When I went to the pediatrician for my son’s one-year-old checklist I was surprised by the question the doctor asked me.
I was prepared for the doctor to ask me how so many questions but you know what the main question was that I was surprised with? How many words does your one-year-old say?”
By the time your baby is 12 months old (one year old) he or she probably can say between one to three words. Before their 2nd birthday, they usually will say about 50 words.
Is your toddler talking enough?
What does enough mean? how many words should you teach a One Year Old?
Should you work on extra activities to teach your toddler to talk?
Language development is key during this year, but if you are asking what words should they know or what to focus on, this handy checklist will be your best friend!
Download the PDF below or folow along the guide.
Before we get into the actual list, let me explain a few things so that you don’t freak out if your child is not talking like your next-door neighbor’s daughter and you can have the right expectations.
Your toddler might not be saying much but he/she can definitely understand more than he/she can say.
You may also notice other types of communication such as pointing, signing, and cooing. These are all forms of communication and great milestones to saying complete words that will eventually turn into sentences.
If your child is doing great with signing, continue to encourage that along with the words to give him/her the tools to communicate with you.
How many words can a one year old understand?
One thing is to understand the words and another is to speak them.
At 12 months old your toddler can understand about 50 words but can only be able to say 2-3 words.
How many words should a 1 year-old say?
From your toddler’s first birthday until the second they will go from saying 2-3 words to saying about 50 words!
What is a late talker?
By the age of 20 months, children should have about 20 words, according to DeBlasio — 2 years old is a crucial time for language.
“By age 2, a child should have at least 50 words and be starting to put words together,” DeBlasio says. “Most kids will have a language explosion between 18-24 months, but generally, I worry if I’m not hearing about 20 words by the time a child reaches 20 months.”
But it could be a lot difficult to know if they’re actually hitting the right milestones. The reason is, every kid develops at their own pace, and so the only way to help them pick up vocabulary words is to introduce words to them daily.
Most toddlers learn to say nouns, or names of people, places, and things first. Your toddler will also needs words for actions, locations, and descriptions (adjectives/adverbs) so that he can combine these to form phrases. Use everyday games and activities to encourage the following words.
words to teach a one year old
Naming familiar objects – They will begin to be able to name some familiar objects between 12 and 18 months.
TEACH YOUR ONE YEAR OLD COMMON NOUNS
Teach words that they see and play with every day.
Make a habit of point to things daily and repeat them. It may sound silly, but to make anything impactful you have to do that. The more your child will hear the word, the quicker he will comprehend it, and be able to repeat with you.
For instance, say sit-sit when you want your kid to sit down. Similarly, while pointing toward pictures of a ball, say ball-ball.
Below is a video of the technique I used to encourage talking. We start with the first letter sound and encourage to repeat the rest of the word as I point the object.
- Ball
- Book
- Train
- Bike
- Car
- Truck
- Boat
- Plane
- Baby
- Bowl
- Spoon
- Sock
- Shoe
- Shirt
- Pants
- Hat
- Star
- House
- Tree
- Bath
- Chair
- Table
- Bed
- Blanket
- Cookie
- Cracker
- Cheese
- Apple
- Banana
- Milk
- Juice
- Water
TEACH YOUR ONE YEAR OLD SOCIAL WORDS
- More
- please
- Thank you
- hi (or hello)
- bye-bye
- Again
- sorry
- Yes
- No
TEACH YOUR ONE YEAR OLD COLORS
from 12 months to about 16 months your toddler will be able to identify correctly primary colors. They might not be able to say them until after but you can start teaching colors and their names at one year old.
- Red
- Blue
- Yellow
- Green
TEACH YOUR ONE YEAR OLD ACTION WORDS
- Eat
- Drink
- Go
- Stop
- Walk
- Sleep/night-night
- Wash
- Kiss
- Open
- Close
- Broken
- Play
- Want
- Hug
- Give (“gimme”)
- All done
- Help
- Shake
- Look
- Sit
- Blow
- Cry
- Throw
- Come (“C’mon”)
TEACH YOUR ONE YEAR OLD LOCATION WORDS (PREPOSITIONS)
- Up
- Down
- On
- Off
TEACH YOUR ONE YEAR OLD WORDS THAT DESCRIBE (Adjectives/Adverbs)
- Big
- Little
- Hot
- Cold
- Funny
- Dirty
- Clean
- Gentle
- Wet
- Soft
- Fast
- Slow
TEACH YOUR ONE YEAR OLD QUANTITY WORDS
As an early start to words you can also integrate sign language. Signs are easier to mimic and if you accompany them with the words you can reduce frustration during the toddler years.
- All
- None
- More
- Numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
TEACH YOUR ONE YEAR OLD PRONOUNS
- Me
- Mine
- My
- I
- You
TEACH YOUR ONE YEAR OLD ANIMAL NAMES
Most one year olds can identify animals by their sounds (example “neigh”), continue to associate sounds with the name of each animal when playing or using a learning binder. This will encourage them to use the word and not just the sounds (example: Horse).
Children do well-imitating speech when it involves movement or actions. This is the best way to encourage speech. There’s actually a reason behind why children learn to make animal sounds earlier than saying actual words. It’s because it is really simple for kids to learn.
Here are a few animal names you can encourage learning. We do this teaching through our learning binder which combines animal sounds, names and interactive games.
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- Dog
- Cat
- Fish
- Bird
- Duck
- Cow
- Horse
- Bunny
- Bear
- Pig
- Lion
- Elephant
- Giraffe
- Zebra
- Monkey
- Chicken
- Bee
- Frog
Print out the PDF Checklist!
If your toddler is not talking enough, and you are feeling they are not talking as expected, Try some of these speech games recommended by a speech pathology or you can use the learning binder to encourage speech with our interactive games. If you are concerned and think your child needs some speech therapy assistance, reach out to your pediatrician as they may be able to refer you to an early intervention speech program.
What’s next?
Wondering if your child is on track with all of his/her milestones? Do you know exactly what you should teach this year to give them a headstart when entering PreK? Find out more