If your kid really enjoys plying with vehicles, it can be really hard to model language.

Because it is so mechanical, all I do is drive and drum and crash, etc. If left to his own devices, my son will tip bins repeatedly so the mechanism of a bin lorry will tip bins and I’ve seen other kids zoom calls and that’s fine. It’s great that they can play alone but when we join in we want to be modelling lots of language.

A good way to do this is think of what would the people do in this vehicle. So you can join in and do the same as them and zoom but be zooming to places that people would go. And add some role play.

So this morning when I was playing, here’s some of the things I was doing:

• Oh I think I’m running our of petrol. I need some more. Can you pump the petrol in for me please? How much does it cost?
• Uh oh… my tyre’s flat. I need to go to the mechanic.
• The trains broken down. We need to go pick up all the passengers.

There’s always more words when you’re role playing what people would do.

Watch the reel here