We all do it – when we play with young children, we ask them a lot of questions. But is this the best way to support their language development?

Several months ago I popped into Tiger, a High Street shop, and picked up an 'under the sea' toy for Jasmine which I thought she might like someday soon.

One of N's favourite activities is to label body parts - on himself, on me, on Daddy, on his toys etc. He seems to get a real kick out of this (not sure what the appeal is myself), but it got me thinking about how he learnt that vocabulary.

If your little one is anything like baby J, chances are they love animals! Children are fascinated with animals and that makes for a fantastic opportunity for communication. In our house, our pet cat Roger (or Roger 4th to give him his full title) has been a favourite 'toy' of baby J's since she was old enough to realise he existed.