Helping Your Child Develop their Vocabulary

Vocabulary is going to gradually develop in your child as they grow older. It’s good to start from a young age, especially when your child is entering the world of literacy. As a toddler, your child has the opportunity to learn about the sounds and movements we will make with our mouths. And this slowly develops your child’s ability to write, read and pick up new ways to communicate.

In this guide, we take a look through the ways you can help your child with their vocabulary skills, and how it can give your child a lot more confidence in their writing abilities.

Read lots of different books

Reading is going to be a big foundation of your child’s skills. Exploring lots of different reading material will give your child the ability to pick up different words, how they are spelt and what they exactly mean. It also gives your child a bit more confidence in picking up new words, especially if they know roughly how each letter will sound and what they will pronounce when put together into words.

Play word games together

Word games like I Spy and Pictionary are classics among children, and it makes vocabulary development a lot more fun. On long journeys, bus or train rides you can use these games to keep your child from getting distracted. It’s a good way of helping your child naturally pick up new words when they can rely on visual prompts. And it’s a great way to get children playing with others, like friends or siblings and even their parents.

Explore creative writing together

Writing creatively helps a child think of different synonyms, phrases and the grammar they use to improve their way of thinking. It gives your child the opportunity to put what they’ve learnt to the test, which can help you to see where their strengths and weaknesses are as well. Ask your child to write about their day, or what their favourite food is. Start small to begin with, as writing freely might seem a little archaic at first. Then, you can build up on this through further prompts; ask your child to write a short story that teaches others about kindness, or use objects in the home to turn into characters. The more fantastical, the better.

Lean on your child’s school curriculum

At this day nursery in Kew, there is a much more refined approach to developing a child’s vocabulary. In a language-rich environment, your child will blossom through their vocabulary development. In other schools this can also be the case, but as curriculums vary from school to school it’s important to keep up with what your child is taking on each week. Pay attention to what your child is learning about when it comes to their English writing and reading skills, as it will make things easier for your child’s development.

Make mistakes for your child to correct

Mistakes of any kind in vocabulary will help your child to remember what they’ve been taught, and kids will always want to find an opportunity to make fun of their parents. Write out some sentences and plant in some deliberate mistakes to see what your child remembers, then ask them to correct it. When they do this, get really enthusiastic about the effort they put in here. It helps them to feel confident that they have got something correct and will continue to do this.

Repetition is key

Repeat the new words they are picking up over and over. For kids this is hugely valuable; with a lot of information flying in at a young age it can be tricky to keep tabs on everything they’re learning. Keep repeating the new words they pick up and it will become a part of their everyday life – where they speak and write using these words all of the time.

 

From here, you can easily incorporate synonyms of these words. It will become a lot more retained in their head this way, as they are learning how to use other words in different contexts.

 

Vocabulary should be fun and engaging for children to learn, so long as you use the right methods and tools to keep them focused on developing their reading, writing and speech skills. Let your child feel more immersed in their English language learning through the development of their vocabulary, where they will see immense results.