Expanding Vocabulary: at the car

Our car is our main mode of transportation, helping us to go about our daily responsibilities; whether it be for work, school, and shopping or leisure time. We could use the time spent in our cars to teach our kids new words making the commute fun, entertaining and educational as well as a bonding experience. How? You may ask, here I give you a couple of ideas on how to.

You could start by asking your child to: “OPEN the door”, next describe cars you see on the road: “look at the GRAY car” “That car is BIG/SMALL” “the car goes bruuum bruuum bruuum, beep-beep-beep”

On your way to school or day care you can say: “look! The SUN” “the HOT sun” “Look! a TRUCK”

When you reach a stop light: “the light is GREEN, YELLOW or RED” “It is GREEN, let’s GO” “the light is RED, it means STOP” You can also describe how the weather is “It is a SUNNY or RAINY day”

We don’t all have the chance to live near farm houses, but if you do, take advantage of this; especially if there are animals near the road you are driving by. “Look a cow” “the cow goes moo moo” “a pig, oink oink” “look sheep, they go baa baa baa”

Singing! Kids love to sing, and let’s be honest, so do we, this a perfect time to sing along to some tunes we probably sang growing up. One great classic song is “The Wheels on Bus”:

The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round.

The wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town!

The people on the bus go up and down, up and down, up and down.

The people on the bus go up and down, all through the town!

The horn on the bus goes beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

The horn on the bus goes beep, beep, beep, all through the town!

The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish.

The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish, all through the town!

The signals on the bus go blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink.

The signals on the bus go blink, blink, blink, all through the town!

The motor on the bus goes zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom.

The motor on the bus goes zoom, zoom, zoom, all through the town!

The babies on the bus go waa, waa, waa, waa, waa, waa, waa, waa, waa.

The babies on the bus go waa, waa, waa, all through the town!

The parents on the bus go shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.

The parents on the bus go shh, shh, shh, all through the town!

The mummy on the bus says, I love you, I love you, I love you

The daddy on the bus says, I love you, too, all through the town.

Another short and sweet song you can sing along to is “Oh, Mr. Sun”:

Oh Mister Sun, Sun.

Mister Golden Sun.

Won't you please shine down on me?

Oh Mister Sun, Sun.

Mister Golden Sun.

Hiding behind the tree.

These little children

are asking you.

To please come out

so we can play with you.

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,

Mister Golden Sun.

Won't you please shine down on me?

The important thing here is to enjoy these moments, and to always remember anytime is a great time to learn with your child, even if it’s a 15 minute car ride. Try these and let me know your experience by commenting below.

*Translated by Valery Martinez

Aumentar vocabulario: en el carro

El carro es el medio de transportación más usado en el momento. Lo usamos para ir a la escuela, al trabajo, a la tienda, al parque, etcétera. Por lo que le podemos sacar mucho provecho a la hora de aumentar el vocabulario de nuestros niño. ¿Cómo? a continuación les daré unas ideas.

Usted le puede decir al niño: "Abre la puerta" "Mira el carro color gris" "El carro grande/pequeño" "El carro hace bruumm bruumm, pip pip"

Cuando van de camino a la escuela o el cuido: "Mira el sol" "El sol caliente" "Mira el camión"

Si paran en el semáforo: "La luz está verde, roja o amarilla" "Está verde, nos vamos" "Está roja, paramos" El día esta soleado, lluvioso".

No todos tenemos la oportunidad de pasar por fincas, si la tiene: "La vaca" "La vaca muuu" "El cerdo oink oink" "La oveja beeee beee"

¡Cantar! a los niños les encanta cantar. Hay varias canciones como: 🎶  Sale el sol por la mañana, sale el solo a calentar. Siempre sale por el este, yo lo voy a saludar. Cómo estás amigo sol, cómo estás rayo de luz. Siempre sale por el este yo lo voy a saludar 🎶

🎶  Las ruedas del autobús girando van, girando van, girando van. Las ruedas del autobús girando van, por la ciudad.  Las luces de emergencia parpadean, parpadean, parpadean. Las luces de emergencia parpadean por la ciudad. Las luces del autobús prenden y apagan, prenden y apagan, prenden y apagan. Las luces del autobús prenden y apagan por la ciudad. 🎶


Intente estas ideas con sus niños, luego regrese y me escribe su experiencia en el área de los comentarios.

Expanding Vocabulary: at the supermarket

At least once a week we go to the supermarket, let’s take advantage of this outing to expand your child’s vocabulary. You might think I’m out of my mind, “take my child to the supermarket!?” “ I’d rather go alone, it’s faster, easier!” “My child does not behave; he/she cries and wants to grab everything!” Let’s contemplate this idea, ok? Ok! I will give you some ideas on how to entertain your child at the supermarket while he learns new words; all the while you still check off your shopping list items in the process!

Get your kid excited, “Let’s go shopping!” who doesn’t want to get out the house, and go for a car ride, right!? Remember our car ride lesson in my previous blog? Go ahead, try it again! Every opportunity is a chance for you and your child to learn together. Once you arrive, let’s go straight to the fresh produce area, fruits! One way to get your child engaged with the task at hand is to make them part of the shopping experience. Give them the produce bag, so they can help you out. “Look! A RED, ROUND apple” “Look! What a BIG orange” “a GREEN pear, umm how yummy!” “Let’s put 3 apples in the bag, 1, 2 and 3!” Afterwards, let’s go get some vegetables, again integrating your child by allowing them to have some control by placing the vegetables in the bag. Describe the vegetables by their name, color and size every time you hand it over to your child. I know you have your shopping list, let’s go finish it off, always trying to let your child participate in the process. If you see an item that catches their attention describe it, color, size, shapes! Talk, talk and talk with your child, always in complete ideas and sentences.

Try this out and come back and share your experience with me in the comment section of the blog.

*Translated by Valery Martinez

Expanding Vocabulary: at the park

With this great weather, who wouldn’t want to take the kids to the park so they can play and run around until they get tired? You might ask yourself, how can I make play time a learning experience as well? Easy! Here you will find useful tips to incorporate playtime to your child’s vocabulary lesson.

We can begin our lesson from the get-go, the car ride. “Look the sun, HOT”, “It is so HOT”; simultaneously integrating the hand gesture for “HOT”. Once you arrive at the park, let’s use our surroundings, for example, “Wow! Look at the GREEN grass”, “the BIG trees, they have GREEN leaves”, the objective here is to provide your child with descriptive characteristics of the objects surrounding them, such as plants or animal you might see as you enjoy the park. Always making sure to point and clearly identify the object you are describing and that the child is paying attention. Important! Allow your child to touch, smell and play with these objects, if possible. Using their 5 senses increases their capability to associate the new words to tangible objects, therefore making the learning process faster. Talk about the sky: “the BLUE sky”, “it is UP with the clouds”; if it’s a rainy day: “the sky is GRAY or BLACK”. The key here is to talk, talk and talk in complete ideas and sentences to your child.

Try these ideas and come back and share your experience with me in the comment section of the blog.

*Translated by Valery Martinez

Aumentando vocabulario: en el parque

Con este clima quien no le gusta ir al parque para que los niños jueguen, jueguen hasta que se cansen. Puede que te hagas la pregunta: ¿Cómo puedo hacer que mi niño aumente su vocabulario mientras estamos en el parque? ¡Fácil! a continuación les ofreceré varias ideas.

Comenzando desde que se montan en el carro. "Mira el sol, caliente" "Que calor" y le puede añadir la seña de calor. Una vez llegan al parque... "wow mira la grama/sacate verde" "los árboles grandes" "tienen hojas verdes" la idea principal es proveerle al niño todas las características de los objetos y/o plantas, animales que ven cuando van caminando. Siempre señalar a lo que están hablando y que el niño esté prestando atención. ¡Importante! tocar y oler...darle la oportunidad al niño de tocar la grama, los árboles, que pueda oler las flores. Utilizando los 5 sentidos hace que el vocabulario se aprenda más rápido. Hablen del cielo: azúl, está arriba con nubes, si es un día lluvioso: el cielo está obscuro, negro. Hable, hable, hable con su niño.


Intente estas ideas con sus niños, luego regrese y me escribe su experiencia en el área de los comentarios.

Aumentando vocabulario: en la tienda

Ir a la tienda es algo que se hace al menos una vez a la semana, pues vamos aprovechar la salida para aumentar el vocabulario de su niño. Tal vez piense "¡estás loca! yo prefiero ir sola o solo porque mi niño no está tranquilo, llora y quiere tocar todo" Aquí les daré unas ideas de como entretener a su hijo mientras va de tienda y de vez aumenta su vocabulario.

¡Vamos de compras! Comienze por el área de las frutas. Darle al niño la bolsa para echar las frutas. "Mira la manzana, roja, redonda" ¡Mira! la naranja grande" "La pera verde, umm que rica" "Vamos a echar 3 manzanas...1, 2 y 3! Luego van al área de los vegetales. Nuevamente el niño con una bolsa y usted le va diciendo el nombre de los vegetales, tamaño y color. Ofrezca al niño el control de la situación dentro de los límites de usted como padre. Por cada pasillo que vayan pasando señale lo que para el niño usted entienda le llame la atención y si lo va a comprar le puede dar el producto al niño para que lo eche en el carrito de compras. Hable, hable, hable con su niño. De cada producto podemos describirlo, nombrar los colores, señalar figuras, etcétera.

Intente estas ideas con sus niños, luego regrese y me escribe su experiencia en el área de los comentarios.