Tips & Activities for Developing Preschooler Vocabulary

• Encourage pretend play. Pretend play encourages preschoolers to use their vocabulary.

• Read older books and fairy tales that might contain unfamiliar language and concepts to your preschooler. (In Cinderella, your preschooler might see pictures of a coal stove or the pumpkin "coach." These objects are not part of our everyday life.)

• Use different words for objects. Instead of saying "car," say "automobile." By doing this, your preschooler will start to recognize that different words can define the same thing.