Enjoy and Achieve
By 6 months...
Babies will usually make gurgling and babbling sounds to themselves and other people. They will make noises to get your attention and will watch your face when you talk to them. When they get excited they will wave their arms or kick their legs.
- Talk to your baby
- Sing songs or rhymes with actions
- Look at and talk about picture books
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By 12 months...
Babies will usually make talking noises or say their first words. They may know the names of objects such as 'car' or 'teddy'. Babies may also start to understand words such as 'bye-bye' and 'up' when you use actions with the words.
- Copy your baby
- Use actions with words; try waving as you say 'bye-bye'
- Sing action songs like Incy Wincy Spider
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By 18 months...
Babies will usually be talking! They will be able to say about 20 words and may point to familiar objects when you ask them. They might understand some short phrases about things they hear during the day.
- Tell your child what things are, e.g. 'worm'
- Spend time outside together talking, listening and exploring
- Share some books together or look through family photos
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By 24 months...
Babies will usually know 50 or more single words. They may also start to put small sentances together such as 'more juice' or ask simple questions such as 'who that?'. They will probably understand between 200 and 500 words.
- Say and sing action rhymes and songs
- Share books together; books with flaps and textures are great
- Repeat and expand on what your child says