Language that uses noun labels and generic descriptions to discuss people who do science (e.g., “Let’s be scientists! Scientists discover new things”) signals to children that scientists are a distinctive category. This identity-cuing language promotes essentialist beliefs and leads to disengagement from science among young children in experimental contexts. The extent to which these cues shape the development of children’s beliefs and behaviors in daily life, however, depends on (a) the availability of identity-based language in children’s environments, and (b) the power of these cues to shape beliefs over time, even in the noisier, more variable contexts in which children are exposed to them. Documenting the availability of this language, linguistic coding of children’s media (Study 1) and prekindergarten teachers’ classroom language (Study 2; n = 103; 98 female, 1 male, 4 unknown; 66% White, 8% African American, 6% Asian/Asian American, 3% Mixed/Biracial; 21% of the sample, of any race, identified as Hispanic/Latinx), confirmed that identity-cuing language was the most common form of science language in these two contexts. Further, children (Study 3; n = 83; Mage = 5.07 years; 43 female, 40 male; 64% White, 12% Asian/Asian American, 24% Mixed/Biracial; 36% of the sample, of any race, identified as Hispanic/Latinx) who were exposed to less identity-focused language from their teachers developed increasingly inclusive beliefs about science and indicated higher levels of science engagement over time. These findings suggest that linguistic input is an important mechanism through which exclusive beliefs about science are conveyed to children in daily life.