Pictures are great for learning words

What you need  

• A book with lots of ‘a’ and ‘the’ words in it.  
• Paper and coloured pencils 

What to try 

• Read the book to your toddler, exaggerating the words ‘a’ and ‘the’.

• Look for images in the illustrations that show them. For example, if you read, ‘The dog was in the barn,’ look for a picture of ‘the dog’ and ‘the barn’.

• Try drawing your own pictures of your toddler’s favourite things in the house.

• Ask them first what they would like you to draw.

• Look at the pictures together and talk about what you can see.  

• Invite your toddler to look for them and then tell you when they've found them. 

• Encourage them to tell you what they’ve found and where it is. Asking for a little more detail will help your toddler form longer sentences with ‘a’ and ‘the’ in.