Playful Parenting: Enhance Your Child’s Vocabulary Through Play
Anna Kay
Library Associate
Mildred L. Terry Public Library
Play is one of the best ways for children to learn language and literacy skills. They learn about language through playing, as the activities help them put thoughts into words and talk about what they are doing. As your baby handles objects and toys, describe to them how they feel, what they look like, and the sounds they make. Enhance your child's play by adding new words and descriptions to the words they use as they play. Children learn new words best when they learn them in context or in a natural setting.
Playing:
- Teaches children how to think, imagine, and express themselves.
- One of the primary ways young children learn about how the world works.
- Helps children practice putting their thoughts into words.
- Allows children to develop background information and learn problem-solving.
- Develop narrative skills through imaginary play.
- Act out real situations: restaurant, doctor’s office, car repair shop, store, etc.
Activities to do with your Baby:
- Use your face as a toy. Show your baby all the things your face can do (Peek a Boo).
- Play with your baby’s hands and feet. Count toes and pretend to eat them up (This little piggy).
- Let your baby use books like toys, as things to discover.
- Provide toys that can represent the characters in a favorite book to act out the book or extend the story in imaginative play.
Activities to do with your Toddler:
- Use everyday objects – kids can do a lot with a stick, box, or pots and pans.
- Play matching, sorting games, and puzzles for problem solving.
- Help your child see and feel different shapes as you play, i.e. say “The ball is round.”
- Provide open-ended toys, such as wooden blocks, that can spark imagination.
- Dramatic play—act out stories together; can use puppets and/or props
Join us every Monday in June and July from 10am-12pm @ the Mildred L. Terry Public Library for Simple Steps Play. Our open playtime sessions offer the perfect opportunity for babies to develop crucial motor skills, ignite their imagination, and foster social interactions with other tiny adventurers. Encourage play and PLAY, PLAY, PLAY!