Wild, witty, wonderful words: Videos & activities for early learners

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian

Marvelous! Splendiferous! Sensational! There are so many delightful and fun words that exist. The more words that kids know, the easier it will be for them to decode and read them when they’re ready. 

Preschoolers young and old love to use big fancy words. How many can you use together? Maybe you look at a dictionary together and pick words that you both like.

Below find videos, books, and links with so many words to explore together!

Watch these videos

In this Early Bird Reader video, Jenny and I share how to use Pete the Cat with babies as well as toddlers and preschoolers. Once your kids know the basic colors, how can they play with big words? Scarlet strawberries, sapphire blueberries, russet brown?

Explore these links & books

• Very Well Family has eight suggestions for building vocabulary with kids, including labeling and using synonyms. Labels aren’t meant to be like flashcards, but to help kids connect words to objects.
• Halsey School offers tips and word ideas for using advanced language to build off of words your child already knows.
• Shannon, a former preschool teacher, explains the importance of talking about words and explaining their meaning directly, and helping kids use those words in fun ways.
• The Word Collector: Jerome loves collecting words and decides to share them with friends. (Also available as an ebook on Media on Demand/Libby.)
• Sylvie: Flamingos turn pink because they eat a lot of shrimp. What happens with Sylvie the flamingo eats things that are scarlet, purple, and paisley? So many fun words! (Also available as an ebook on Media on Demand/Libby.)
• My First Dictionary: Explore picture dictionaries created for little kids learning big words. (Also available as ebooks on Hoopla.)
• Check out nonfiction and biography books about your child’s favorite things: There will be so many words to learn! Search in the catalog »