"Roop a toop doowicky.” Confused? That’s how children feel when they hear a new word. To make things easier, some people stick to a few simple words with their kids.
But that’s a recipe for disaster, since the fewer words a child knows, the harder it will be for them to learn, read and follow instructions as they grow older. The results show up on tests children take from kindergarten through high school.
Of course, each child learns words at a different pace. But children learn words faster in homes and preschools where people use lots of different words with children and spend a lot of time talking, listening and asking the child questions as part of fun family activities.
It’s all about interaction. Studies show it’s not enough for children to just hear words on the TV or computer. To learn them well, they need to use the words with real people.
That’s why teachers are always asking children to repeat new words — “Can you say ‘memory’?” Saying words out loud as part of a conversation exercises a different part of the brain and doubles your child’s chance of remembering them.
Here are three learning games that will give your child a strong start through her various language development stages.
Baby Activities for Building Word Power
- Purpose: Teach children words using sign language symbols.
- Play: It’s best to start out simple with one sign and repeat it often. Show the sign whenever you say the word. You also can move the child’s hands to make the sign. Some people use the official American Sign Language symbols; others make up their own signs. Here are a few common ones.
- Milk: Squeeze one hand in the air like you’re milking a cow.
- Eat: Put your fingers and thumb together like you’re holding a chip. Move the “chip” back and forth to your lips.
- All done: Shake your fingers in the air like you’re doing the hokey pokey, but you can skip the turn-yourself-around part.
- Plus: Children understand language long before they speak it. While children’s vocal chords can’t carry speech until the end of their first year, they can begin learning signs as early as six to eight months. Some studies show that infants and toddlers who learn signs cry less and may learn other skills quickly.
Toddler Activities for Building Word Power
- Purpose: Teach children complex color and shape names.
- Play: Draw pictures together while talking about the colors and shapes you make. Ask the child to tell you about her picture and give her enough time to do so using her own words. Introduce new words by asking questions such as: “Tell me about this gray part,” or “I see a circle you drew. Can you find it?”
- Use your own drawing to introduce new words, colors or shapes that children haven’t tried yet. Show them the aqua crayon and ask if they can find the thing that you colored aqua.
- Plus: As children learn basic colors and shapes, keep adding new ones. Learning more complex colors like gray and aqua will help them meet kindergarten readiness guidelines. Learning that stop signs are octagons and marbles are spheres will put them ahead in math.
Preschooler Activities for Building Word Power
- Purpose: Teach children to write key words and numbers.
- Play: Kids love their names. Here’s a step-by-step plan to develop their writing, starting with the first initial of their names:
- Print the child’s name in crayon. Ask her to trace it with her finger. Put it on a refrigerator door and ask her to practice it when she’s near.
- Write the child’s initial on a sheet of paper. Ask him to repeat it five times. Then, whenever he draws new pictures or other projects, ask him to write his initial on it. Once he feels confident doing this, go to the next step.
- Write the child’s first name on a sheet of paper and ask him to repeat that five times.
- Add his full name.
- Add his address.
- Add his phone number.
- Plus: Hearing, saying, reading, writing — the more ways children experience a word, the more confidently they will use and understand it. That’s why children who have large vocabularies learn to read and write more quickly.