviewed: 01/01/2025, next review due: 01/01/2028