Ways to Build Preschool Vocabulary!
It’s important for preschoolers to be able to use spontaneous vocabulary. Children who only imitate vocabulary are not actually learning the vocabulary words. Below are some ways to build your child’s vocabulary at home.
Synonym Substitute
Substituting synonyms for common words in your daily conversations with your child is a great way to build up his/her vocabulary in an easy way and gets him/her thinking about the different ways he/she can describe things.
Here are some suggestions to get you started:
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Big: large, huge, enormous, tremendous, jumbo, monster
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Little: tiny, teeny, small, compact, mini, miniature
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Good: excellent, great, wonderful, marvelous, fantastic
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Bad: poor, awful, terrible, lousy
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Soft: mushy, doughy, gooey, spongy, squashy, smooth
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Hard: firm, stiff, rigid, tough, strong
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Tall: high, lofty, towering
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Small: tiny, petite
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Car: automobile, vehicle, motor vehicle
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Fun: enjoyment, entertainment, amusement,
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Happy: cheerful, merry, jolly, gleeful
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Sad: sorrow, gloomy
As your preschooler starts to use these new words in their everyday vocabulary, challenge them to come up with some of their own.
Use Descriptive Words
When it comes to increasing your child’s vocabulary, more is better. The more words that your child hears on a daily basis, the more they will learn, absorb and eventually put to use. It’s a simple theory and an easy one to put into practice. So when you talk to your child, be as specific as possible. “Bring me your shoes,” can be “Bring me your pink shoes that tie.” Do you want to go for a walk?” turns into “Do you want to go for a long walk outside where we can look at the blue sky and colorful flowers?” Use as many words as you can (within reason).
Become a Label Maker
If you want your preschooler to learn more words, then make it easy. Say them often, sure, but show them too. Build on his/her basic comprehension of well-known words by labeling all of these commonly-used items so he/she learns to recognize what the word looks like. Your preschooler knows what a window is. They know bed and bath and television. Take your child’s comprehension one step further by labeling all of these commonly-used items so they learn to recognize what the word looks like. Use name tags (“Hi, my name is COUCH”) or index cards and tape and place them on everything in the house that your preschooler encounters on a regular basis. Leave nothing blank -carpet, refrigerator, sink, door, table, chair, toilet, closet, etc. Talk to your child about them. Ask your child what the object in question is and then point to the word. After a week or so, try taking the cards down and make a list with your preschooler. See which ones your child remembers. Then, compare the list with the cards and ask him/her to match the cards with the words on his/her list.
Rhyme Time
Rhyming is a great way to teach your child new words and an easy way to get them to think about how words can relate to each other. Rhyming sets the foundation for your preschooler to learn about word families and the different sounds that letters can make.
There are a number of rhyming games you can play at home or on the go:
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Set a bunch of objects on the table — a hat, a toy and a book for example. Ask your preschooler which items best completes the sentence: “The boy played with the…” Continue with all the items you have laid out.
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In the same vain, lay out items on the table, making sure all of the items rhyme with at least one other — a hat, a stuffed cat, a toy, a boy doll, a clock, a sock — and ask your preschooler to pair or group the items that rhyme together.
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Toss or roll a ball or beanbag to one another, exchanging rhyming words with each turn. Even if your preschooler comes up with a nonsense word, it’s OK, you just want him/her to get the idea behind how rhyming works.
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In the car or on the go, say a few words to your preschooler like ball, tall, bat and clock. Ask which ones rhyme.
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Point to items wherever you are — sink, car, tree, etc. — and ask your preschooler to name something that it rhymes with.
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If you are reading a book that has rhymes, ask your preschooler to complete the sentence.