Activities to Boost Language Development: 18-24 Months
Your toddler is at a stage where she is constantly learning language from you. Jamie Loehr M.D. and Jen Meyers, authors of "Raising Your Child" suggest these activities in order to encourage healthy language development.
By Jamie Loehr, M.D. and Jen Meyers
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Kathryn Gamble
Read Together
Read to your child every day, several times a day. Discuss the illustrations when you're looking at books together. Ask your child to tell you what she sees. Ask her to point out specific items on the page. Read alphabet books to lay the ground-work for learning the ABCs.
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Kathryn Gamble
Your Child Is Intelligent!
Treat your child like she's an intelligent person. (She is!) Consciously hold conversations with her. Ask for her opinions, likes, and dislikes. Listen attentively when she talks to you, and respond in a way that shows you understand what she's saying. Repeat what she says back to her to model appropriate pronunciation as well as good listening skills.
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Kathryn Gamble
Encourage Details
Add details to what your child says. "Yes, that's a bus. It's a blue and white city bus. It's really big!"
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Kathryn Gamble
Model Proper Grammar
Use proper grammar when you speak to model it for your child. She learns to speak (and write) from you.
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Kathryn Gamble
Use Complete Sentences
Help expand your toddler's abilities by speaking to her in complete sentences. If she asks for "More banana?" say to her, "You want to have more banana." Model correct word order and clear pronunciation.
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Kathryn Gamble
Encourage Your Toddlers Imagination
Provide your toddler with puppets, dolls, stuffed animals, and make-believe play materials such as scarves, hats, old clothes, shoes, recyclables for making costumes and props, blankets for building forts, etc. Make hand puppets out of paper bags decorated with markers, paper, and glue, or out of socks decorated with buttons, yarn, and thread. Shoe her how the puppets can have a conversation with each other or with you or her. Put on a puppet show.
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Raising Your Child
Raising Your Child: The Complete Illustrated Guide is an information-packed guide that leads parents through the ever changing maze of new behaviors, developments, and challenges present in a child's first six years. It is filled with essential information, expert advice, practical solutions, and key choices to ensure a child's healthy development for their first six years -- and set them up for success in later developmental stages. In addition to understanding their child's stage of development, readers are given parenting techniques and activities they can use with their child to maximize physical, emotional, intellectual, and behavioral development at every age and stage.
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Kathryn Gamble
Get the Look & Buy the Toys
Love the adorable products and toys we used for this photo shoot? Use the buying guide below to find the products for your toddler.
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Kathryn Gamble
More Activities for 18-24 Month Toddlers
Get more ideas from Raising Your Child: The Complete Illustrated Guide to help with your toddler's development.
- Activities to Encourage Emotional & Social Development
- Activities to Boost Large Motor Skills
- Activities to Boost Fine Motor Skills
- Activities to Enhance Cognitive Development
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