Let’s Get Thinking About Vocabulary and Language Development
Do you have an infant at home and are beginning to think of how you can help them learn to talk? Maybe your little one is already a toddler and is just starting to say a few words, and you are looking to build on that foundation. You may even still be pregnant and looking ahead to what to expect after your baby starts cooing and babbling.
If any of these scenarios apply to you, then this post is for you!
Picture This!
You’ve just brought your brand new little baby home from the hospital. They are super tiny, barely staying awake for more than an hour at a time, and basically just eat and poop all day long. You spend most of your day feeding and rocking them, while they just stare at you, dependent on you for virtually every aspect of their existence.
Fast forward about one year’s time. That little bundle of joy is now scooting, crawling or even walking. They move their little busy body around your house, getting from surface to surface in what seems like the blink of an eye. Some may even be uttering their first words, or others saying quite a few.
Although all babies develop at their own pace, one thing’s for certain; You no longer have a tiny helpless baby. Instead, you have a fast growing infant or toddler, eager to explore their environment and experience the world around them. We can agree that children grow quickly, and before you know it they will be thriving moving into whichever stage of development comes next.
Supporting Vocabulary and Language Acquisition
As a mental health professional who specialized in Child and Adolescent psychology and development, I was very interested in how I could support my daughter’s development at home from very early on. I’m sure many Mom’s share that interest. They may wonder, are there things that parents can do to support their little one’s acquisition of vocabulary and language early on? To help them learn to talk? to read? or to communicate more effectively early on?
The research indicates that early exposure to reading, speech and communication is one of the best strategies to help children develop speaking and literacy skills. A lifelong gift that will help them with future learning and communicating.
This post is aimed at sharing some practical tips that you can use to expose your infant and toddler to language, speech, phonemes and other aspects of communication that will aid in their development. As your child’s first teacher, you set the foundation for future learning and development, so why not start early and give them a great start!
12 Ways to Boost Vocabulary and Language Development
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So how exactly do you get your baby on the best track for success in terms of vocabulary and language acquisition, from the day that you bring them home from the hospital? Keep reading! This post is packed with helpful tips to increase your little one’s vocabulary and language development from birth right through toddlerhood.
1. Name objects around the home and in your environment
From the day you take your baby home from the hospital, you can begin their learning journey by exposing them to vocabulary and language related to their surroundings. As you engage with them, point out objects in your home. For example, when you are holding them in the kitchen, show them their bottles, point out the refrigerator and show them various food items.
At first, it may seem futile and they may have no idea what you’re saying or why, however, before long, they’ll be able to recognize, and eventually point out and identify the objects and areas you are showing them.
Object recognition typically develops between 4 and 6 months. The more they are exposed to seeing and hearing the names of objects and things around the home, the better!
2. Dictate what you’re doing around the home
Have you ever observed a parent talking to their small baby, and wondered why they are doing it? Dictating your steps, especially as you complete everyday tasks around the home, or engage with your little one, is so beneficial for their development.
Hearing you speak not only exposes them to vocabulary and language, but it teaches them about other aspects of communication, such as diction, prose, emotion and context. It clues them in about social aspects of communication when they observe how you communicate with others around you. This will aid their communication skills, cognitive development and social development as they age.
This may be evident in how they “talk” to you during the first few months of life: cooing and babbling are babies first forms of communication. Cooing sounds typically occur between 2 and 4 months, followed by babbling between 6 and 9 months.
3. Name body parts when changing diapers and bathing
By the time your little one reached 9 months of age they can understand simple words such as Mama, Dada, no and other vocabulary they hear frequently. This is why naming objects in their immediate environment from early on is so important.
One thing that I did religiously with my daughter was to name body parts during her bath and change times, and while we were dressing her. I would say things like “Mama is washing your feet, can you touch your knee, or where’s your nose”, while simultaneously pointing to the body part on either her or my own body.
This helped her to match the word with the body part, and strengthen her acquisition of vocabulary.
4. Read lots of books, everyday!
If you have read some of my other blog posts or visited my Instagram or Facebook account, then you know that I am a big supporter of reading to babies from birth. This is something that I can’t advocate for enough!
Frequent reading (during playtime, quiet times, sleep routines, and even in the car) is the perfect opportunity to exposure your infant or toddler to a range of different stories, vocabulary and language. Early reading helps to develop literacy skills and informs children about how language works.
Developing a love for reading can be one of the best ways to strengthen your child’s exposure to vocabulary and language from early on. A gift that can last them into adulthood.
The Raising Readers organization explains that reading to children from birth helps to build brain connections during their first 5 years of life, a crucial time for brain development, and in turn helps to strengthen emergent literacy skills. Early reading teaches children how to understand the world around them, build vocabulary, understand letter and sound connections and ask questions. Early reading also helps to develop writing skills.
” Reading aloud to babies is the single most important thing we can do to help prepare them for reading and learning…The stronger a child’s literacy foundation, the stronger all future learning will be.” (raisingreaders.org)
We began reading to our daughter from the day we brought her home from the hospital, and have not stopped. She loves books and is usually surrounded by them at play time, “reading” on her own. You can check out more about this in my post on reading to babies from birth.
Here is a great starter collection for infants and toddlers:
5. Sing and listen to songs together
Another great way to exposure you baby to vocabulary and language and strengthen their communication skills, is to frequently expose them to music. Singing songs together, listening to catchy tunes and dancing to songs while acting out the associated movements are all good ways to help your child learn and retain language.
Research indicates that early exposure to music can help to improve learning, concentration, spatial intelligence, vocabulary and creativity. Music improves pattern recognition and can speed up the process of learning to speak by helping your little one to learn complex language concepts quicker (mercy.org).
Songs with actions are some of our favourites. They help children to identify body parts or objects, and understand various concepts. Some of Kaejah’s current favourites are: ‘the wheels on the bus’, ‘the itsy bitsy spider’, ‘five little monkeys jumping on the bed’ and ‘head, sholuders, knees and toes’.
Another bonus is that music can improve your baby’s mood by releasing endorphins, a hormone related to happiness and stress reduction. From about the age of 4 months, Kaejah would immediately stop crying whenever we played “The Happy Song” by Imogen Heap, perhaps evidence of this fact.
So start listening and singing! Once they’re able, introduce them to some instruments, which are also believed to have great benefits for pattern and rhythm recognition, which are also linked to language development.
If you don’t have actual instruments in your home, there are some great toys you can try out.
We like these ones for infants and toddlers of various ages:
6. Play with Letters and Sounds
Find ways to expose your infant or toddler to the alphabet, and their related sounds from young. Some ways that we have done this around our house is by purchasing non-toxic play mats that have the alphabet and numbers on them, charts, as well as foam letters for bath and playtime.
Books that feature the alphabet and relevant words are another great way to do this. This is one of our favourites: U is for Unicorn
You can have fun with learning the alphabet and practicing phonics. Some ways to do include:
- Practicing or singing the alphabet frequently, first to them and then with them.
- When you are engaging in play or your baby is playing independently, expose them to toys or cut outs of the alphabet for them to look at and manipulate.
- Say the sounds out loud for them, and say related words. For example, A is for apple….ah, ah, ah….apple.
Frequent exposure and practice will enable your little one to familiarize themselves with the alphabet, their sounds and words that correspond to each of the letters. When they are able to mimic you, you will be surprised at how quickly they pick up on this. My daughter loves saying the sounds of her foam letters while in the bath or getting ready for bed, at 17 months.
7. Labeling words around the house
Using labels to identify objects and vocabulary around the house can help your toddler to identify and eventually learn to say these words.
We used a similar strategy when helping our daughter to learn about shapes. I created some small labels to pair with shapes and stuck them on her wall. This provided her with the opportunity to see and point to the shape, rather than just seeing them in a book. It also exposed her to the corresponding word, which we would sound out and say over and over.
The constant exposure aids recognition skills and provides the opportunity to hear and practice the vocabulary. You can use a similar strategy for other words or concepts you are trying to teach, such as colours, seasons, or familiar objects. We began similar activities around 12 months.
8. Have fun with flash cards
When your little one becomes a toddler, they may be ready to have fun with flashcards. Around Kaejah’s first birthday she began pointing out and identifying pictures on age appropriate flash cards. We have since introduced different types to exposure her to various words, sounds, concepts, such as opposites.
You can find all different kinds of age appropriate flashcards for toddlers, including first words, animals, shapes, colours, sight words, alphabet, numbers and sight words.
Little ones at this age are like sponges and love to play and explore new things. This can make flash cards a fun type of game for them.
As they get older you can try different activities, like having them call out the word while only showing the picture or matching games.
Here are two types we use at home:
9. Toys that encourage language development
Play time for infants and toddlers is critical to learning and development. It helps them to learn about the world, and strengthens problem solving, critical thinking and reasoning. It also can be a great way to support vocabulary and language acquisition!
Until your child is nearing their first birthday and sometimes even much later, you will likely be engaging in most of their play time with them. This is a great opportunity to talk to them and expose them to different words and concepts. Have enriching conversation while you play. Ask questions. Explain what you are doing. Talk to stuffed animals. These are all great opportunities for them to learn new words and catch on to how you communicate, again strengthening their social and communication skills.
Once they are a bit older and comfortable playing independently, supervise while the engage with toys on their own, while probing them about what they are doing. This encourages them to share more with you and engage in conversations, even if only you can understand what they are saying.
You can read more about the different types of play and how they benefit your child in this post.
With so many options on the market for infants and toddlers, you may be wondering which toys are actually beneficial to development and learning, when it comes to vocabulary and language development.
Some of our favourite include:
10. Education shows
Whether you’re not a very big fan of screen time, or don’t mind it in moderation, there are some great educational shows that feature engaging lessons, songs and activities that can aid with vocabulary and language development.
Watching these shows along with your child, while reinforcing the concepts and lessons being taught, is another way of exposing them to words, sounds, letters and other concepts that will aid with their vocabulary and language acquisition.
We began watching my daughter’s favourite program a little before she turned one year old, and it is amazing to see how much she has picked up, with limited exposure (a couple times a week for about 10-15 minutes). In addition to knowing the songs, repeating words and sounds, she has even learned to sign about 5 words in American sign language (ASL).
You can check out “It’s Circle Time” here, or find a show that you’re comfortable with and isn’t overstimulating for your little one.
11. Outdoor Exploration
My daughter loves going outside, and it benefits her for so many reasons! One plus includes exposing her to new environments, objects and sights, which again can promote vocabulary and language development.
Incorporating the senses can promote even greater retention. Sensory stimulation is so beneficial for 0-18 month olds. We started to regularly engage our daughter in outdoor sensory stimulation from about 4 months, and have continued as she learns new skills. This pairs will with learning language. Try asking your little one to smell a flower or touch the sand, while repeating the words to them.
Any outdoor environment can be an opportunity for new learning and exposure. Think of all of the different things your child can see at the park, the beach, in the backyard or on a nature walk. Exposure to different environments can broaden their experience, and in turn promote greater language acquisition.
Final Thoughts on Promoting Vocabulary and Language Development
Children develop at different rates and in their own time, they are all unique! As parents, we strive to support our child’s development and provide opportunities for them to learn and explore their world.
I hope that this post has highlighted some of the ways in which you can promote vocabulary and language development from birth right into toddlerhood. These little activities can provide greater exposure and opportunity for your infant or toddler to learn new words, sounds, social cues and strengthen their communication skills, even before they begin talking.
The point of this post is not to bombard your child with militant style teaching before they’re ready, but instead, to make learning a fun part of their daily routine. This way, they’ll enjoy the learning process while developing at their own pace.
Connect with Me!
I would love to hear from you! Reach out to me in the comments or contact me. I would love to hear any tips or suggestions you have for other Mama’s.
Sources
Raising Readers – https://www.raisingreaders.org/who-we-are/about-early-literacy/
Mercy – https://www.mercy.net/service/newborn-baby-care/music-brain-development
Unicef – https://www.unicef.org/parenting/child-development/why-its-important-to-read-to-your-baby
