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Toys for Skill Development - Encouraging Baby's First Words

How Do Babies Learn Their First Words?

Babies begin to put sounds together from about four months old. They start imitating what they hear and practice getting their tongues around strange sounds.

To start with baby will repeat one syllable sounds like “ba-ba” or “ga-ga” and progress onto simple words like ball, cat, star and fish. Babies continue to build their vocabulary at a stunning rate throughout the first couple of years and progressively learn how words are strung together.

Around the age of 16 months or so they may start to try and say their own name and they'll begin to learn other people's names.

First words vary depending on the baby's environment but generally ‘daddy' and ‘mummy' are heard in the early stages. If baby has a pet in the house, you might hear them say ‘cat' or ‘dog' first.

You can help with first words by talking to baby a lot and pointing out every day objects whenever you go for a walk or go to the supermarket.

Encouraging Baby's First Words

Books

Use simple picture books to show baby the link between books and their world.

There are some great picture books available on Amazon. One book that has over 100 pictures of everyday things is the "First 100 Words" book from Bright Baby. Books by Eric Carle and Bill Martin are also excellent to encourage baby to learn about the natural world.

Board books are best to get at first as baby will chew on them and they'll take quite a bashing from an over enthusiastic baby.

Everyday Objects

If it's dinner time, give baby an apple to explore or a banana and show them the same object in the picture book.

When you're dressing baby, talk about his socks and his top and point out his feet and toes. There's so much you can do that's instinctive to help baby say his first words. Sing lots of nursery rhymes – you can learn them really quickly if you've forgotten the words by listening to a CD or reading through nursery rhyme books.

Leapfrog's Baby Tad Toy

Baby toys that help babies learn about words are numerous but there are some that stand out. Leapfrog has a loveable character called Baby Tad. Baby Tad is a bright green frog that has colourful buttons on his tummy. He sings lots of songs to baby and encourages baby to learn about shapes and colours. He is interactive so baby tends to control the experience.

VTech's First Steps Baby Walker

VTech has an excellent baby walker that encourages babies to learn about language as they play. The VTech “First Steps Baby Walker” follows the design of the traditional wooden baby walkers but adds in a little electronic flair. Babies learn VTech's Electronic Nursery Rhyme Book

VTech's electronic “Nursery Rhyme Book” is also great for younger babies as it's chunky enough for baby to turn the pages himself. The “Nursery Rhyme Book” has six rhymes that babies will soon come to recognise and they will point out objects on the pages to you as they read their book.

Picture Flashcards

Toddlers will be interested in playing with picture flashcards. The Early Learning Centre sells “Giant Alphabet Flashcards” that will encourage toddlers to learn about letters and words. You can play simple games with flashcards like asking your toddler to find a picture from a scattered pile of cards on the floor.

There are many ways of encouraging baby to speak and once he starts, he'll be particularly noisy!

To find out more about what to look out for when choosing and buying nursery toys visit our How to Choose and Buy a Baby Toy for Different Ages section and our How to Choose and Buy a Baby Toy for Helping to Develop Different Skills section.

To find out more about the different types of nursery toy that are available for each age group visit our Types of Nursery Toy section.

To find out more about the different online baby and nursery toy shops and stores visit our Top Sites section.

To find out more about the top brands of baby toys visit our Top Brands section

You can also find out more in our How to Play with Baby section.