Background: Traditionally, early childhood education in Armenia has had a limited focus on toddlers’ speech and language development. Besides reading and puppet performance, there are limited activities in Armenian nurseries to develop toddlers’ language and communication skills. Unfortunately, most public and private ECE centres in Armenia do not pay due attention to the topic.

Aim: The aim is to spread awareness in public Armenian early childhood education centres to promote child-centred playful learning, as well as present activities to help develop language and communication skills in playful environments.

Method: Part of the presentation is the overview of the scientific research on the topic. The other part will present the practical activities used at the Indigami Child Development Centre that develop language and communication skills in sensory rich playful learning. The activities were implemented with a group of toddlers.

Results: In the Indigami Child Development Centre, everyday activities are organised in a child-centred environment through playful implicit teaching that constantly focuses on language and communication skills development in an easy, fun, emotionally coloured, child-centred environment. By focusing on developing language and communication skills using special activities and techniques, the children showed full engagement and rapid speech development. Children with speech delays showed great progress. By the age of three, all children reached the necessary developmental milestones.

Conclusions: The children acquired language and communication skills when they actively participated in child-centred, meaningful, purposeful, and playful activities led by adults in ECE settings.

Implications for children and families: Children learn more by engaging in more interactive play. Talking to toddlers increases their vocabulary and improves their listening and comprehension skills. Some activities include sensory play, finger gymnastics with rhymes, book watching and book reading, and role playing. We recommend a few activities to assist your child’s communication abilities.

Implications for practitioners: Language and communication skills are important milestones in a child’s development. To promote language acquisition and communication you should be aware of the patterns and be able to develop them in easy, fun and engaging ways.The hands-on activities can assist you to enrich your teaching and develop more effective teaching methods. You can use our hands-on activities to promote speech and language development in playful environments.

Key words: professionals’ voices, innovations, well-being, communication, education, community services, early childhood education

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequality
• SDG 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions