How to enhance your Kid’s Vocabulary?

Children are always expanding their vocabulary, but they don’t all simultaneously come to grips with reading and writing. Some children seem to get it right away, while others require more time. One way parents can increase their child’s vocabulary is through word games.

Word games can be a great way to repurpose children’s natural curiosity, enhance vocabulary and improve critical thinking skills without turning on the television.

Do Word Games Give Kids a Competitive Edge?

The answer is YES!

According to a study published in Child Development, preschoolers who played word games at home were more advanced in reading and spelling than children who didn’t.

The researchers found that parents who played with their children helped them develop language skills by speaking more often and clearly when playing. They also used longer words and more complex sentences. All of this is important because the earlier children start talking, the more they learn about language structure and grammar. And as they get older, this helps them understand written language better. Parents also tend to use more complex sentences when reading aloud than when talking normally, so kids will also pick up on those patterns.

How do Word Games enhance vocabulary?

1. Word Games Help Develop Phonemic Awareness:

Phonemic awareness is hearing, identifying, and manipulating individual sounds in spoken words. It is one of the essential building blocks of reading and spelling. Children with strong phonemic awareness are more likely to become successful readers than children who do not have this skill. Word games are one of the easiest ways to develop phonemic awareness in your children. Here are some ideas:

Rhyming words: These games are a great way to help kids learn how words sound alike or different. For example, you could say, “What rhymes with pink?” and your child will say, “sink” or “thin.” Then you can say, “What rhymes with pink?” again and see if they have another word in mind.

2. Word Games Boost Memory Recall In Children:

Studies show that word games help increase memory recall in children by improving the ability to recognize, remember, and use words appropriately. It’s because word games challenge the brain in new ways that build stronger neural pathways for learning new information.

This can be especially important for young children learning to read, write, speak and understand language.

3. Word Games Can Strengthen Spelling Skills:

Spelling is an important part of our writing and reading development. It’s not just knowing how to spell words correctly but also recognizing them. When a child has difficulty with spelling, it can affect their ability to read and write. Fortunately, there are ways to help children improve their spelling skills.

One way to strengthen your child’s spelling ability is through word games.

Here are some ideas for fun ways for your kids to practice spelling:

a. Play a game of Scrabble or Unscrambled Words with your kids. These games can help them practice their spelling skills and boost their ability to think creatively.

b. Try creating your word search puzzles that include words from the books your child reads or from other sources like magazines, newspapers, and websites (just make sure you create puzzles that are appropriate for the child’s age). This will give them more exposure to words, and it will help them get familiar with different letter combinations that make up words (e.g., “r-o-w” makes “row”).

Top 5 Word Games To Elevate Your Kid’s Vocabulary:

Here’s a list of the top five word games to build up your kid’s vocabulary:

1. Unscrambled Words:

Unscrambled Words is an excellent game that can be played with one person or group. You simply choose a word from the list on the app or website and unscramble it by selecting letters from the grid above until you’ve spelled out the word correctly.

2. Scrabble:

Scrabble is a classic board game that helps children develop their vocabulary and spelling skills. It’s similar to Boggle, except that it uses letter tiles instead of letters on a gameboard, and players can use up to seven tiles per turn if they want (though high-scoring words are more difficult).

Points are scored by placing your tiles on the board so that one player’s word intersects with another player’s word without overlapping any other tiles or going off the board’s edge.

3. Crossword puzzles:

Crossword puzzles are great for exercising your brain and helping you learn new things. They also help children learn how to think creatively and come up with answers that make sense rather than just getting stuck on one answer, like in Hangman (which is still fun!). Your children can do these independently, or you can do them with your family members.

4. Mad Libs:

Mad Libs are fun and great for helping children develop their vocab. The game involves filling in the blanks of a story with words from a list, but there are other rules that you can also use.

5. Boggle:

Boggle is a fun game that involves finding words in a 4×4 grid of letters, where each word must have at least three letters, and no letter can be repeated in any row or column. The game’s object is to find as many words as possible within one minute, which can then be entered into a dictionary for points.

In Conclusion,

Word games have been shown to affect vocabulary growth and retention positively. They are fun, both for the parent and the child, and should enable the parent to identify more words that their children know but aren’t yet able to use in conversation. The parent can then expand upon these words and use them in conversation with the child.

We hope this post helps you know how Word Games Enhance Your Kid’s Vocabulary!

Love & Light,

Jhilmil