Reading aloud is an excellent way to improve language development. Three year olds can learn new vocabulary, new information, sequencing, making predictions and story elements (characters and settings). In addition to reading to the children, you need to talk to them about the books. Good questions for 3-year-olds include:
What was your favorite part of the story?
What do you think is going to happen next?
Who is this story about?
What's happening in this picture?
Another way to use books to develop language skills is to act out the stories together. You can use simple props and costumes to repeat the story as a play or you can use characters and ideas from the story to inform your imaginary play.
In addition to reading to your 3-year-old, it's important to talk to her. You can explain what you are doing as you cook dinner or repair the front steps so that you model appropriate language usage as well as teach him about the world around him. Responding to her questions thoughtfully and encouraging her to ask her own will also increase language development. Being silly is an enjoyable and effective way to improve language skills, create funny rhymes as you go about the day (Would you like some spaghetti - bopetti for lunch? It's time to brush your teeth, keeth!) and ask crazy questions (Would you like your juice in the red cup or on the tiger?). Showing your 3-year-old how important communication is to you, as well as modeling communication skills, will increase language development.
Sorting activities are often associated with math readiness skills, not language skills. But for children to be able to sort objects, they must deeply understand the words (criteria) they are sorting by, so providing opportunities to sort by color, size, use and/or group helps them understand the meanings of more words. When three year olds explain why objects do or don't fit into each sorted group, they are stretching their language skills again.