Parks, libraries, stores, restaurants – turn outings with your children into fun and engaging learning opportunities!
Designed with parents and caregivers of young children in mind, Talk Around Town sends tips for supporting child communication and language development while you and your child are out in the community. Using location services on your phone, tips for supporting your child’s communication development are delivered when you arrive at locations you choose, giving you new ways to engage your child in that location. Location-specific tips are available in English and Spanish.
Why should I use Talk Around Town?
Developed by child development researchers at the University of Kansas, tips are backed by research and appropriate for all young children. Decades of research have shown us that environments for young children should be rich in language and provide opportunities for children to engage in back-and-forth conversations. Even the youngest of children benefit from hearing language and having the opportunity to practice babbling. Using tips in different settings expands vocabulary and helps children generalize what they are learning. Talk Around Town empowers parents and caregivers to turn errands and community outings into fun and engaging activities that help children learn and grow.
How do I get started?
Setting up Talk Around Town is easy!
Press and hold on the map to set a location near you. Name it whatever you’d like, and pick a location category that best fits. Or, set a location by address through the “Location” menu.
Upon visiting a locations you set, you’ll receive a notification that you have tips available. Click on the notification, and three tips appear on for that outing. Click on each tip to see examples of how to use the tip in your current location.
Make sure you have location services and notifications turned on when you want to receive Talk Around Town tips!
For more information, visit tat.weegoapp.org.
This app was developed by child development researchers at Juniper Gardens Children’s Project (juniper.ku.edu) at the University of Kansas and Asgaardian Workshop.
Juniper Gardens Children’s Project and Asgaardian Workshop do not collect or share any personal information that can be used to identify you or your child.
Please see our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy:
Link to terms of service - http://talkaroundtown.waypoint-platform.com/terms.html
Talk Around Town ©2020 University of Kansas
Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.