Learning how to describe his movements is an important step in your child’s language development and autonomy. This printable activity provides an opportunity to have fun with directional words.

Play Simon Says to teach your child the parts of the body, from head to feet.

Help your child learn to correctly name the parts of the head and face.

If You’re Happy and You Know It (Clap your Hands) is a great song to help your child develop physical skills and follow directions.

Use these tips to create early literacy experiences for your child that will contribute to his success in kindergarten and beyond.

Reading to your baby introduces her to new words and conveys the importance of books and literacy. Get the most out of reading with your child with these tips.

Early literacy opportunities at home encourage reading readiness. Use these tips to help your child develop the prereading skills that will prepare him for kindergarten.

Learning to read is one of the most important skills your child needs for school and life success. Start at home, now, to encourage growth.

Becoming a life-long reader involves far more than knowing the ABCs. It begins with children becoming sensitized to the sounds of language. The more sounds a child hears, the more words, with all their sounds, he’ll learn to say and eventually read.

Challenge your child's communication skills.

Increase your child's exposure to new words by talking aloud as you go through your shopping list.

Expose your toddler to the sounds of different languages to encourage language facility later in life.

Your child can show that she understands many words even though she can’t say them.

Help your child build the prereading skills he needs before he will learn to read.

Show your child that books and reading are important.

Help your toddler learn ABCs with books and items throughout your home.

Lay down the foundation for learning the alphabet and phonological awareness.

Toddlers love to hear the same story over and over again, and they learn from repetition.

Encourage “writing” by providing plenty of paper and crayons.

As you write, talk it out with your toddler.

Incorporate reading into your daily pattern so your toddler learns that reading is part of his world.

Word play and rhyming games help your toddler develop phonological awareness, an essential prereading skill.

When it comes to picture books, how young is too young? Consider this: by 6 months, babies become very interested in objects—and just 5 months later, babies can respond to 50 or so words, including many names for common objects.

The expressive (spoken) vocabulary of many babies seems to explode somewhere between sixteen months and two years. While your baby may have only been using a handful of words, now she seems to be bursting with new words. How does this happen?

Are you being teased? Older infants and toddlers love to tease their parents. Have you ever been offered a delicious bite of baby food from your little one, only to find that he has rapidly pulled the spoon back and is giggling?

Does talking to your child matter? And how often do we think about the quality and repercussions of those conversations?

We know conversations are important, but what to talk about? Try a song, for starters.

Most parents wait impatiently for their child’s first word, listening intently to cooing and babbling. After the first or second word, the learning of new words follows in more rapid succession. What determines the order and choice of these first words?

Speech acts help speakers accomplish things in the world. These include requests (“More milk?”) and demands (“No night-night!”) from children, as well as from adults (“Hush!”). Interestingly enough, parents are seldom precise in their requests.