Words are such a fickle thing. Whether you have a budding author or an auspicious poet- words are king. So, how can you help nurture your childs writing desires and amp up thier vocabulary? Here are a couple suggestions for Word Study with your little ones...
Like with everything else that takes practice, the key is keeping it FUN!!!
1) Word of the Day: You can sign up for free on Dictionary.com for a different word each day or make up your own. To make it fun for kids, tell them the word of the day and see if they can guess what it means. I find that particularly funny sounding words usually stick with them best. Challenge them to use the word properly in a sentence 3 times that day and see how it goes! Older kids will find joy in sharing these fantastic new words with friends.
2) Rhyming Game: Start with a 3 letter word and work your way up. You pick a word, your child counters with a rhyming word (eg. cat bat). Step it up every now and then and see just how long of words your child can come up with that still rhymes with your word. Not only does the game get more challenging, but its more rewarding and more hilarious!!
3) Word searches: You can either create word searches of your own (perhaps with some of your word of the days) or find them in local newspapers and online. Word searches help with spelling and will further internalize words you are working on. If you are working with newspapers or word searches you didn't create- it may even help you find new words to define together and use as your word of the day!
4) Scrabble: Kids who are writing age are old enough to play scrabble! It can be a fun and engaging way to discover new words! How? Well, I suggest picking up a scrabble dictionary and letting your child use it to play the game. They will discover new words along the way and enjoy the ridiculous words that scrabble counts as real, I know our family does! Great for play with the whole family!
5) Word Warp: This one can be fun with kids 2-3rd grade and up. Pick a root word and then have your child spin it into another word. They can use prefixes, suffixes, compound words, and any other legitamate way to warp the word. Eg. CLEAN can become unclean, cleaning, cleanse, cleaner, etc. You can have them warp the word once or you can go back and forth hashing out all the ways the word can be warped!
Regardless of which game you choose, have fun with your kids. They will love the time with you and associate reading, writing, and words with good times and great memories. There is no healthier way to learn then to keep it light and enjoy yourself!
1 comment:
Thanks so much for this. I babysit my little cousins all the time and I'm always looking for something new to help with their schooling because when I was young I had a really hard time with school. Can't wait to try some of these out ^~^
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