Helping Your Child Develop their Vocabulary

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By helping your child expand their vocabulary, they will become better readers, writers, and communicators. These are all crucial life skills and will benefit your child throughout school and beyond. If you’re wondering where to start, here’s some advice from a day nursery in Kew.

Have Conversations with Your Child

Even if your child is too young to answer you in a cohesive way, you should chat to them as much as possible. This is the best way to help them learn new words. Don’t feel obliged to dumb down the terminology you use, as this won’t help them in the long run.

Use Synonyms When Talking

Try and avoid sticking to the same words all the time. Introduce your child to new words by using synonyms. For example, instead of saying “that’s cool”, you could say “that’s awesome/interesting/amazing”.

Read With Your Child

Reading is another great way to expose your child to new vocabulary. If you come across a new or difficult word whilst reading, stop and ask your child if they know what it means. Then a few days later, ask them if they remember the new word they learnt when reading so that it sticks. Make sure your child has access to plenty of reading material around the house, not necessarily just fiction books.

Label Everything Around the House

Stick some post-it notes up around the house so that your child is frequently exposed to the terminology. As they get older and more proficient with language, you could add some descriptive words like “tall wardrobe” or “wooden table”.

Play Word Games

Games are more educational than you might think. Scrabble and Boggle are fantastic options, but your child could also do word searches and age-appropriate crosswords. Even I Spy is a good way to introduce your child to some new words.

Encourage Your Child to Write

When writing birthday cards or invitations, ask your child to write them too. You could even take their writing one step further and ask them to create a story, start a journal, or write a book review.

The more advanced your child’s vocabulary, the easier it will be for them to develop other language skills, so don’t underestimate the power of the activities discussed above. For more recommendations, don’t be afraid to chat to your child’s teachers.