Language is vital, it
allows babies to
communicate and express
themselves besides
helping them to think
and be creative. Babies
have got this gift by
birth from crying to
cooing to blabbering a
few words and gradually
expanding their
vocabulary from 200
words in first year to
almost double 500 words
in second and by age
three, average toddler
vocabulary has expanded
to almost 1000 words.
Even though this
process is quite
natural, but as parents
we can do quite a bit on
our part to develop
interest and help them
expand their
vocabularies.
Here are few tips for
same:
• Expand Experiences:
Long before babies began
to speak they buildup
receptive vocabularies,
storing concepts and
words in their heads. In
order to stimulate this
further expose your
child to variety of
environments such as
Playground, Supermarket,
day to day activities,
going to zoo, amusement
parks and many such
places so that they can
understand as much as
possible at their end.
• Talk and Sing with
your baby: After one
year of age make it a
habit to talk to your
toddler for an hour
daily, irrespective of
the fact that he may not
respond at all and its
one sided conversation.
Show your baby sky,
birds trees, flowers
while you are strolling
through park, tell baby
about his body parts
while talking bath and
changing his clothes.
Any activity that you
both are doing together,
just explain him, while
doing this we can even
explain concept of
waiting in a queue,
Saying hello, good bye,
thank you and sorry. The
list is endless and you
know better now how to
go further on this.
Introduce to rhymes
and songs at this stage
bring audio or video CDs
of nursery rhymes, short
stories and some
educative CDs. Babies
naturally love music and
this will give them
opportunity to know
their likings and help
you to understand his
interest better. Trust
me this will become
their favorite past time
as well.
• Read to your baby:
This may seem little
unrealistic at this
stage, but kids love to
hear stories and reading
them out also help
developing interest in
reading books. Also
bring books with
beautiful pictures,
which are visually
attractive and help baby
expand his vocabulary as
well. Details on books
are given in Books
section above for each
stage.
• Never mimic
toddlers words: Its
general tendency to
speak in toddlers cute
words (mum- water,
thank-you - ta-to) and
similar such adorable
words, but its advisable
to control this
temptation and use
correct words to make
sure that kids learn the
correct words and start
speaking them naturally
when they learn to
speak.
• Listen carefully to
baby: At this stage
toddlers are struggling
to explain you things
and feeling frustrated
if you don't understand,
so pay attention to what
your little one is
saying and make genuine
effort to understand.
This will not only help
you to communicate
better but also help
your baby to minimize
his frustration of not
able to communicate at
this stage. Also, once
you have understood your
baby say it in words to
get affirmation from
baby and surely a sign
that you care.
• Ask Questions:
Toddlers can always
answer basic need
questions with a nod
(yes or no) and more
with a grunt to show
complete disinterest, so
always ask questions
"Are you thirsty ?" or
"You need water ?" ,
"You need food, watch a
movie wanna play ?" .
This followed by actions
will actually expand his
vocabulary and he'll
know what to say for his
needs, and you will be
surprised to hear him
rattling one day with
words like movie , tv .
• Act as translator:
Toddlers reach a stage
when they want to speak
but their ascent and
lacks of words hinder so
they'll use few words to
explain the whole
experience, whenever
your toddler is telling
you some experience,
listen very carefully,
giving attention is
quite important and once
understood , reframe and
repeat it in simple
words to make sure you
understood what
happened, besides
expanding his vocabulary
at same time.
• Get your words
worth: This simple
technique expects to
elaborate every things
your are explaining to
your toddler, like when
you go to park, tell
your toddler about
trees, leaves and
flowers and add "This is
a Rose flower, its red
in color and it smells
good", Similarly tell
them "look at the bird
in the sky. Its eagle
and its flying high".
• Start teaching
manners: Toddlers at
this stage are learning
from their parents, and
follow the way you talk
among yourself and to
others. Make a habit of
introducing words like
"Thank you", "Sorry",
"Please", "Hello" and
"Bye". This technique
works wonders and makes
you feel proud when you
see your toddler saying
"Thank you" to stranger
when offered something.
Last but not the
least you are the best
judge and choose how to
communicate with your
toddler, but don't
forget to praise your
child to praise him
saying "Very Good" or
"Excellent" or "Awesome"
when he speaks correct
word, or do some good
activity, this
encouragement is best
enforcement technique
for the toddler to do
things that you like
because always remember
at this stage, your
toddler wants to make
sure that you are happy
with him, so use this
praising to raise a
happy child. Trust me
kids love to see their
parents praising them
with smile and claps and
make sure they do such
things again. I've seen
these techniques work
wonders with my baby.
