Give readers a vocabulary feast!
Help learners notice words on road signs, product packaging, advertising, and more.
Label areas: kitchen, dining room, bedroom, bathroom, hallway, porch, front yard, back yard.
Label things: chair, table, lamp, window, door, TV, bookshelf, clock, plant.
Expand vocabulary to different kinds of one thing: dining chair, highchair, desk chair, recliner, rocking chair, folding chair, beanbag chair.
Label things in the kitchen: shelves, cupboards/cabinets, drawers, counters, pans, toaster, microwave, oven, fridge, freezer, dishwasher, sink, faucet, soap, dishwashing liquid, dish rack, drying mat, cutting board, coffee maker, and so on. Get a magnetic dishwasher sign showing Dirty, Running, Clean, and Empty.
Show pictures with words for spoons, forks, knives, plates, bowls, measuring cups, measuring spoons, whisks, a grater, tongs, a colander, oven mitts, and salt and pepper shakers. Put some of these things on a table. Point to the picture or word for an item. Ask your child to find it and give it to you.
Discuss items with similar purposes like a cup, a glass, a mug, and a water bottle. Chat about which kinds of liquids might be used in each of these and which might be used for liquids of different temperatures.
Find children’s posters with labeled pictures of interesting things, like animals. Put the posters on walls around the house at the child’s eye level. When a child shows interest in a poster, chat with them about it.
After they learn basic animal names, teach vocabulary for more detailed information such as dog breeds and types of aquarium fish.
Look at advertising mailers together. Help your child read the names of different types of food, clothing, furniture, and children’s toys. Teach words like Sale! Save! Wow! New! Now!
Show captions on TV, movies, and YouTube videos.
It’s easy to change the captions language on YouTube videos: Open a video. Click "CC." Click the settings gear. Click “Subtitles/CC.” Click “Auto-Translate.” Choose the language you want!
It’s also easy to start voiceover transcriptions: Look in the description below the video. Click on “Show transcript.” These running transcripts pop up next to the videos and highlight words as they are spoken.
If your older child has a cell phone, text each other from room to room, just for fun.
This next resource was recommended by Tawnya Autumn Edwards: Lifeprint.com ASL lessons by Bill Vicars (English vocabulary for the signs is on the screen) Tawyna says: Dr. Vicars is funny, patient and has a ton of resources on this website. Good luck!