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How to Expand Your Child’s Vocabulary

How to Expand Your Child's Vocabulary

From the moment they are born, children take in everything you say. They are like sponges that absorb everything around them. They develop language skills based on their environment. Ideally, their social and academic vocabulary will continue to grow well into adulthood, but the rate at which it grows is largely dependent upon what he is exposed to. This is why working to develop your child’s language skills outside of the classroom can be very advantageous to him in the long run. Try a few of these methods to help expand your little one’s vocabulary.

Read to Them

Reading is one of the best ways for someone to grow his vocabulary. Your child is never too old for you to read to him. This should be fun, but you also want to make it purposeful. Have your little one follow along as you read and highlight words that he doesn’t know. You can then choose to tell him what the word means, have him use a dictionary or let him use context clues to figure out the meaning. It is usually best to go back and do this at the end of each chapter so that you are not constantly interrupting the flow, but this depends on how long the book is. It is also important to make sure you find a book your child is interested in so that they enjoy this time.

Create Games

You can find tons of game ideas online to help expand your child’s vocabulary. Each time you notice your child is struggling with a word, write it down to use later on. When you have at least five words, you can start using them in a game. Another idea that can really help your child is to use synonyms in the activity. This can really help your kid to make a connection with the word and may even expand his vocabulary even more.

Makeup Songs

Music is one of the best ways to help a child remember something. Typically, it is far easier for a kid to remember a song than it is for them to memorize a list. For this reason, creating silly songs with your child is not only a great bonding activity, but it can really help with his vocabulary as well. You can look online and find a list of words that is good for each age group. Choose a few words from the list that your little one doesn’t know, and use them meaningfully in a song. It is important to make sure they make sense in the context of the song so that your child is getting the correct definition.

As a parent, you can help your child become a lifelong learner. Children should always continue to grow their knowledge outside of the classroom, and these activities are a great way to help make learning more fun and give you an opportunity to bond with your child. When trying these activities, be sure to include things your kid is interested in. This will help him become more involved and take charge of his own learning.

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