Now that your child can say or sign a few common words, you need to begin to expand his vocabulary to include different kinds of words. Most babies learn nouns, or names of people, places, and things first. Remember that your baby also needs words for actions (verbs), locations (prepositions), and descriptions (adjectives/adverbs) so that he can?combine these to form phrases. Children typically begin to produce phrases when their vocabularies are close to 50 words. It’s almost impossible for your child to make the jump from words to phrases unless he has expanded his vocabulary. If your child isn’t yet talking, but has become a good signer, be sure to expand his signs too. Below are lists of words by category that most children include in their early vocabularies, for first 100 or so words, compiled from several sources. If your child is not yet talking and you would like to know the sign for word, you can cut and paste the following link to your browser to search for a demonstration of the sign – http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm
Social Function Words
more, please, thank you, hi/hello, bye-bye, again, sorry,?uh-oh, yes/uh-huh/okay, no/uh-uh
Common Action Words (Verbs)
eat, drink, go, stop, run, jump, walk, sleep/night-night, wash, kiss, open, close, push, pull, fix, broke, play,want, hug, love, hurt, tickle, give (“gimme”), all gone, all done, dance, help, fall, shake, see, watch, look, sit, stand (up), throw, catch, blow, cry, throw, swing, slide, climb, ride, rock, come (“C’mon”), color/draw
Location Words (Prepositions)
up, down, in, out, off, on, here, there (Plus later ones such as around, under, behind, over at/after age 3)
Descriptive Words (Adjectives/Adverbs)
big, little, hot, cold, loud, quiet, yucky, icky, scary, funny, silly, dirty, clean, gentle, wet, soft, fast, slow, color words (red, blue, yellow, green, pink, orange, purple, black, white, brown) and quantity words (all, none, more, some, rest, plus early number words – especially 1, 2, 3)
Early Pronouns
me, mine, my, I, you, it (Then toward age 3 the gender pronouns such as he, she, him, her )
Just in case you’re wondering, here’s a list of the most common nouns:
ball, book, choo–choo, train, bike, rain, bubbles, car, truck, boat, plane, baby, bowl, spoon, diaper, sock, shoe, shirt, pants, hat, star, flower, house, tree, brush, towel, bath, chair, table, bed, blanket, light, cookie, cracker, chip, cheese, apple, banana, ice cream, cereal (Cheerios/ “O’s”), candy, milk, juice, water, dog, cat, fish, bird, duck, cow, horse, bunny, bear, pig, lion, elephant, giraffe, zebra, monkey, chicken, butterfly, bee, frog, alligator, snake
Plus names for people – Mama, Dada, brother and sister names, pet names, grandparents & other family members, and favorite characters such as Elmo, Dora, Diego,etc…
Literacy & ABCsToddlersResources
Learning new words for toddlers and building their vocabulary when they're learning to say new words is all about exposure and fun. Try these easy toddler play activities to increase their vocabulary!
I find that I always worry about my child’s ability to talk in the early years, and then all of a sudden, it explodes.
Lindsey, of Kiddo Korner, is sharing 6 ways to help increase and expand your child’s vocabulary and support them in learning new words… and doing it through play!
That’s what toddlers are best at, right?
Before you know it, you’ll be beyond your toddler’s first 100 words and then some!
Keep the play coming, and their speech development will follow, I promise.
6 Ways to Increase Your Toddler’s Word Vocabulary through Play
1. Use sensory words to expand your child’s language development
Encourage sensory play where you and your child describe what you see, feel, hear, taste, and smell.
This could be a planned sensory activity, like playing in a sandbox with hidden treasures. But it doesn’t have to be.
Talk with your toddler using the sensory words during any type of play to get your 2 year old used to using these new words in their regular every day conversations and language.
You’ll love how many sensory words are in your toddler’s vocabulary!
Find sensory activities to explore here.
2. Explore a variety of environments together to encourage learning new words for toddlers
Everyone loves a little adventure and your toddler is the same.
Take him out for a special adventure to explore a wooded area, new park, beach, or riverfront. Look for different types of birds, bugs, and animals.
Talk about what you see, smell, taste, touch, and hear.
These new environments will excite your 2 year old and give him many new things to talk about. Before or after your exploration, pick up a book about the environment to learn more.
This can really be a vocabulary explosion for learning new words for toddlers!
3. Role play ideas to build and understand words from books
Take ideas or scenes from books and act them out. When you do this with your toddle, soon she will be doing it on her own.
This creates the perfect opportunity for her to use new vocabulary she has learned from the book. The new words she’s learned will be integrated into her own spoken vocabulary as she begins to understand.
See 12 of the best interactive books for kids!
4. Encourage your 2 year old to play and talk with children of different ages
Playing with children of different ages helps your toddler try out different roles.
As the older child, your child may be more of a leader. As the younger child, he gets a chance to learn from the older child.
Peer play is great for him to practice his language and social skills, which teaching and mimicking is very useful in learning words for toddlers!
Learning to play with children from different age groups will also give your 2 year old a chance to play in different ways. (Bonus!)
Need help doing activities with multiple ages of kids?
5. Make a wide variety of toys available that require different types of language and words
Your toddler probably has a favorite type of toy to play with. Right now, my son loves vehicles and balls.
Even though those are his favorites, I try to have a variety of toys to play with.
Different types of toys require children to use different types of words during play, which leads to expanding on their current vocabulary.
Playing with farm toys encourages children to use words like cow, puppy, barn, tractor and so on.
While playing with vehicles may encourage a child to use words such as cement mixer, road, bridge, trailer etc.
Having a variety of toys available helps children to develop specialized language for each toy theme.
I encourage you to include what your child already likes and is interested in and adding it into new surroundings to play with.
6. Give your toddler time to play with you… and play alone to practice!
Playing with your child gives her a great example of how to play. Plus, you can teach many vocabulary words at this time, as we’ve shown in the first 5 ways to build on your toddlers learning words.
It is also important that toddlers have some time to play by themselves.
This gives your toddler time to practice language on her own. Your 2 year old can explore different items that seem interesting and try out those new words she’s been learning with. This also allows her to explore her own imagination as she directs the play.
Learn about our one on one time.
What new words has your toddler learned recently?
Lindsay Drewes is a former 4th and 5th-grade teacher, current stay-at-home-mom and Mompreneur of www.KiddoKorner.com. Lindsay holds both a bachelor's and master's degree in education. As founder of KiddoKorner.com, Lindsay followed her passion of mothering to research and offer the best educational, Eco-friendly and innovative products made for babies and toddlers.
In this Article
- The Science of Learning New Words
- Benefits of Teaching New Words
- Parenting Tips to Improve Vocabulary
- Parental Concerns
There are children who start talking early, and others who start late. You may find some kids gibbering at first, and there are others who start talking clearly. What transpires as your child starts his lifelong relationship with words? This article talks about the ways in which children can learn new words and gain mastery over a language.
Children between ages 15-24 months experience what is known a ‘word spurt’. Some children can speak words after hearing them only once. By the time kids reach their second birthday, they will be typically using around 300 words, and by the time they turn 2.5 years, their vocabulary count can double to around 600. You may wonder how children learn words, and how can you use this science to make them learn more words?
The Science of Learning New Words
Children are naturally inclined to understand language, even before they are born. Speech can be heard in the womb clearly enough to know who is speaking. At the time of birth, they prefer their mother’s voice and the language of their parents as they are used to hearing it. Children aged 18-24 months realise the ‘naming insight’: They understand that words are the names for objects, and every object has a name. Children learn language very quickly, and between the age of 2 and 6 they learn an average of 10 new words every day.
At the same time one must remember no two children are alike. While one might utter his first word at 10 months, there are other children who won’t say a word till they are 20 months and older.
Common advice given to new parents is that they need to keep speaking to their babies to help their vocabulary grow. Language develops depending on the style of speech and the context in which the speech has been used. So talking ‘parentese’ or the high pitched exaggerated manner in which parents talk to their children can actually work in improving vocabulary in children.
Benefits of Teaching New Words
Children who have a high grasp of words are able to think deeper, express themselves better, and learn new things. They are more successful as readers and tend to read books higher than their levels in school. When we boost a child’s language and literacy experiences early on, you can avoid difficulties later in their life.
Parenting Tips to Improve Vocabulary
Controlling your child’s word spurt is not in your hands, though parents and care-givers are the key players in improving your child’s vocabulary. Here are some tips to improve your child’s vocabulary:
1. Talk to your child
Point out objects around you and explain their importance to your child. Even though he doesn’t respond, he is listening and storing.
2. Words might not sound quite right at first
Don’t be in a hurry to correct them. Repeat the correct word after they say it over a period of time.
3. Add details to conversation and use rich vocabulary
If he is holding a block that is blue, say yes, it is a blue block. Remember, they are listening and learning.
4. Reading is a good way to improve vocabulary
Read to your baby regularly. Apart from giving a guarantee that your child learns new words, it will allow your child to associate reading with learning and comfort as he comes closer to you.
5. Use ‘parentese’
Exaggerate and use ‘singsong’ ways while talking to younger children.
6. Writing and drawing
It can also help to improve a child’s understanding of objects and association.
7. Gestures
A combination of gestures with words will make it easy for children to grasp certain words and phrases.
8. Rewards
Celebrate when your kid learns a new word or two. It goes a long way in encouraging the child.
Parental Concerns
Delays in communication are normal. When delays are coupled with developmental disorders, it could be a sign of hearing impairment, autism and intellectual disability. This is where you need to notice and take the advice of a doctor.
Appropriate use of language by adults around the child will have a lifelong impact on them. Language allows children to be nurtured, guided and modelled.
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When it comes to learning words, a hands-off approach may be in order. New research suggests toddlers pick up words better when they figure out their meanings rather than being told.
Kids have a hard time learning when they are given too much information, but sometimes having a bit of context makes things easier. When children come across vocabulary for things they don’t know, they use what they already know to infer what a new word might signify. Researchers found that toddlers retained new words better when they had to compare a known word and a new word than when simply given the meaning of a new word, according to a study published Jan. 23 in the journal Applied Developmental Science.
«One of the big questions that adults have is how kids learn new words,» lead study author Jennifer Zosh, a developmental psychologist at Penn State Brandywine, told LiveScience. «What I was really interested in are the circumstances in which kids learn new words better.»
Zosh and her colleagues studied 48 children ages 3 to 3 1/2 whose primary language was English. The children were shown pictures of familiar and unfamiliar objects on a screen, and learned new, made-up names for the unfamiliar objects either by instruction or by inference.
During instruction periods, a child was shown only the unknown object and told what it was called. During inference periods, the child was shown a known object and an unknown one and told to point to the unknown object (called by its new name). In this case, the child had to use their prior knowledge of one object to determine what the unknown word referred to. [That’s Incredible! 9 Brainy Baby Abilities]
Then the scientists tested the children’s memory of the new words and objects. Real versions of four of the six new objects were presented to the kids, and the researchers tested the kids’ recall by asking them to point to the objects by name. The experimenters also measured the amount of time the children spent looking at each object.
What they found was that the toddlers’ vocabulary recall was better for the words learned by inference instead of direct instruction, even though they spent a longer time looking at the new object during instruction trials. In other words, when children had to figure out new words for themselves, they showed better retention, Zosh said.
The findings aren’t totally unsurprising to developmental psychologist Jessica Horst of the University of Sussex in England, who was not involved in the study. «When children are learning words and categories, it’s important not only to learn what something is, but what it is not,» Horst told LiveScience.
For example, imagine you have a perfectly clean coffee table with a remote control on it, and you tell a child to bring you the remote. The child doesn’t need to learn what the remote is called, because it’s the only thing on the table. But if the table contains other familiar items, the child will learn which one is the remote by process of elimination.
Of course, having too many distractions can make it hard to learn new words, as previous studies have shown. «Finding the sweet spot is a challenge,» Zosh said. You need enough challenge to keep kids engaged and interested, she said, but not so much that it’s too difficult.
The results of the study don’t mean that kids can only learn new objects by inference, Zosh said. But they may be more engaged when it’s more of a game. Zosh plans to do a follow-up study on younger children, who might find learning by inference more of a challenge.
Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We’re also on Facebook & Google+.
Tanya was a staff writer for Live Science from 2013 to 2015, covering a wide array of topics, ranging from neuroscience to robotics to strange/cute animals. She received a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a bachelor of science in biomedical engineering from Brown University. She has previously written for Science News, Wired, The Santa Cruz Sentinel, the radio show Big Picture Science and other places. Tanya has lived on a tropical island, witnessed volcanic eruptions and flown in zero gravity (without losing her lunch!). To find out what her latest project is, you can visit her website.