There are many opportunities throughout the day for parents and caregivers to provide high-quality language input for their children. No extra time or specific items needed!
Dressing
– Create a verbal routine for dressing, like “shirt goes on, pants go on, socks go on” or “put your arms in, put your foot in.” This can help kids learn clothing vocabulary, body part vocabulary, and action verbs.
Cooking and Mealtime
– Describe the food you’re eating. What color and shape is it? Is it crunchy, soft, sour, or sweet? This can increase your child’s vocabulary, help them learn new adjectives, and improve describing skills.
– Narrate what you’re doing while you cook. For example, “first we pour it in the pan, then we put it in the oven.” This can help children sequence events in the correct order and learn temporal words like “first,” “next,” and “last.” This is also a great opportunity to introduce new verbs (stir, pour, mix, bake, cook, turn on/off, etc.).
In the Car
– Talk about where you’re going. What will you do when you get there? Who will you see? This is an easy opportunity to introduce “wh” questions and model appropriate responses.
– Describe things your child can see in the car and when looking out the window. For example, “I see the red light. It’s time to stop.” Or “look at that big building, it’s so tall!”
