Prepositions — Patchwork Speech

Prepositions

Words that tell you where something is.

Mastered by: ASHA places inside, on and under in the 3-to-4-year band, and behind, beside and between in the 4-to-5-year band
Practice items: 51
Sections: 5

Play it

Each one opens full screen, already set to this skill.

What this skill is

Prepositions are small words that carry a lot of weight - they tell you where something is, when it happened, or how it relates to something else. Spatial prepositions come first and in a fairly predictable order. "In" and "on" are early because containers and surfaces are concrete. "Between" and "in front of" come much later because they require holding two reference points in mind at once.

What to expect

By 2;6 most children understand "in" and "on" even if they cannot say them. By 3;6 add "under," "out of," and "off." Around 4;6 come "behind," "in front of," "next to," and "between." "Above," "below," "around," and "through" round things out by about 5;6. Understanding always runs ahead of use.

Try this at home

Prepositions are learned with the body, not with worksheets. Play hide-and-seek with a stuffed animal and narrate every placement: "I am putting Bear UNDER the table. Now Bear is BEHIND the chair." Obstacle courses work beautifully for the later ones - go through the tunnel, around the cone, over the pillow.

When to refer

Not following "in" and "on" directions by 3;0, or not using spatial prepositions in speech by 4;0.

Print it

Prepositions worksheet51 items across 5 sections, with answer key · PDF

Put it into practice

Tap any item below to open it full screen, one at a time, so a child can answer without reading the answer first.

These activities are a starting point, not the practice itself. A structured task is a good way to introduce a form and to find out whether a child has it yet. What actually moves it into everyday speech is using it in the real world and in ordinary play — which means the four things below matter more than finishing the list.

Recast
Say their sentence back correctly, without asking them to repeat it. Child: “he goed.” You: “he went! Where did he go?”
Expand
Add one or two words to what they said and hand it back. Child: “big truck.” You: “a big red truck!”
Simplify what you ask
Cut a long instruction into single steps and say them in the order they happen, rather than repeating the long one louder.
Follow their lead
Use whatever they are already playing with. A form practiced on something they chose is the one that shows up again tomorrow.

Play it in a game ASHA Practice Portal