Kids learning vocabulary

17 Ways for Kids to Learn New Vocabulary

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By Melissa Taylor

Posted onSeptember 15, 2020May 3, 2021

Updated onMay 3, 2021

Fluent readers need a big vocabulary. The more words a child knows, the better reader and writer they are. (Anderson and Freebody, 1981; Graves, 1986; Stahl, 1998) (DOE, NAEP, 2011) It’s up to us as parents to help our children learn and develop a large vocabulary.

The best way to learn new words is to use them, play with them, listen to them, and apply them. While it is possible to learn new words out of context, like with flashcards, Vocabulary.com, or word-of-the-day calendars, to actually have a word stick in a child’s memory, you need to use it. Repetition and application are essential.

How to Help Your Kids Learn New Vocabulary

What can you do to help expose your children to new words–and then use those words? Here are some activities to try.

1. Expose your child to vocabulary words — talking, singing, listening!

2. Have conversations.

Talk to your children using a rich vocabulary. Explain words. Listen and respond to children’s dialogue with new words and related information. (This is often called “Motherese” — it’s when kids say something in kid talk such as “me want ma” and the parent responds with, “yes, you want more milk, don’t you? You are still thirsty.”)

According to a study by Meredith Rowe in 2012:

• Children under the age of two benefit from exposure to lots of words.
• Two- and three- year olds benefit from hearing a variety of sophisticated words.
• Preschoolers benefit from conversations about past and future events as well as explanations.

3. Provide experiences.

Parents make new experiences (and familiar ones) rich with learning when pointing out new things and talking with kids. Introducing new words helps kids acquire vocabulary.

4. Read aloud stories.

Reading to children is one of the most beneficial activities you can do for their literacy skills. Find read aloud book lists for grades 1 to 8.

5. Invent your own stories.

6. Read.

The more your child reads, the more words they learn. Find book lists by age.

7. Read a variety of genres.

We learn a depth of vocabulary by reading fantasy, mystery, sci-fi, nonfiction, poetry, and more.

8. Write.

Practice the words you’ve learned by using them in writing.

9. Sing.

I’ve learned so many Spanish words by singing along to popular songs. Kids will also learn words in their own language by singing.

10. Pretend Play.

You can support vocabulary acquisition by introducing play specific words to children. If you’re playing doctor, teach the word stethoscope, for example.

11. Word Play.

Children 2 – 5 Years Old:
I Spy with word clues (“I spy something that starts with t-“), I Spy things that start with B (great for the car), or rhyming words (“I spy something that rhymes with dock.”)

Children 6+:
Mad Libs, Haikubes, Going Camping game (“I’m going camping and I’m going to bring an alligator . . . “), telling jokes, WordARound, Scrabble, Bubble Talk, Sight Word Games, Boggle, Bananagrams, Yamodo, Blurt.

12. Word Collections.

13. Make Inferences.

When you’re reading and find an unknown word, help kids figure out what it means by using the context clues. I usually ask kids to substitute another word to see if it makes sense in the context of the sentence.

14. Share Cool Words.

Pick a word from your reading that you think other people in your family don’t know. Share what it is, the meaning, and use it in a sentence. Act it out if you can.

15. Do Word Puzzles.

Do crossword puzzles, Jumble, cryptograms, word searches, and play Word Games.

16. Play Vocabulary Games.

17. Word Scavenger Hunt.

Print out this indoor word scavenger hunt and look for favorite and new words

You Might Also Like:
Lemony Snicket’s 13 Words
How to Improve Your Vocabulary
Word Play with Kids – Inventing Words
Easy Found Poetry with Magazines

Follow Melissa Taylor’s board Writing Activities for Kids on Pinterest.

Melissa Taylor

Melissa Taylor, MA, is the creator of Imagination Soup. She's a mother, teacher, author, and freelance writer. She writes Imagination Soup and freelances for publications online and in print, including Brightly for Penguin Random House, USA Today Health, Colorado Parent, and Parenting.

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5 Fun And Easy Ideas

Learning vocabulary is one of the most essential steps in your child’s journey toward becoming a strong, consistent reader. But we know it can also be a little daunting for parents to know exactly how to teach vocabulary.

With almost 200,000 words in the English language, where do you even start? Have no fear! Working on vocabulary with your child can be fun and easy, and we’re here to help.

As we work through some playful, effective tips on how to teach vocabulary to your child, there are a couple of pointers we encourage you to keep in mind. These will help you and your child stay focused while still having fun.

Tips On How To Teach Vocabulary

Practice Patience

All children learn at different paces and in their own, unique ways. It may take some time to figure out the perfect mixture of activities to keep your child happy, engaged, and learning.

This is completely normal! What works for your child may be the opposite of what worked for their siblings or their classmates.

Taking the time to adjust to their needs is the best way to keep them engaged and excited about learning new vocabulary.

Encourage Independent Reading

It’s important to foster a sense of confidence and independence in your child from a young age.

Even as they continue to build their vocabulary, it’s helpful to allow your child to explore and grow on their own. They’ll be exposed to plenty of words, subjects, and interests as they navigate through the wonderful world of books.

Your child won’t know every word they come across, even if they’re reading at their reading level, and that’s OK! You’ll be there to help them fill in the gaps.

Get Specific

Teaching vocabulary is all about the nitty-gritty. It’s important to make sure that when your child is learning a new word, they have all the tools they need to thoroughly understand the newest addition to their vocabulary vault.

Working on a single word with detail (and repetition!) helps ensure your child not only knows the word using their recall skills but can also only recognize and comprehend its use.

Help Them Help Themselves

During your child’s exploratory reading sessions, they’re likely to come across some words they don’t know. But that’s no reason for them to struggle!

Teaching your child how to work out words for themselves by using skills they have already mastered — such as sounding-out — will help them on their road to learning and reading independently!

Engage Your Child With Word-Play Games

What’s better than learning techniques that are effective and exciting?

Utilizing word-play games (like the ones below!) can help you figure out how to teach vocabulary to your child in functional and fun ways.

Fun And Easy Activities For Teaching Vocabulary

1) Vocabulary Clue

This game offers an all-star line up of repetitive exposure to vocabulary, providing context clues for your child to use while recalling, and loads of fun while playing!

If you’d like to try this game, you’ll need a list of vocabulary words that you’d like your child to focus on. Write each vocabulary word on a separate slip of paper, then mix them all up in a bowl or hat.

For the first round, you will start by pulling out a vocabulary word. Make sure your child doesn’t see the word!

Next, try to describe the word without actually saying it. Your child’s goal is to guess the word as fast as possible!

We recommend giving players three minutes per word to guess. The younger your child is, the more time they’ll need. That’s OK! You can adapt the timing as you go if you find that your child needs a bit longer to guess.

Keep going and taking turns until you work your way through the bowl of vocabulary words.

For the second round, you use the same vocabulary words, but this time you can only provide clues by acting out the words!

For the third round, you can give verbal hints again, but you and your child can only use one word to hint at what the vocabulary word might be. For example, if the word was “sky,” your hint could be “cloud. ”

This game helps make sure that your child has a plethora of resources to help them learn their vocabulary words. After playing, they’ll know the definition of their new vocabulary words as well as synonyms and actions associated with each word!

2) Two Truths And A Lie

This game is easy, quick, and can be used on the go!

For this game, when practicing vocabulary words with your child, provide them with three different options. One option will be the correct definition of the word, while the other two are lies.

We encourage you to be as absurdist and silly as possible!

As you begin, make it obvious which answer is the correct one. As your child gets better and better at recognizing their vocabulary words and the right definition, you can get more advanced with your white lies.

We recommend avoiding switching around the definitions from other vocabulary words they’re focusing on. We don’t want them to get confused!

Sticking with silly, funny white lies will help move them in the right direction.

3) Sticky Ball Game

If you don’t mind sticking some tape on your walls, this is a great game to use for teaching vocabulary!

You can write out each vocabulary word onto a separate flashcard, then stick them onto the wall. Make sure they’re spaced apart! This will make it easier for your child to read.

Next, scrape together a ball made out of tape that’s nice and sticky.

Your job will be to read off the definition of one of the words. Once your child figures out what it is, their goal is to throw the sticky ball at the right word as fast as they can.

For young learners who are still working on their reading skills, you can point to cards and read them off so they have multiple answer choices to consider. Their goal is to throw the ball at the correct answer.

This game is even better if you have multiple kids, as they can play together. Just make sure you adjust the vocabulary to suit each child (don’t act out a word for your sixth grader if it’s your kindergartner’s turn!).

4) Race For The Right Word

You’ll need yourself and one other person to help with this game if you want to give it a go.

One of you should be positioned on one side of the room. Have the other person go to the opposite end of the room and wait with a stack of vocabulary cards written onto large pieces of paper.

Hint: Keep the font a little bit small — the goal is for players to have to run up to the other person to read it!

Once you yell “GO!” your child will dash to the person on the other side of the room holding the flashcard. Then they will run back to you and tell you the definition of the word they saw. Feel free to have the person holding the cards read the words off for younger children.

If your child gets the definition wrong, they can run back to get a hint from the person holding the word. Players can run back and forth as many times as needed to get the definition correct.

You can make this game easier or harder depending on your child’s reading level!

5) Vocabulary “Kamishibai”

This activity might sound fancy, but a kamishibai is just a Japanese form of storytelling that’s done through visual cues. Traditionally, people build tiny “stages” that they use to slide in small pictures representing scenes in a story (think of a very small, mechanical film screen!).

There’s no need to build a stage, but we encourage you to get crafty and creative with this one!

If this sounds like an interesting activity to you, start with a book that your child is familiar with. They should have an understanding of some of the vocabulary they’re trying to practice.

You can illustrate a handful of scenes from the book together that emphasize the vocabulary they’re learning. Give them a head start by reading the book together. Then, ask if they can retell it with the pictures you made together. Can they assemble the story in the right order?

The challenge: can your child tell what picture scene goes with what vocabulary word?

For example, if you’re reading A Very Hungry Caterpillar together, you could draw a picture of the hungry caterpillar turning into a butterfly. This scene could work as an example for vocabulary words like “change” or “transform.”

For younger kids, you can make it even simpler. You could draw a stick figure for the word “man.” Or you could draw a picture of some sneakers for the word “shoe.” It’s easy and adaptable for your child’s learning.

The storytelling and visual aspects of this technique will boost their imagination and recall skills.

Now You Know How To Teach Vocabulary!

Expanding your child’s vocabulary will take time! We hope that one or more of these tips and activities gave you some ideas for making their vocabulary acquisition fun, easy, and a part of their learning routine that they look forward to.

If you ever find yourself needing to mix up your routine, we recommend trying the HOMER Learn & Grow app. It has tons of personalized activities for how to teach vocabulary to your child, and help them build confidence that will carry through their reading journey!

Author

Vocabulary study of younger schoolchildren with intellectual disabilities

Musaeva, N. S. Vocabulary study in younger schoolchildren with intellectual impairment / N. S. Musaeva. - Text: direct // Young scientist. - 2015. - No. 15 (95). — S. 596-598. — URL: https://moluch.ru/archive/95/21374/ (date of access: 03/31/2023).

In modern scientific literature, the word is considered as a sign denoting the result of cognition, thinking. The word encodes cognitive experience. Language as a means of communication is primarily the language of words. Words are concrete objects, abstract concepts, feelings and relationships are expressed.

Words in a language do not exist in isolation from each other. They are part of a single lexical system. Each lexical unit of this system is connected by various relations with other units both in meaning and in form (synonymous, antonymic connections, thematic and lexico-semantic groups). The place of a word is also determined by its ambiguity, compatibility with other words. When learning vocabulary, these connections begin to interact. Semantic (semantic) fields, or so-called verbal networks, are formed around each word. The mastery of a word is at the same time the process of its “accumulation” with lexical connections with other words. As a result, children master both the words themselves and the systemic connections between them.

A child can only master the meaning of a word when it is used in phrases, sentences, and a coherent statement. Therefore, the formation of a dictionary should take place in close relationship with the development of coherent speech of children. Conversely, the richness of the vocabulary is a sign of well-developed speech and an indicator of a high level of mental development (1).

The timely development of the vocabulary is one of the important factors in preparing for schooling. Children who do not have sufficient vocabulary experience great learning difficulties, not finding the right words to express their thoughts. Teachers note that students with a rich vocabulary solve arithmetic problems better, master reading skills, grammar more easily, and are more active in mental work in the classroom.

The peculiarities of the vocabulary of mentally retarded children attracted the attention of many authors who noted that cognitive impairments affect the formation of a passive and active vocabulary (2,3).

However, the study of the vocabulary of students with intellectual disabilities in the republic was not studied, in connection with this, we conducted a preliminary study of the state of the vocabulary in the native (Uzbek) language of mentally retarded primary school students in auxiliary schools No. 25, 37, 52, 57 , 66 of the city of Tashkent.

The purpose of the study was to identify the level of formation of the vocabulary of mentally retarded junior schoolchildren.

As a basis for diagnosing the speech development of children, we laid the principles of systematicity and consistency, accessibility and visibility, using such pedagogical qualities as benevolence, patience and endurance, pedagogical tact and the ability to dispose the child to communication. The examinations were carried out with each child individually, after establishing a positive emotional contact with them. In the study, we identified the active vocabulary of students:

- Nouns that answer the question who? what?, fruits, vegetables, toys, clothes, shoes, pets, wild animals, poultry, seasons, holidays, family, modes of transport, furniture, professions, food, dishes...

-                               what question? Colors: red, yellow, white, blue, green, light blue, brown, black; object shapes: round, triangular, square, circle; antonyms: big-small, high-low, long-short, wide-narrow; old, new, beautiful...

- Verbs answering the question what does he do? Walks, jumps, sews, sleeps, runs, cooks, swims, washes, eats, washes, irons, cleans, dances, plays... animals, poultry, seasons, holidays, family, modes of transport, furniture, professions, food, dishes. The criteria for assessing the degree of assimilation of the vocabulary by mentally retarded students were defined as “very low”, “low”, “medium”.

The study involved 190 children, 58 students from the 1st grade, 42 students from the 2nd grade, 44 students from the 3rd grade, 46 students from the 4th grade.

Examination of children with intellectual disabilities made it possible to establish a picture of the formation of vocabulary, to identify the level of passive and active vocabulary and to specify the volume of vocabulary of younger students. All diagnostic tasks in their content corresponded to the age indicators of younger students, had clear verbal instructions and the necessary demonstration material. The results of the study were formalized in protocols for examining the vocabulary for each child. The results of the examination of the state of the vocabulary of mentally retarded primary school students are shown in Table No. 1.

Table 1

Vocabulary status of mentally retarded primary school students

Pupils who showed very low scores could not answer even very elementary tasks. For example, where children were required to show objects named by the experimenter, children found it difficult to show, many showed several pictures for the name of one object, “generalizing words” the children had difficulty with concepts: school supplies, transport, flowers, trees, shoes, clothes. It was difficult for children to generalize these words, for example, such items as boots, shoes , were assigned to the concepts of clothes, and bus, tram, trolleybus , the children called cars. It was also difficult for children to focus their attention on several pictures at the same time, and therefore they quickly forgot the purpose of the task. For example, students of the 25th specialized school of the 1st grade Abduvosikov, Abdukayumov, Olmasov could not distinguish fruits from vegetables when they were asked to distribute fruits in one direction and vegetables in the other direction, the students could not cope with the task, they also could not list family members , distinguish the seasons, distinguish colors, geometric shapes, etc. The students from the 4th grade of the specialized school No. 66 Abdumalikov, Abdurahimov, Makhamadzhonov also gave very low results, although they study in the 4th grade, but they could not cope with the tasks, in each school has students who gave very low results, out of 190 tested 112 students, that is, 59% of primary school students gave very low results. Among the children we studied, there are children with Down syndrome. Out of 112 students, 38 (34%) 1st graders, 27 (24%) 2nd graders, 22 (20%) 3rd graders, and 25 (22%) 4th graders scored very low.

It should be noted that, having a minimum passive vocabulary, children use it very reluctantly, when answering questions, they think for a long time, become animated at the game situation, without delving into the essence of the question, and are often distracted, forgetting the instructions.

Students who have low scores 46 students (24%) out of 190 students. Of these, 15 (33%) students are 1st grade students, 9 (20%) 2nd grade students, 17 (36%) 3rd grade students, 5 (11%) 4th grade students. These students with a low level of vocabulary formation coped with the tasks by trial and error. Children completed these tasks either after stimulating questions, or corrected themselves, but with the help of the experimenter. The instructions were clear to the children, but controlling actions were required. To the questions “What is this?”, “Who is this?” these students were able to answer, but tasks requiring distinguishing color, shape, size were difficult for these students. To the questions "What does he do?" students answered only after stimulating questions. The questions were answered with the help of the experimenter. For example, a student of the 37th specialized school from the 2nd grade of Abdujabborov was able to cope with the task of naming nouns, distinguishing them from each other, but he could not complete the task of distinguishing colors, shapes, sizes on his own, when given generalizing words, this student did everything only with with the help of an experimenter. A 2nd grade student Otabek from the 57th specialized school was able to complete the entire task with nouns, but on the task of understanding the actions shown in the pictures (show in which picture: the girl is sleeping, the mother is ironing, the grandmother is knitting, the girl is washing, the mother is cooking, the girl is sweeping , the girl combs, the boy washes) could not answer correctly. Tasks adjectives denoting color, shape, size were also difficult, he constantly needed the help of an experimenter.

Children with an average level of were able to distinguish words related to nouns, adjectives, verbs, while clarifying generalizing words, they were able to say everyday words, it was slightly difficult to distinguish poultry, seasons. For example, a student of the 52nd grade school, Abduvaliev, was able to complete the task on nouns, adjectives, had some difficulty with tasks with verbs, completed all the tasks with help, with generalizing words, only sometimes resorted to help.

Of the 190 students surveyed, 32 or 17% showed an average level of learning. 5 (16%) students of them are students of grade 1, 6 (18%) children of grade 2, 5 (16%) children of grade 3, 16 (50%) students are students of grade 4.

Based on the results of the experiments, the following conclusions were made that the vocabulary of mentally retarded primary school students is not sufficient in quantitative and qualitative terms. There is an inaccurate use of words, paraphasia. The prevailing are the replacements of words by semantic similarity. Characteristic are the replacements of the word . There are mixtures of words of the same kind, type. The passive vocabulary of mentally retarded children is larger than the active one, but it is hardly updated. The data of V. G. Petrova is confirmed that mentally retarded schoolchildren do not know the names of many objects that surround them.

When talking with teachers, they reported a number of shortcomings in the work, that there are not enough visual supplies to increase the vocabulary of students, methodological aids have not been developed to a sufficient extent, parents of students do not work together with teachers, there is a lack of visual objects for reciting poems , plays, fairy tales, few hours are devoted to the study of the seasons. Indeed, in mentally retarded students, memory is usually enriched with the help of visualization.

Literature:

allowance for students. higher and Wednesdays, ped. textbook establishments - 3rd ed., stereotype. - M.: Publishing Center "Academy", 2000.

2. Petrova V. G., Belyakova A. P. Psychology of mentally retarded schoolchildren. -- St. Petersburg: Rech, 2006

3. Lalaeva R.I. Speech disorders and their correction in children with mental retardation / Lalaeva R.I, Serebryakova N.V, Zorina S.V.-M.: Vlados- 2004

Basic terms (automatically generated) : student, child, vocabulary, word, task, class, experimenter's help, active vocabulary, mode of transport, food.

How can we improve our child's vocabulary?

Vocabulary is learned naturally in the process of learning the language, and children absorb new words by listening to them. The same methods are applied both in relation to the native language and in the study of a new language. Almost all kids attending LuckyKids learn English as a second language, so let's look at 9 first0045 teaching new vocabulary to second language learners.

When teaching English we must speak clearly and correctly. When introducing new words, teachers should speak naturally, without simplifying the words. The reason for not simplifying the words is that the children will ask "What does this mean?", and, as a result, there will be more communication between the teacher and the student.

This in turn improves the practice of listening to all students in the class. Adults and teachers should never simplify the language, as children must be treated as little adults during learning, otherwise they will not learn the correct words that they can later use in life.

Listening to is the main way to learn new words; children usually need to hear a new word 4 to 12 times to remember. During a game or vocabulary-related exercise in the classroom, children should use the same word several times . This is done so that the word "strengthened" in the mind.

Games are a great way to build vocabulary naturally . At Luckykids, children speak only English . This helps them remember new words better. A good teacher will always ask a student who has difficulty with certain words to repeat them several times or ask him some questions about that word to help the child memorize the new vocabulary more easily.

Another great way to learn new words is to read not just one but many books. Real books are the best option, "real book" refers to paper books, whether paperback or hardcover.

Books are now mostly used in electronic format, which is not good for the eyes because children tend to spend too much time in front of mobile phone, TV and computer screens anyway. So a paper book is the best solution! In the process of reading, the child will always come across new words and should be encouraged to look up the meaning of these words in a dictionary, or try to understand their meaning using the context. (If you are not sure about the meaning of a word, this means understanding its meaning by taking into account other words in the sentence). Also, students should be encouraged to lead "vocabulary diary". This is a notebook in which all new words are written so that they can be repeated or refreshed later.