Tips for expanding your child’s vocabulary

Importance of words for children

• The researchers suggest that children can easily associate objects with their names. With great interest, they look at these words with their names on them, looking for new information about the subject in front of them.

• The names of various objects, people, animals, and events are a rich way to expand communication with children. Your child is showing the first steps of identifying by name, such as calling a pet dog by its name. When the answers are given, the child has increased confidence and interest in learning more words.

• The more words children know, the more they can express themselves. Children gain more by learning word variants than by learning different words for different objects or emotions. Because different words are used in different contexts, children learn to distinguish between the correct use of these words in time and place.

• Children begin to guess the meaning of words as soon as they pronounce them in front of them. They understand these beautiful words that we love and cherish very much. Repeating these words with the same emotion helps children understand their meaning.

Below are some of the steps to follow the processes to talk better with children so that their vision of the world and vocabulary expands:

• Repeat and use new words: Mindfully use and reuse a few words while interacting with other members of your family so that your children register these words and learn their meanings.
• Do not add new words more than 5: Do not overwhelm children with as many words as you can in a day or within a week. This makes them confused. They need more time to distinguish between the meanings of different words and understand their meanings fully.
• Use words with contextual clues: You can never use the dictionary to explain what certain words mean to such small children. So use contextual clues like giving examples of words with the nearest meanings. This way, children learn to associate words with other words and distinguish them.
• Express words with action: If you are teaching the word ‘eat’, enact the process before children to help them understand better. Expressive explanations get registered in the children’s memory as long-lasting information.
• Vocabulary building is a random process of learning and evolution. Always be patient with the progress of your child and you will be surprised by their interest in words and innovative knowledge.