Feb 12 • 12:18 UTC 🇬🇧 UK Guardian

Susie Dent’s tips and tricks to add muscle to a child’s vocabulary

Susie Dent advocates for enhancing children's vocabulary through various engaging activities amidst a decline linked to screen time.

Susie Dent, known for her role as a lexicographer and co-presenter on television, highlights a concerning trend in children's vocabulary, which she believes is diminishing due to the increasing dominance of screen time. In response, she has launched a campaign in partnership with the brand Soreen, aiming to encourage families to improve their children's language skills during snack time. Dent argues that reading, conversations, and interactive word games can be highly effective in fostering vocabulary growth.

Among Dent's practical suggestions are reading regularly, listening to audiobooks, and sharing intriguing stories about the origins of words. She emphasizes the importance of playing word games, whether they are board games or digital formats, as a fun way to engage children with language. Conversations during everyday activities like cooking or walking can also provide rich opportunities for children to explore new words and concepts.

Additionally, Dent encourages families to promote creativity in language use by asking children to invent their own words or share popular slang from their peers. Learning another language is also recommended as a beneficial way to expand vocabulary. Through these varied activities, Dent hopes to inspire a love for words and enhance the linguistic abilities of the younger generation, reversing the trend of vocabulary decline.

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