Spending time with your child does not only strengthen your bond with him; it also helps him learn new words better and faster. Science Daily reports that interactive learning is the key to unlocking your child's vocabulary skills during his early years.
Scientists from the University of Washington, Temple University, and the University of Delaware worked with three dozen two-year-olds who were taught new verbs in three different ways: learning with a live person, studying through online video chat with another person in a different locale, and training with a prerecorded video.
The results revealed that children learned more words when they interacted with a live person or through real-time online video chat.
"Interactions allow adults and toddlers to respond to each other in a back-and-forth fashion—such as live instruction and the video chats. These types of interactions seem to be central for learning words," co-author Kathy Hirsh-Pasek explains.
Spending time with your child is crucial in his early learning years. Your conversations provide real-world application of things that you have taught, making it easier for him to comprehend and absorb them. Actively participating during story time and watching interactive educational videos with him may also help improve his vocabulary and increase his learning capacity.
(Photo by Glen Johannes via Flickr Creative Commons)
