I Know It!

 Materials You Need:  None

What You Can Do Together: At this age, your child may not be saying anything, but she or he understands more every day.  It will be fun to notice all the names and actions that your child understands!  During all kinds of everyday activities, be sure to use words that your child is beginning to recognize — her or his name of course, but family members (you might say the name of a grandparent who is visiting, and notice if your child looks up to see the person, for example). What objects does your child know words for, do you think?  Again, you can mention “Where is your bottle?”  or “Let’s put on your shoes now.”  Say the word clearly and notice if your child seems to understand by looking at or picking up the object.  When you say “No” when your child is about to do something not safe, do you notice that your child reacts to the word?  As the months go on, see how much his/her understanding develops.

What Your Child is Learning:  These are important steps in your child’s development of language.  Understanding comes before speaking, and both of these skills develop more when you talk with your child about all kinds of things, every day, even before he or she can talk.