An Activity for The Animal Lover

In the early years, children tend to prefer real photos over cartoons.

This is because of how their brains process information.

Real photos help children more easily connect images to reality, which helps to grow their vocabulary and real-world object recognition.

Children as young as nine months old can learn about an object from its photo and transfer that learning to the real object when they encounter it!

Real photos are also just less confusing - real pictures are concrete and reduce the confusion that can come from exaggerated cartoon features or fantastical elements.

That's why Montessori uses real images in all their language (nomenclature) cards.

And we've just put together a BIG bundle of animal-themed language card for you to use at home - perfect for children showing an interest in animals.

• Farm Animals
• Pets
• Dog Breeds
• Cat Breeds
• Reptiles
• Pond Life
• Types of Bears
• Birds of Canada
• Dinosaurs
• Insects

3-Part Nomenclature Cards support the development of language through a clear association between image and name.

They help:

• enrich vocabulary
• support precise spoken language
• build the understanding that words and images represent real objects in the world, creating a bridge between concrete objects and two-dimensional representations

Here are instructions on how to use the cards: How To Present 3-Part Language Cards.

As an extension, these cards can be matched with animal figurines to strengthen the same language work in a more concrete, hands-on way.

Stay tuned for Toddler versions of all our Nomenclature Cards. They’ll be larger and without any text. 

You can also find our entire collection of 3-Part Nomenclature Cards in this folder here.