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Before children learn to read, they must first have a well-rounded understanding of basic words and their meanings. Although this sounds somewhat overwhelming, building a child’s vocabulary and introducing them to early reading concepts can be done in many easy ways. Most parents do most of these in their daily interactions with their children without realising it.

From reading them bedtime stories to simply talking about their day or interests, you are teaching your child new words and their meanings, how they are applied, their synonyms and antonyms, and much more.

Building a child’s vocabulary is essential. Words empower children to better understand the world around them. Expanding their vocabulary not only helps them to excel in primary school English, but it also allows them to socialise with people more easily in conversations by putting their thoughts and emotions into words.

Below, we share some fun and easy vocabulary-building exercises that will help you teach your little one new words.

1. Prioritise making conversation

The number of words a child learns during the early years is closely linked to future success. Seeing as how our little ones’ learning abilities are like sponges during this period, it is vital to immerse them in language learning when they are young.

One of the most significant factors influencing a child’s vocabulary is the quality of their interactions with their parents. The more words children understand, the more they will be able to use them effectively.

Hence, make sure to spend as much time as possible talking to your child and exposing them to new and different words. It can be in the form of naming and describing objects in their vicinity, teaching them the alphabetical form of numbers, or teaching words that express their emotions.

2. Read together

Nurturing the love for reading is one of the keys to a vast vocabulary. As such, it is crucial to make reading a part of your child’s everyday routine.

To truly get them excited about reading, it is best to prioritise your child’s interests and get books that they can relate to instead of focusing solely on school books. Doing so encourages them to read solely for enjoyment, which is a crucial stepping stone to improving their vocabulary.

Children love to hear stories, and one of the best ways to improve their vocabulary is by reading them books that would otherwise be too difficult to read by themselves. Even when your child can already read independently, that is no excuse to stop reading aloud to them. Lastly, discuss the different aspects of the story with your child after the reading as it helps with their comprehension.

3. Use words in context

Learning new words is pointless if they are not put into context. For children, this means getting them to use their new vocabulary in sentences, either verbally or in writing, to solidify their understanding of its meaning and context.

If their school holds weekly spelling tests, take this opportunity to have them write sentences that use the words they learned and encourage the habit of checking up a dictionary should they be unsure of the meaning of a word.

4. Explore new words with ‘Word of the Day’

Introducing your child to a new word every day is guaranteed to boost their vocabulary with 365 words per year, and this is an activity that everyone in the family can get involved in. You could get help from an app or website that has a word of the day feature or make your own and construct a-word-a-day calendar.

As mentioned in the previous section, ensure your child fully understands how to use each word and consider having an end-of-week review to test their memory.

5. Do not oversimplify words when conversing

A child’s receptive vocabulary is always more than their expressive vocabulary. Essentially, they understand more words than what they can actually use. Therefore, there is no need to ‘dumb down’ while talking to your child since we should encourage them to pick up the words we use and fully take them in.

Research shows that the optimum number of repetitions for children to remember the word in the long run is 17 times. Moreover, various methods over planned periods of time should be utilised for the 17 repetitions.

6. Introduce word banks

Word banks are simply a collection of related words: for instance, adjectives, nature words, and alternatives or synonyms. Plenty of word banks are readily available online, or you could make it a fun activity for you and your child to make your own.

For starters, you could use a notebook and fill each page per word group that grows with each new word they learn.

Conclusion

As you can see, building your child’s vocabulary is not all that challenging, but it is necessary as they begin their journey at school and reading in general. In some cases, preplanning is required, such as labelling items at home or taking your child to the library. For the most part, helping your little one learn and comprehend new words is just a natural part of your daily life.

If you want to focus more on growing your child’s vocabulary, consider enrolling them at Mavis Tutorial Centre today. As an established tuition centre in Bedok and with various outlets located around Singapore, we believe that incorporating fun is essential to effective learning; that is why we ensure to include exciting activities so that the students can learn and understand new words and concepts quickly.

Whether it is English tuition for primary school or otherwise, Mavis Tutorial Centre offers a comprehensive curriculum for all students in Primary 1 to JC 2. Contact us today to learn more, or visit one of our branches near you.