Building vocabulary in a fun & engaging way!
I have the privilege of working and living in the Middle East. Dubai, to be precise. As a specialist in early childhood education, I view this environment in a different way. In a city with a minimum of 150 nationalities, language is important. Particularly within early childhood.
Children are transitioning from multiple languages spoken at home (French, Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin, to mention a few); to English. Most of the international schools here adopt English as the language of instruction.
So... my focus today is on building vocabulary. You may have guessed from the photograph of the, ever so smart dog, that our focus will be on animals! This activity can be used in any language by the way. It's easy to adapt.
Building Vocabulary - Animals
With young children, it's often about visual learning. One of the ways of introducing new vocabulary is to start with the familiar.
I placed a number of attractive vocabulary cards in a small basket. It's easy for small hands to carry a basket that's this size. The activity may be done on a table with the adult sitting next to the child. Please note that I placed a familiar animal at the top of the pile.
The next step is isolating one card on a small mat. I chose a rectangular piece of red, felt. Primarily, because that's what was available and also, to be able to introduce additional language to the child - 'red', 'rectangle', 'felt', fabric'.
As well as identifying the familiar animal 'a horse'. You are free to extend learning, depending on the age of your preschooler. For example: 'let's count the number of legs'.
Introduce 2 more animals in the same way. I chose a 'dog' and a 'rabbit'.
Then introduce an animal that the child is unlikely to know. I have chosen a 'lama'.
Always finish on a positive note and this can be done by revisiting all the cards one at a time; asking your child to name them and checking what he/she has learned.
It's fine if a child has not picked up all the new words. It just means that you need to repeat the activity at another time.
Age of child: from 2/2.5 years
Skill gained: carrying a basket; reinforcing existing knowledge; learning new vocabulary; learning about colours and shapes
Time for activity: maximum 10 minutes
To purchase resources in Dubai: please email info@prminds.org