Why is my child using words like ‘big,’ and ‘little?’ Why does it matter?

You might be wondering why there is a lot of fuss made about your child using words like, ‘big,’ and ‘little.’ These words are massively linked to cognitive development as they help your child to categorise objects, but there is a huge link to their language development too! 

We use language associated with size all day long when reading, talking to others and describing what we see. 

Size is a huge topic – sorry! We can’t escape it and it’s great that your child is starting to use words like ‘big’, ‘little’ or ‘small’. 

These words are adjectives, which tells you that their understanding of language is growing. 

They help your child to describe the qualities of objects, animals or people, which means they can better understand and identify things in their environment. 

Think about the times you use size to help the flow of conversation – perhaps you saw a big dog in the park, or your coffee was smaller than you anticipated. Your child has been listening to the words you say and has started to attach meaning to them.  

When they use these words in conversation, it allows them to be more expressive and it can make playing so much more fun. Imagine your child trying to build the biggest tower they can? This will be possible now as they understand what big means.  

As your child engages with the world around them, they begin to notice that objects come in different sizes.  

Having these new words in their vocabulary will help them learn to compare and contrast objects and identify similarities and differences.  

This is a great skill as it helps them define their world in a bit more detail.  

It might be viewed as a stepping stone to learning so much more about language, and in time your child’s understanding of classifying and describing what they see, hear and feel will grow enormously.  

How you can support your child to describe what they see using language associated with size. 

Your everyday conversations when you’re preparing meals, playing, cooking, getting dressed and so on support your child’s understanding of words and they help them build knowledge about the world and the things in it.  

Perhaps you decide to bake, you’ll be better able to describe to your child what equipment you need. It might be that you need the big bowl and big spoon but will still need a small spoon to scoop out the mixture later.  

Or when you're in the park and playing a game, you can say to your child, “Run to the big tree!” or “Climb the small ladder.” 

You’ll also provide your child with fantastic size adjectives every time you read a story. Books typically have loads of vocabulary to describe what is happening and your child’s understanding of sentences containing words like "big" and "small" is improved each time they hear these words being read to them.  

With all these new words entering your child’s vocabulary, their capacity for imaginative play increases tenfold. They may be better able to imagine they’re playing in a large castle or they can see a small mouse, which makes this type of play even more exciting than it was before! 

Words associated with size are just brilliant for enhancing play and conversations. Next time you chat with your child, think about how often size enters your chat, you might be surprised!