Verbs, verbs, verbs! So important for language development! Children typically start using nouns first and then verbs (action words) start to come in.  

Verbs are so important for so many reasons. They carry a lot of meaning in a sentence. They actually allow children to start forming beginning sentences - like mommy GO or RUN doggie!

Many children can say at least 40 verbs by 24 months.  2 year olds who use more verbs have more advanced grammatical skills 6 months later.  Verbs allow children to start building early sentences.

The best part about verbs is they are fun to teach! The nature of the words themselves allow for lots of movement and action.  Have fun and jump and model yourself if you have to!

SOURCES:

Hanen.org

Hadley, P. A., Rispoli, M., & Hsua, N. (2016). Toddlers’ Verb Lexicon Diversity and Grammatical Outcomes. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 47, 44–58.

Center for Child Language and the CDI Advisory Board. (2013). Cross Linguistic Lexical Norm website. http://www.cdi-clex.org/