The first thing that comes to most parents' minds are to initially teach their children the alphabet letters, shapes, colors and numbers as a first step in learning language. That is because we see mainstream books and toys related to such concepts. However, as a speech therapist I believe that though teaching these concepts are important, they are not as much important when children are just starting to speak. I'll give an example, if you spend so much time teaching letter "A" to your 2-3 year old child, how many opportunities in a day will he be able to use these concepts to comment or request for what he likes? Unless he sees a book with such letters, it would only be the time that he can comment on it. He also won't request for letter "A" since "A" is not a tangible item that he can request.
That is why it is important to initially teach young children functional concepts, or those things which he can see in his immediate environment. Those things which he can easily have access to or most likely comment or request about, such as things for eating, grooming and playing. That is why spending time with your children to play pretend games are also helpful for his language development. There's more to that, but I'll discuss it in another post.
In here I listed the top 3 Android apps that I use to teach children functional concepts (mostly in the home setting). Take note that these apps are not meant to replace actual/experiential teaching of the concepts to your child. It is good to use these apps but teach the words mainly to your child in actual situations (e.g. actual bathing time or eating). This is just meant to supplement and provide generalization of the concepts and should be used in moderation. Have fun playing these apps with your child! :)
1. Pepi Bath (by Pepi Play)
This app teaches concepts that children usually see in the bathroom such as toothbrush, tissue, soap and comb. You can also teach your child verbs such as wash, comb, wipe, brush and body parts such as hands, hair, nose, nails, etc. We can also teach adjectives here such as dirty, messy, clean, hot, cold, etc.
2. Baby Care and Dress Up (by Tab Tales)
This app is very comprehensive since it has 5 settings (wardrobe, dining room, garden, bathroom and bedroom) and you can teach many functional words in this app. My favorite part would be the dress up since I always teach my students the verb "wear" and the common clothing are also here! (shirt, dress, pants, shorts, socks and shoes). You can teach your child to combine his noun and verbs (e.g. "wear socks") before tapping the socks so that the baby can wear it.
3. Baby Dream House (by Tab Tales)
Can I say that Tab Tales apps are the best (for Android at least)? They know exactly what I need to teach my students. This app mainly focuses on each part of the house and the things that kids usually do in each room. You can teach the concept of the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen. living room, dining room, etc. And the actions words or nouns seen in each part of the house.
Do you have other great Android apps which are useful in teaching first words to children! Don't forget to comment! :)
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