Easy Ways To Teach Your Kid More Vocabulary
If your kid develops a rich vocabulary, they can be more effective communicators and students. And though a lot of word-learning happens in school, most of it actually occurs at home. Here are some easy ways to teach your kid more vocabulary.
Read Together Every Day
When you read with your child, they hear words they won't often encounter in normal conversation. They also start connecting new words to pictures, context, and emotions in a way that makes those words actually stick.
You should read baby books to support early development because early exposure to print builds word recognition and listening comprehension at the same time. Then, keep the practice up. As your kid gets older, you can move on to more complex books with bigger words.
Talk Through Everything You Do
Narrating your day is one of the easiest tricks in the book. When you're making lunch, say what you're doing. For example, "I'm slicing the cucumber. Now I'm rinsing it under cold water." Likewise, when you're driving, describe what you see outside. When you do this, you help your child connect words to actions, which develops their vocabulary and narrative comprehension.
Play Word Games
When kids are having fun, they're more receptive to learning. Try these word games:
- I Spy with descriptive clues
- 20 Questions
- rhyming games
- storytelling back-and-forth
- Apples to Apples Junior
- Scrabble Junior
These activities encourage kids to reach for words they don't use every day.
Introduce New Words Intentionally
You don't have to wait for a teachable moment to appear. Pick a word of the day and use it throughout the day in conversation.
When you're talking with your child, choose the most specific words you can. Say "frustrated" instead of "mad." Say "exhausted" instead of "tired." These small swaps can be a good way to teach difficult English words and build their knowledge of synonyms.
Use What They're Already Interested In
If your kid loves dinosaurs, space, or baking, lean into that subject. Topic-specific vocabulary sticks faster because it connects to something they care about. A kid obsessed with dinosaurs will gladly learn "carnivore," "herbivore," and "prehistoric" well before they get to that history lesson in school.
You should also ask questions about their interests and let them explain things to you. When a child teaches something, they have to find the words for it themselves, and that's one of the fastest ways to lock in new vocabulary.
Get to Know the Real Starting Line
To teach your kid more vocabulary, surround them with language that's a little richer than what they already know, consistently and across many settings. The strategies above are some of the easiest ways to do this. Try them out and let us know how it goes!
