Giant Everyday Picture Cards

Step by step

1. 1Print about a dozen A4 pictures of familiar objects (bottle, cat, shoe...).
2. 2Pick a calm moment when baby is alert, sitting facing you or on your lap.
3. 3Show ONE picture, say its name slowly twice, and let baby stare at it and touch it.
4. 4Whenever possible, go touch the real object right after ("Look, a shoe... YOUR shoe!").
5. 5Focus on naming whatever picture they stare at or tap; stop as soon as they lose interest, even if you only did two.
6. 6Tape 2 or 3 pictures at baby's eye level and swap them out each week.

What it builds

Hearing the same word for both the picture and the real object helps baby connect all three: the sound, the image, and the real thing. It is the very first step in building vocabulary, long before their first spoken words.