Skills to Practice this Month

To improve your child's vocabulary, add more detail to what she says when she talks with you. Research shows that children who have larger vocabularies are better readers. Knowing many words helps children recognize written words and understand what they read.

Activities

Help your child gather favorite photos of people, places, and things. Invite him to tell you about the people or animals or places in the pictures. Record his thoughts and post the pictures and descriptions somewhere in your home.

Choose a letter of the day, or letter of the week. Encourage your child to look around for things that start with that letter in your home and anywhere you go. Eat food that starts with that letter, or only wear colors that start with your letter. Have fun!

Find some wordless books or books with few words in the children’s department at your library. Wordless books encourage children to make up their own stories based on their own impressions and the illustrations.

Talk to your child about what is going on around you. Talk about how things work, feelings, and ideas.

When your child talks, add more detail to what he says.

Read together every day. When you talk about the story and pictures, your child hears and learns more words.

Encourage your child to listen to stories, act out stories, and retell stories to you. Active involvement expands children’s general knowledge as well their language.

Useful Websites

• Child Development Institute - providing vocabulary building methods and materials to use at home with children.