I think about this a lot.
By the time children start school, there can already be big differences in the amount of language they've been exposed to. Some children have far fewer opportunities to hear rich language before they get there, which is a crucial time for learning.
Research suggests that children who hear more language early on often have an easier time developing vocabulary and communication skills.1 Children who are regularly exposed to rich language often have stronger foundations for learning at school.
That's why I'm always looking for simple ways to build more language into our everyday routines, to expose my daughter to new words and give her strong foundations for later learning.
And that doesn't always look like sitting down for hours and reading books (because honestly, family life is busy!).
So here are the top 5 simple things I do every day with my daughter to try and increase her exposure to new words and create a language-rich environment.
1. Background storytelling
A simple way to build more language into everyday life is something I like to call “background storytelling.”
Well-written stories are a goldmine of word variety, starting from nursery rhymes all the way through to longer, more complex story arcs and plots.
Background storytelling is simply having spoken nursery rhymes and stories playing during everyday moments at home, in the car, or while you're getting things done. It's an easy way to build more language into the day and expose children to a wider range of words. Plus, it's fun, a bit like adults listening to their favourite podcast.
I use Sooper Books for this.
It's an ongoing curated playlist of original stories, customised to each child. Just 25 minutes a day adds a million extra language-rich words per year into your child's life, and it's literally as simple as pressing play.
One of my favourite features is the word counter. Which is a live tally of all the words your child has heard. I've never seen that anywhere else and I found it a real motivator to keep listening regularly.
2. Nursery rhymes
Nursery rhymes are brilliant for supporting interaction skills whilst also encouraging children to join in with silly sounds and fun actions. The repetition and rhyming nature can also make language more predictable. Research actually links nursery-rhyme exposure at age three to phonological awareness and reading skill at age five, independent of social class.2
However, I've also recently developed a new love for spoken rhymes.
A spoken nursery rhyme gives your child the same words, but paced slower.
In my experience with my daughter, spoken rhymes have helped her engage more with audio stories and enjoy them. The familiar rhymes piqued her interest and introduced her to the format of audio books. This then helped when we introduced completely new audio stories.
This is another reason I love Sooper Books. They have a full bank of spoken nursery rhymes, paced exactly for early-language work.
3. Talk through everyday moments and routines
Another simple way to support language development is by talking through everyday moments together. Hearing words linked to real experiences helps children gradually build understanding of vocabulary, actions, routines, and emotions in a meaningful way.
For example:
When getting dressed: “I'm putting my shoes on. Let's put your shoes on. Shoes on!”
During bath time: “The water is warm. Splash splash.” “Let's pour the water.” “Wash your arms, wash your hands.”
And it's really important to include those little words too. We still want children to hear grammatically correct sentences.
4. Use a mix of familiar and less commonly used words
Hearing a variety of words in everyday conversation helps children gradually build understanding of language.3 Simple language is often important, especially for children who find learning and processing language more difficult. But introducing less common words naturally in context can also support vocabulary growth over time.
This is another thing I love about Sooper Books. They deliberately build worlds of different characters. So your child is not only constantly exposed to a larger range of words, but also within different contexts. Which is better for processing language.
5. Let them play while they listen
Some children enjoy listening to stories while they build, colour, or potter around the room. Even when children appear focused on play, they may still be tuning into parts of the language they hear around them.
I often play stories softly in the background while my daughter plays independently. It's not a replacement for interaction or shared reading, but it can be a lovely additional way to expose children to new words, ideas, and sentence structures throughout the day.
Conclusion
None of these ideas are complicated, and they don't need to be done perfectly. Small, consistent moments of language exposure throughout everyday life can really add up over time.
I'm an ambassador for Sooper Books (so this is technically an ad) but I genuinely believe in what they've built. For busy families it's the simplest way I've found to build more rich language into your day. And I actually use it myself. The first 7 days are free, if you'd like to give it a try.
Research notes
- Hart & Risley (1995), Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children. Follow-ups: Fernald, Marchman & Weisleder (2013) on socio-economic status and language at 18 months; EEF Early Years Evidence Store on vocabulary-to-reading outcomes.
- Bryant, MacLean, Bradley & Crossland (1989), Journal of Child Language, "Nursery rhymes, phonological skills and reading". Nursery-rhyme exposure at age three predicted phonological awareness and reading at age five, independent of social class and IQ.
- Saffran (2003), Current Directions in Psychological Science, on implicit statistical learning in infants. Bergelson (2012-onwards) on word comprehension preceding production by 6-9 months.