When children are learning to sound out words, they must have the word in their vocabulary or they will not be able to read the word, even if they have correctly decoded the letters. Reading is the best way to increase the child's vocabulary, but you can also point out objects in the environment and use the correct terms. For instance, instead of saying "baby duck", use the term "duckling." Also, it is a disservice to the child to use terms like "dogie" or "horsey." Don't be afraid to say that it is "drizzling" or "pouring" instead of just "raining" every time.
An activity that I like is to ask the children to try to remember as many things as they can that they see in a new place. This helps to keep them engaged in a restaurant or while they are waiting somewhere. Usually there will be new items that they have not seen before, giving them new words such as "water carafe" or "fire extinguisher." Be sure to ask them later to tell you want they saw. You can also ask questions to refresh their memory, such as "What was on the table?" or "What was hanging on the wall?"
Imaging vocabulary!
