Every child has their own time table. Parents of more than one child already know this to be true - every child passes through the different phases of development at different rates. As parents and teachers, there are many things that we can do to aid the child through these phases. The first, and perhaps the longest stage of development, is the development of language skills.
Dr. Anne Fernald, from Stanford University, conducted a series of language development studies with toddlers summarized in the 2013 edition of The Stanford Report. These were several of the conclusions:
“By talking more to their toddler, parents help the child learn to process language more quickly, which accelerates vocabulary growth.”
“By talking with them more in an engaging and supportive way, parents can nurture early brain development and build a strong foundation for language learning.”
"Mere exposure to speech directed to others or on TV is not enough to drive early vocabulary development. Toddlers learn language in the context of meaningful interactions with those around them."
This study supports the Montessori individual presentation philosophy of presenting lessons one-on-one rather than in groups. The research shows having “engaging” interaction with young children is essential. In the Montessori approach to education, every lesson is engaging with concrete materials that hold a child’s attention and their interest. I have found that doing Language lessons with young children is very fun for toddlers and adults!
Toddler Vocabulary Exercises
One simple exercise I do with my little grandsons is with a small basket of objects. I normally begin with familiar objects in the child’s environment and then move to others that are less well known. I introduce the name of the object and allow the child to hold and examine it. Then we place it on the table. We continue with several different objects in the same manner. Once they are all laid out, I ask the child to give me, “the duck, the book,” etc. The child can then place it back in the basket or hand it to me. Little ones love this game and it is amazing what they understand and yet are not able to verbalize! As their language skills increase, they repeat the name of the object to me!
My grandson at 15-months doing a zoo animal matching work.
In a secondary exercise, I made photos of the objects and demonstrated to the child how to match the objects to their photo. My grandsons love to do an animal work (in video below of my 15-month grandson) that I created for them, as well as a vegetable work with matching photo cards. By using these simple homemade materials, they are increasing their language skills, attention span, and hand-eye coordination. Even laying out the cards left-to-right is an unconscious presentation for left-to-right reading and writing progression. They also love the DK My First Learning Cards that are great for teaching vocabulary.
I hope you enjoy the video of our language object lesson that teaches vocabulary even before they can talk! Toddlers are so INTELLIGENT!
Toddler Vocabulary Exercise with Matching Cards at 15-months.
Toddler Vocabulary Exercise with my grandson at 15-months.