Have you heard of shape bias? Itâs a little bit brilliant! When theyâre around two or three years old, your child will start to group objects by their shape and give same-shaped things the same name. So, if a child knows the word car and sees a new car-shaped toy, theyâll assume itâs⊠a car! And hopefully theyâll be right.
Shape bias is actually fantastic for your childâs language learning. How do we know? Science!Scientists spent nine weekly play dates trying to improve a group of toddlers' shape-bias. They taught them new words by showing them lots of different examples of the same thing. So, for âbucketâ,they showed them different buckets:a big metal one, a small blue plastic one, a square mop bucket, and so on. The results were amazing. After the training, the children had learned much more than just a few new words. Theyâd increased not only their shape bias but also their overall vocabulary. Both were much higher than usual for children of their age.
This suggests that increasing your childâs shape bias, improves their ability to learn new words!So as clever little tricks go, itâs a winner. You can increase your little oneâs shape bias by showing them lots of different examples of the same thing and, of course, naming them. So, you might say âthis is your sippy cup, this is Daddyâs tea cup and this is Mummyâs teacupâ. Sounds too easy but, believe it or not, theyâre learning!
Have you heard of shape bias?
When theyâre around two or three years old, your child will start to group objects by their shape.
Image caption, When theyâre around two or three years old, your child will start to group objects by their shape and give same-shaped things the same name.
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