That’s because words like “Moo!” and “Chirp!” use a wide variety of phonemes, or the sound a letter or group of letters make in a word - language building blocks that prepare your child to speak, read, and write.Īnd embrace the baby talk: Phrases like “A piggy goes oink oink!” actually help your child learn new words. “Farm animal words also provide an opportunity for babies and toddlers to practice the many sounds we use in English,” says Franklin. Consider, for instance, how your toddler can see you bring your lips together when you say those words out loud.

“These sounds are simple for children to learn because they connect different senses, including touch and sight,” says Lee Scott, an education and curriculum specialist and chair of The Goddard School Educational Advisory Board. Many farm animal words - think “pig” or “duck” or “turkey” - feature consonants pronounced at the front of the mouth, making them more easily detectable to children. It teaches her how to pronounce other words. That being said, there’s no perfect age to perfect a skill, and if your child can’t list all of the farm animals quite yet, simply seeing them in books and hearing their names and sounds will still provide him with a valuable foundation. Here are five surprising benefits of teaching farm animal vocabulary to young toddlers. Start early: You’ll find that your kid knows quite a bit by the time he’s 3 years old, and learning farm animal vocabulary only further prepares him for preschool and beyond. While nobody expects your toddler to utter quaketh, there are real benefits of teaching him the modern-day vocabulary. It includes illustrations of various farm animals, with text such as “the duck quaketh” and “the lamb blaiteth.” In 1658, John Amos Comenius published what’s considered the world’s first children’s book, Orbis Pictus. In fact, farm animals have been a go-to teaching tool in children’s books for centuries. Franklin, M.D., a developmental-behavioral pediatrician at Texas Children’s Hospital.

“When we teach children farm animal words and noises, we’re not only teaching them about the many sounds we make in the English language, but also about our culture and the world,” says Adiaha I. It may sound like simple toddler fun, but learning this vocabulary at a young age actually helps your child develop savvy pre-academic and social skills. Perhaps you’ve sung “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” or read a story featuring sheep, ducks, and horses. Even if you live in a city or the suburbs, miles from the nearest grazing cow, your young child has probably seen or heard about farm animals.

Giggle giggle quack board book