Games To Increase Vocabulary In Young Children

Don’t miss out on these fun games to increase your children’s vocabulary while spending quality time.

Children are like sponges when it comes to learning new words. This is why vocabulary building games for young children are so important. These games don’t need to only be played at school; from home, parents can also enhance this learning.

For this reason, below, we are going to show you some examples of games that will make you have a good time as a family and, in addition, will help your child to increase his vocabulary. Don’t lose details and have a great time with these games!

Games to increase vocabulary

Which one doesn’t fit?

You have to present a list of words and your child has to think about the context of the words and choose the one that doesn’t fit. Next, we are going to present you the ways in which you have to play the game:

• Pick a category without saying it out loud.
• Give a list of 4-5 words that belong to that category, except for one word that shouldn’t belong to it.
• Your child must detect the word that does not fit.

This game requires a good level of thinking because you do not tell the child the category, since he first has to listen to all the words and find the common relationship between all but one.

You can make this as easy or as difficult as you like, depending on your child’s age and whether or not they are able to overcome simple challenges. Examples for a difficult round and an easy round:

• Apple, peach, banana, tuna. “Tuna” is the strange word, since it is not a fruit.
• Book, sock, bed, plate, pillow. They are things found in a bedroom, therefore “plate” is the strange word.

A bird flies , one of the games to increase vocabulary

Teach your child to use words that demonstrate an action, that is, verbs. You can do it with this easy game. Here’s how to play:

• Choose an animal, person or object, for example, a bird.
• Ask your child to think of something a bird does. For example: a bird flies, a bird chirps, a bird sings, a bird jumps.
• Take turns choosing your words and actions.

What is it?

This game teaches children comprehension skills by making them use the information they have to solve puzzles. Here’s how to play:

• Choose an animal.
• Describe it in a riddle. For example: “I am thinking of something that lives in the sea, has sharp teeth and swims very fast. What is it?”.
• Once your child has guessed the animal, it is his turn to choose one and make up a riddle.

This game also encourages creative thinking, as your child, like you, has to invent puzzles and find interesting ways to explain his animal.

It is best to play this game using the same theme, such as animals, for a few rounds until your child has learned to make up a puzzle. Later, try a different topic, like people at work. For example: “I wear a long coat, I work in a hospital, sometimes I do operations. Who I am?”.

Once upon a time…

Making up stories is a great way to develop vocabulary, as well as creativity and imagination. There are 3 ways to make up a story:

1. For younger children, use a storybook they have heard before. Flip through the story and take turns “telling” it on each page. Your child will remember part of the story from having heard it before and will use the pictures on the page as clues.
2. Use a picture story your child hasn’t heard before and flip through it. Take turns making up the story by interpreting the images. Follow your child’s lead and continue the story from that interpretation as you bring in new ideas and events based on the pictures.
3. Make up a story without a book. This is a great game for the car or for bedtime. Make up a beginning, like “Once upon a time there was a snake in the jungle …” . Take turns and add one line to the story at a time.
   

Keep it up

You can play this game anywhere, but the best time is while driving or traveling by bus or train with your little one. It’s a great game for learning nouns and thinking fast. Here’s how to play:

• As you pass places while driving, take turns naming as many things as you can. For example, you can say “tree, building, sign, traffic light, store, chair, lawn, clouds …”.
• Try to maintain an unbroken chain of words throughout the entire journey.

This game is a lot of fun and also requires a lot of thinking. Your child has to really focus and think so as not to break the continuous flow of words. When you understand the dynamics of the game, you won’t want to stop.

As you can see, there are many games that are fun to play with your children and increase vocabulary. You can play one of the mentioned ones every day and then repeat them. He will love playing with you again!