WORDS COUNT!

Every single word your child hears increases their potential!

15 Easy Tips for Increasing the Number of Words Your Child Hears.

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1. Narrate your day to your toddler.

2. When reading to your young child, describe the pictures, point out the colors, and add your own narrative. The number of words they hear is far more important than reading the story as written.

3. Talk to your child while you cook. Children have an innate curiosity about where their food comes from.

4. Identify names of items you remove from grocery shelves as you shop. Elaborate on the temperature, texture and size of your grocery items.

5. Go for a walk with your child and discuss different types of vehicles you encounter.

6. Find a flower, tree or bush and talk about its leaves, stem, petals, the colors on it, its height.

7. As you drive with your child, discuss the buildings, people, vehicles, landscapes you pass.

8. Write the names of the large items in your child’s room on post-it notes or index cards and attach them to the items.

9. While you are speaking to your child, stop and spell some simple one or two syllable words.

10. When helping your child get dressed, identify their articles of clothing as you put them on.

11. Visit a library often and get to know what themes your child is interested in. Build a home library based on those interests.

12. When on a family outing, such as the zoo, the beach, the farm, work with your child to name what you see and help them sound out the spelling of various attractions there.

13. If you are at a restaurant, identify food words on the menu and encourage your child’s verbal skills by having them articulate their own order to the server.

14. Create a word wall at home by writing high frequency words on index cards with the matching pictures and posting on a prominent wall. Review the words often and add new ones.

15. Have book corners in as many rooms of your house as your collection allows.