Goals. Sound words are fun and engaging for infants and young children. When we pretend to make a sound, the link between our voices and other things around us can be quite clear, and encourages our little-ones to join in, strengthening their vocal behaviours. For older children, learning the sounds that different animals and vehicles make can form an important part of play.

How does it work? Because a lot of sound words sound like the noise they represent, some scientists now believe that they are an important bridge to understanding how spoken language reflects things in the world – i.e., discovering the link between words and the world. Also, because of the way we sometimes use sound words, they can be easier to hear, and simpler to say than regular words. For example, if a parent says “cow goes MOOOOOOOO”, the word ‘moo’ is often louder and longer than ‘cow’, making it easier to hear. Also, many sound words are often a bit simpler to say. This can encourage your little one to join in for a familiar verbal routine, helping them on the path to more complicated language. Sound words are also great fun!

Key point. Some sounds are described by well-known words, like ‘splash,’ ‘knock’ or ‘moo’. ‘Shhh,’ ‘wheee’, and ‘ow’ are sound words too. We can also make up new sounds with our voices, like a ‘vrm-vrm-vrm’ sound for a noisy fan, or a ‘wooooo’ for a hair dryer. There’s no need to worry about whether the sounds are ‘correct.’ It’s better to focus on enjoying a fun interaction with your child. The best part is that little-ones can often guess what we mean!

Multilingual insights. You can use sound words in any language! Some languages have a longer list of well-known sound words than others, but you can use made-up sound words, or words borrowed from other languages to enrich your language play in any language.