From words and phrases to linking sentences

How our Chatterboxes get children talking 

At three and four years old, children in Kindergarten – our nurturing and inclusive pre-school – are at a stage where they’re making huge strides with their speech and articulation. Prior to being able to read worded books, the Chatterbox idea emerged as a way to support the development of literacy and language skills in young children. 

Each Chatterbox is the approximate shape and size of a shoe box and contains resources on a range of exciting themes, including baking, birds, science, shells and even dinosaurs! (A firm favourite with a lot of our children.) The children take each box home on a rota and share it with their family by exploring the contents together – all of which are designed to be touched, interacted with and talked about to promote back and forth conversation and development of new ideas and concepts.  

The idea was first implemented in April 2016 to support our very first cohort of Kindergarten children, and it has thrived ever since thanks to the support from our wonderful Pre-Prep staff. We all worked together to imagine, create and develop the boxes with the aim of preparing the pre-school children for life in Reception. 

By inspiring minds and igniting potential, the Chatterboxes encourage a deeper understanding and awareness that learning is fun. They are a mystery initially, as the children cannot see inside the box, and that anticipation builds into an excitement to learn new or consolidate existing concepts and ideas. The children love talking about what they can see, touch, smell and hear inside each box and ask many questions to satisfy their curiosity about the items. This passion to talk about and explore new ideas encourages vocabulary and language skills in a relaxed and familiar home environment. 

Parents are extremely positive about the Chatterboxes, and it is these partnerships that are vital to the success of the scheme. Our incredibly supportive parents enjoy looking at and discussing the contents of the Chatterbox with their child, and their engagement with this initiative enables the child to make the most out of this learning opportunity. 

Each Chatterbox comes with the opportunity for parents to provide feedback in a diary format and it is a great joy to read the diaries and the positive comments from the parents on how they have interacted with each Chatterbox. They can see the excitement in their children to investigate and explore the box’s contents and there are often comments from parents about which Chatterboxes are their favourites too!  

We regularly receive excited feedback from the children when they have particularly enjoyed a Chatterbox, usually if it has aligned with their current interests or passions. For example, if it contains a jigsaw puzzle and they happen to really enjoy assembling jigsaws. Parents also feedback on a favourite Chatterbox if it has inspired the children to enjoy an additional activity as a family, such as going on a walk in the woods after receiving the Autumn Chatterbox or cooking dinner together after receiving the baking Chatterbox.  

By strengthening the links between home and school, the Chatterboxes act as a vehicle through which children can enjoy new experiences and learn new things. They promote the development of speech skills and vocabulary, helping the children to learn how to lengthen and link sentences, describe events, make observations and ask relevant questions. It is these skills that the children will carry with them through their journey at Fairfield. The strong foundations developed in Kindergarten, and largely through the Chatterbox scheme, equip children with an investigative sense of curiosity and a deep-rooted love for learning.