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09/25/2026

Seeing Toy Story 5 with my kids this Summer got me thinking more about screens and language development. Here are my five takeaways. Screens can definitely have their place (my kids get screen time!). But as parents, we can prioritize real connection and play to allow language and social skills to really flourish.

Have you seen Toy Story 5?!

09/17/2026

Today’s featured book 📕 is not a story and that’s why I love it. This adorable hide-and-seek 🙈🙉 book is a wonderful way to get toddlers talking as they search for common items and Momo the dog on each page 🐶 Here are some tips for supporting early language skills while reading this book:
- Model the act of “finding” each item: point and label the item (e.g. balloon!). For older toddlers, add a carrier phrase like “I see a….” And take turns talking about what you see on each page. You could also try “I spy a…” for more fun!
- model questions like “Where’s Momo?”, “Where is the bucket?”, etc. See if your toddler will ask you to find some items too!
- carry the concept over to your environment. Hide things for your toddler to find e.g. a favourite stuffy. Talk about hiding, finding, getting closer, farther away and more
Have you read this book with your little one?? Comment below!

08/25/2026

Today’s Book Spotlight is a book from Nick Bland’s Bear Series: the Very Hungry Bear 🐻. My kids still love reading this one after several years. Here are some features and tips for supporting your toddler during storytime using the Very Hungry Bear: 🐻
- FILL IN THE BLANK: this book gives lots of opportunities for your toddler to fill in the blank once they’ve gotten familiar with it. For example, “so it didn’t take him very long to discover he’d caught…” (A Polar Bear!!!) You could also have your child try to predict what comes next e.g. “what do you think he caught?”
- VOCABULARY: there are a ton of great action words in this book (E.g., Crank, yank, flick, wave) and these are paired with wonderfully hilarious illustrations
- RHYMING: the rhyming and alliteration in this book makes it a pleasure to read, so it is enjoyable for both you and your child 🙌 and provides them with foundational early literacy skills
- Extension to sister books: I love that all of the books in this series follow a similar format and give toddlers exposure to the same character and all of the fun ways to describe him: noisy, hungry, super, cranky, which are fantastic buzz words to discuss with toddlers and older children alike!

Are you familiar with the Bear series by Nick Bland? Comment below!

08/23/2026

Did you know that books and songs can be used to support the skill of following directions? 📖 🎵
Here are 5 of my favourites. These examples are a great way to create a fun and relaxed atmosphere while supporting this important skill. Many of them also lend themselves to modifying the lyrics to introduce even more new concepts! Interested in learning more? Head to my Blog! Did I miss any good ones?! Comment below! 👇🏼

08/06/2026

Have you ever wondered what the most common first words are in toddlers? 🤔

This is an inquiry that has been fairly widely researched over the past few decades and across several languages. Researchers from the WordBank Project looked at toddlers’ first words in 15 languages. The 10 words in this video are the most common words in English (American) with 7 of these words showing overlap with 6 other languages. Not surprisingly, these first 10 words tended to be about important people in toddlers’ lives (e.g. mom, dad), social routines (e.g. hi, bye), animals (e.g. dog), and foods (e.g. banana)! Indeed, first words are highly influenced by the environments and experiences that we expose our toddlers to. My oldest’s first word was “bear”, my second child’s first word was “daddy” and my second youngest’s first word was “milk”! What was your toddler’s first word? I’d love to hear! Comment below 👇🏼

REFERENCE:
Frank, M. C., Braginsky, M., Yurovsky, D., and Marchman, V. A. (2021). Variability and Consistency in Early Language Learning: The Wordbank Project. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

08/01/2026

When it comes to gesturing, the communicative intent behind them seems to matter more than the amount of gestures used. As parents, our goal should be to share information and to share attention with our little ones (think: joint attention!). Declarative pointing 👆🏼 (e.g. “look! An airplane!”) specifically, has been shown to predict later language skills (while imperative pointing has not). Check out today’s episode for more information. Questions?? Comment below!

References:

Choi, B., & Rowe, M. L. (2021). A parent gesture intervention as a means to increase parent declarative pointing and child vocabulary. Infancy, 26(6), 1022–1042.

Salo, V. C., Reeb-Sutherland, B., Frenkel, T. I., Bowman, L. C., & Rowe, M. L. (2019). Does intention matter? Relations between parent pointing, infant pointing, and developing language ability. Journal of Cognitive Development, 20(5), 635–655.

07/31/2026

Singing to your baby or toddler and engaging them in musical play may benefit their language skills later on. Check out today’s episode to learn more about music and how it relates to language skills in babies and toddlers. Questions? Comment below.

References:

Boyne, A. S., et al. (2025). Parental social and musical characteristics, the home music environment, and child language development in infancy. Infancy.[nih]
Franco, F., Cheung, H., et al. (2012). Music and early language acquisition. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 230.

Papadimitriou, A., Smyth, C., Politimou, N., Franco, F., & Stewart, L. (2021). The impact of the home musical environment on infants’ language development. Infant Behavior and Development, 65, 101651.

Pino, M. C., et al. (2023). The association between music and language in children. Children, 10(5), 821.

07/23/2026

To sign or not to sign? Today’s episode discusses the relationship between sign language and spoken language skills and what you can do as a parent to little one(s). Are you using / Did you use signs with your baby?

References:
Fitzpatrick, E. M., Thibert, J., Grandpierre, V., & Johnston, J. C. (2014). How HANDy are baby signs? A systematic review of the impact of gestural communication on typically developing, hearing infants under the age of 36 months. First Language, 34(6), 486–515.

Goodwyn, S. W., Acredolo, L. P., & Brown, C. A. (2000). Impact of symbolic gesturing on early language development. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 24(2), 81–103. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006653828895

Kirk, E., Howlett, N., Pine, K. J., & Fletcher, B. C. (2013). To sign or not to sign? The impact of encouraging infants to gesture on later language development. Child Development, 84(2), 574–590.

07/13/2026

There are many good reasons for that high-pitched, slowed-down exaggerated voice that we use when speaking to babies. Check out today’s episode for a rundown on parentese. Questions? Comment below!

References:

Ferjan Ramírez, N., Weiss, Y., Sheth, K. K., & Kuhl, P. K. (2024). Parentese in infancy predicts 5-year language complexity and conversational turns. Journal of child language, 51(2), 359–384. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000923000077

Karzon, R. G., & Nicholas, J. G. (1989). Syllabic pitch perception in 2- to 3-month-old infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 12(3), 315–328.

Trainor, L. J., & Desjardins, R. N. (2002). Pitch characteristics of infant-directed speech affect infants’ ability to discriminate vowels. Developmental Psychobiology, 41(3), 185–192.

Zettersten, M., et al. (2024). Evidence for infant-directed speech preference is consistent across a large-scale multi-lab project and a meta-analysis. Developmental Science, 27(3), e13455.

07/07/2026

Daily shared book reading is great… but Interactive shared book reading is even better! Find out why on today’s episode of the June/July Journal article series! 📚 What books are you reading with your little one(s) lately??

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