From Naming to Describing: Teaching Adjectives at Home

Once your child begins to name people, places, and things (nouns), the next step in growing their language is learning how to describe those nouns.

This is where adjectives, describing words, come in.

Adjectives help children add detail, compare objects, and share what they see, feel, and think.

In this post, we’ll break down what adjectives are, why they matter, and how you can help your child learn them during everyday routines.

What Are Adjectives?

Adjectives are words that describe nouns. They tell us what something looks like, feels like, or how it behaves.

Examples of adjectives:

  • Colors: red, blue, green

  • Sizes: big, small, tiny

  • Shapes: round, square

  • Textures: soft, hard, rough

  • Feelings: happy, sad, silly

When children begin using adjectives, they add length and meaning to what they can say.

  • “loud lion”

  • “old shoes”

  • “little pumpkin”

Why Are Adjectives Important?

Learning to describe helps children:

  • Add detail to their ideas

  • Compare and sort objects

  • Answer and ask questions (e.g., “Which one?” “What kind?”)

  • Expand their vocabulary

  • Use longer utterances

Describing is also a key skill for school readiness, storytelling, and early literacy.

How to Teach Adjectives at Home

During Play:

  • “You have the big truck.”

  • “Let’s build a tall tower.”

  • “This block is blue.”

During Daily Routines

  • “Put on your soft pajamas.”

  • “Let’s eat cheese with the round crackers.”

  • “Here’s your little spoon.”

Out and About

  • “What a bright sun!”

  • “Look at that fast car!”

  • “This bag is heavy.”

During Bedtime Stories

  • “Look at the fluffy bunny.”

  • “That’s a sad dog.”

  • “This teddy bear is soft.”

Book Suggestions

Books for Colors, Size, and Texture

  1. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle
    Great for colors and animals, “red bird,” “blue horse.”

  2. A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni
    Explore color changes and descriptions like green, yellow, and spotty.

  3. Big Bug by Henry Cole
    Simple opposites like big/small, long/short, perfect for toddler speech and early adjectives.

  4. Touch and Feel Series (DK or Scholastic)
    Great for modeling texture words: rough, smooth, soft, bumpy, fuzzy.

Books for Emotions

  1. Glad Monster, Sad Monster by Ed Emberley & Anne Miranda
    Perfect for labeling emotions with adjectives like happy, sad, silly, scared.

  2. Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang
    Talk about feelings and emotional adjectives, grumpy, mad, frustrated, calm.

  3. Today I Feel... by Madalena Moniz
    Alphabet of emotions, each page shows a feeling word like anxious, brave, curious.

Books for Opposites

  1. Opposites by Sandra Boynton
    Simple text with pairs like big/little, fast/slow, clean/messy.

  2. Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricelli
    Descriptive and silly, “ice cream is yummy, soap is yucky.” Helps teach food related adjectives.

Books for Descriptions

  1. Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert
    Teaches fruits and veggies with descriptive opportunities: crunchy carrot, green grapes.

  2. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault
    Use it to describe size, colors, and feelings (“silly letters,” “tired letters”).

  3. A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni
    Explore color changes and descriptions like green, yellow, and spotty.

  4. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
    Teaches quantity words (one apple, two pears) and size progression.

Parent EducationLia Kurtin