8 Easy Ways to Teach Your Toddler a Foreign Language

Isn’t the thought of teaching your child another language exciting? If you have a baby or toddler at home now is the perfect time to start. With language developing (as far as them speaking) around 10 months you can get an early start introducing other languages. Don’t forget sign language, we started signing at a very young age and they could easily tell me the basics of what they needed. Milk, please, thank you, more, hungry… Start with the easy words that you use often and your toddler will soon be a bilingual or multilingual learner.

Introducing different languages to your toddler

First I hate to state the obvious, but if you or anyone else in your family speaks a different language please speak it to your child. The more they hear it, the easier it is for them to speak and understand it later on. Toddlers pick up language skills so fast at this stage, so it is the perfect time to use your skills.

Have a few good bilingual books at home for you and your toddler to read and explore together. A few of our favorites are First Words, Oink, Moo, Meow, Colors, Around The World We Go, My First Spanish Body Board Book, and First 100 Words Bilingual.

Use easy toddler puzzles for fun ways to name common words, shapes and for counting.

Games!!! Make it fun. When I see a bilingual game like Bingo or Memory I pick it up. Children learn so easily when they are having fun

If you have Amazon Prime or want to join: Join Amazon Prime or Start Free Trial Now all of Little Pim movies are FREE. I’m not big on using videos to teach, but if you allow your little ones a little tv time why not make it educational. If you don’t have Prime but are still interested in a video series check out Dino Lingo and Signing Times.

Bring music with different languages into your home. Welcome the difference by dancing and singing along. Songs in French for Children is one of our favorites.

Make up labels and put a few around the house at their eye level. Words like door, stairs, window, and books(on a bookcase). This is great for word recognition. I put English and Spanish/French on our labels (of course you can put whatever language you want).

Beginning to Raise a Global Toddler

Exposing your child to a different language will help him to learn about other cultures. Perfect timing to travel the world with Early Explorers where your children can not only hear different languages, but see and learn about so many different cultures. Check out my complete review here.

If you are looking for a great book to understand how to help your children become more global in this world, check out Growing Up Global by Homa Sabet Tavangar

With all of this said, and all of these great ideas I am sure you can imagine how wonderful it is for your child to be bilingual. I still want to share a few facts with you, so here goes. Did you know that adults that are proficient in two or more languages have enhanced cognitive ability? Experts say that a person that is bilingual has a quicker thinking brain and picks up language skills much faster. I myself have always been fascinated with people that speak different languages. I spent several years in school learning Spanish and it didn’t come easy, but I still work hard at sharing my love for languages with my kids. We work together at learning about different cultures and languages and I know I am setting them up for success for their future.

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Looking for other great ways to teach your toddler

Fun Ways to Teach Shapes

Tons of Activities to Teach Color