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Mapping vocabulary words

Brianna Lopez, M.S., CCC-SLP

— 2 min read
Mapping vocabulary words

Theme: Band-Aids

Book: All Better by Bernd Penners and Henning Lohlein

Craft: Felt play band-aids

Linguist’s Corner: Mapping vocabulary words

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Band-Aids (and Minor Injuries!) 

Have you noticed the way that kids are fascinated with minor injuries? Any time that a student has a minor injury - think a scrape or scratch, I can guarantee that is the first thing they will show me. 

Believe it or not, this is an incredibly language-rich topic that is deeply engaging for young children. Let’s dive in!

Book

Our book this week is All Better by Bernd Penners and Henning Lohlein. When I tell you that my students love this book, I mean that they ALL looooooove this book! This book comes with reusable bandage stickers, which means that reading this book is a highly interactive experience. This is one of our few recommendations that may be tricky to find at the library, but I promise it’s worth it!

While reading this book, I target the following linguistic skills:

  • Parts of the body
  • Verbs (jump, climb, sit)
  • Emotions 
  • Story sequencing (what happened first? etc.)

Craft

This week’s craft is DIY play band-aids! With some felt, velcro and a hot glue gun, you can make band-aids of all different sizes and colors.

Use your best judgment, as always, as to how to include your child while making this craft. 

While making this craft, I target the following linguistic skills:

  • Verbs (cut, stick)
  • Colors
  • Sizes (big, little)
  • Safety words (hot, wait)

While playing with these felt band-aids, I target the following linguistic skills:

  • Parts of the body
  • Pretend play skill development
  • Vocabulary words related to play (doctor, nurse, band-aid, hurt, better, etc.)

Linguist’s Corner

During typical language development, a child goes through a linguistic period called fast mapping. This means that the child hears a new word 1-2 times before beginning to expressively use this word.

Before* fast mapping begins, however, there is a period called slow mapping. This is important - every child goes through this process! During slow mapping, a child has to hear a word many many more times before learning the word. Think 50 or even 150-200 times!  

This is why play is so important. While playing with the felt play band-aids or while reading All Better, you may say a word like “hurt” or “hand” repeatedly. This is wonderful exposure to the vocabulary words for your child. The best activities for learning language are deeply engaging, repetitive, relatable and of course - enjoyable!  

*Fast mapping and slow mapping periods can, and often do, overlap. 

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Stay patient, stay connected, and have a blast! Feel free to respond to this email and show me how your craft turned out. I am a team of one and I read every single email that you all send to me. :) 

About Language Through Connection

Brianna Lopez, M.S., CCC-SLP is a certified speech/language pathologist, a linguist and the founder of Language Through Connection. At Language Through Connection, we believe in creating an environment where language can thrive through deeply engaging, connection-oriented activities and strategies. 

Learn more about LTC’s offerings here! And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!