Beyond Books
March 7, 2011 at 9:48 am , by rarbayarea
Read, Talk, Sing, Play
Incorporating vocabulary throughout your child’s day
Knowing many words and understanding them are important in developing thinking skills and getting ready to read. Research shows that children who reach school age with smaller vocabularies and fewer experiences with hearing stories and exploring with print are more likely to struggle with learning to read. Help your child to develop a deep, rich vocabulary through fun, everyday activities you can do anywhere. A book can be just the beginning.
READ
Reading is one activity that you can do with a child to positively impact their language acquisition. Through reading children can see words (also known as print awareness), hear how words sound, and speak words. It also gives them the opportunity to generate new words and grasp understanding with the help of illustration and the context of a story. Try reading a book without using the words on the page. What kind of vocabulary and narrative can you explore from the pictures?
TALK
Talk about EVERYTHING! Simply having a conversation with your child about the things going on around them, what they see, what they hear, and what they know (or don’t) are great ways to help explain concepts and learn new vocabulary. Through talking you have the ability to encourage/support a child’s desire to speak while modeling the correct use of language at the same time. The more words a child hears, the more words they will learn and use. Try just talking out loud about what you see or are doing. See what questions it provokes them to ask.
SING
Recent brain research tells us that when children sing and move to music, their developing brains are entirely engaged and stimulated. Both the left and right sides of the brain are activated when we sing. Songs can introduce new words, often words that rhyme or repeat, which make them easier to learn. It also gives children the opportunity to practice the smaller sounds in words, such as adding a “s” to the end of things that are plural. Try adding new vocabulary to familiar songs/tunes to practice new words. (e.g “If you’re grumpy and you know it clap your hands”).
PLAY
Games and “make-believe” play are excellent ways for children to put concrete examples with concepts. Play creates an opportunity for children to expand on an idea themselves using reasoning (a dog wouldn’t do that!), sequence (first this happens, then that), and creativity. Encourage children to act out pictures they see in stories. Play “I Spy” and share lots of interesting descriptive words.
The possibilities are endless. Choose your own book and see how many ways you can extend it through talk, song, and/or play!
Further Reading:
