How can you help your kids build their vocabulary?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
The majority of what your child learns in their early years comes from you as a parent. This means that you play a significant role in how large their vocabulary is going to be. Read on to learn the top 10 things you can do as a parent to help your kids build their vocabulary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having conversations with your kids is a great way to help them build their vocabulary. It gives you the chance to introduce new words to them as you talk about their day. Remember that the conversation must be two-sided. You want to allow your child room to speak and ask questions; you don\u2019t want to be just lecturing at them. Learning new words in a conversation is a relaxed way of increasing your kid\u2019s vocabulary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When your kids come across a word they don\u2019t know, you can help them visualize its meaning. You can do this by drawing a picture of the unfamiliar word or what it represents. If it\u2019s an emotion, you can use your face to show them how that emotion feels. You could also use synonyms for the word or use it in a sentence. Take the word \u201cjoyful\u201d as an example. You could show them what joyful looks like, explain that it\u2019s similar to happy and use it in a sentence such as \u201cPlaying with my toys is a joyful experience for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your child encounters a new word, you should encourage them to look for contextual signs of what the word could mean. These could be found in the accompanying pictures or found in the rest of the sentence. Encourage them to look up new words if they\u2019re struggling to find contextual meaning. We have this elementary dictionary<\/a> and use it all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just because a child is young doesn\u2019t mean they can\u2019t understand and learn big words. If they come across a new word, all it means is that they haven\u2019t had to opportunity to learn that word yet. It does not mean they\u2019re incapable of learning. Using new words in your communication with them can help expose your children to new words which will help them build their vocabulary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reading can really help your kids build their vocabulary. If your child struggles with reading, I recommend looking at my 10 Ways to Boost Your Child\u2019s Reading Confidence<\/a> post. It covers some easy steps you can take to get your child excited about reading! If your kid already loves to read, you can help them build their vocabulary by encouraging difficult books. These will contain words they\u2019ve most likely not come across before. Expanding their reading beyond books is another way to expose them to unfamiliar words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s easy for young kids to get overwhelmed if they\u2019re exposed to too much too fast. They don\u2019t have to sit down and memorize the dictionary in one day. It\u2019s okay to take it slow and teach them one or two new words at a time. This way, they get the time and space they need to truly understand the meaning of the new word instead of merely memorizing them with no idea how they\u2019re supposed to be used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything is more fun when it\u2019s incorporated into a game. Thankfully, there are plenty of games that will help your child learn new words. Scrabble<\/a>, Bananagrams<\/a>, Boggle <\/a>or Hangman are all easy and fun games that allow you to teach your kids new words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This can be ass simple or as complex as you\u2019d like. It could be a journal they write new words in or space on their wall to post words they\u2019ve learned. You could have them add context to make it more fun, like drawing pictures of what the word represents. This will give them a visual representation of the words they\u2019ve learned. In addition, seeing their progress in black and white will provide them with a sense of pride, boosting their desire to continue learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can make it a game for your children to come to you with one new word they encounter every day that they\u2019ve tried to find the meaning of. This will get them actively looking for new words and embracing the challenge instead of running from it. You could also switch this concept and bring a new word to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Synonyms are a great way of bringing context and understanding to new words. You can do this by showing them how to use a thesaurus. Alternatively, you could create a word bank filled with words that are similar or relate to one another. It will help provide context so that they understand the meaning of the new word and how it relates to words they already know<\/p>\n\n\n\n The more new words they\u2019re exposed to, the larger their vocabulary will be so don\u2019t shy away from the challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Helping your kids build their vocabulary doesn\u2019t have to be challenging, and it can even be fun! The key is to have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":58868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1671,2262],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58709"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/hailey-homeschool-vocabulary-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n1. Have conversations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
2. Help them visualize the word\u2019s meaning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
3. Get your kids curious about new words<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
4. Don\u2019t dumb down your communication with them<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
5. Encourage reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/build-child-vocabulary-683x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n6. Take it slow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
7. Turn learning new words into a game<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
8. Create a space where they can post new words they\u2019ve learned. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
9. Introduce a new word to them every day. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
10. Embrace synonyms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n