3 Vocabulary Games For Young Children

Children, from a young age, have to expand their vocabulary, and the best way to do this is by playing.

Learning vocabulary and language skills are essential during the early years, as they are the foundation of children’s intellectual development. In this sense, it is necessary to know some vocabulary games for young children to help them improve at this.

Before starting, it is convenient to understand the development of language in children, since there are two processes involved: expressive language and receptive language.

In terms of language understanding, it is known as “receptive language” and refers to the words that the child understands. On the other hand, the use of language is called “expressive language” and refers to the words a child uses.

Vocabulary development according to age

Each child has a learning and development rhythm, but then we are going to talk about the most common milestones taking into account the age of the little ones. Therefore, do not miss what a child can learn according to his age in preschool.

• 3 years. They generally have an expressive vocabulary of around 450 words. About 80% of what they say is intelligible.
• 4 years. 4-year-olds have an expressive vocabulary of around 1000 words. They ask a lot of questions and make few grammatical mistakes.
• 5 years. They have an expressive vocabulary of about 2,200 words, although their receptive vocabulary is already 20,000 to 24,000. They use complex sentences, pronounce words correctly, and use grammar correctly.
• 6 years. The little ones have an expressive vocabulary of around 3,000 words.

How to develop vocabulary in children?

The best way to develop your children’s vocabulary is by talking to them a lot and reading to them. You are the main source of language learning, so you should take the time to speak with them frequently and incorporate conversations into all the activities you do together. Reading to your children should be a non-negotiable daily exercise.

Take time to read bedtime stories to your children every day; your little ones will reap many benefits for years to come. So, another way to develop vocabulary is by playing with your children. With just 10 minutes of play, your children are already having a huge impact on their language development.

Vocabulary games for preschool children

Next, we are going to show you some fun and simple games that you can try. All games can be played with just 2 players. If the rest of the family is around, they can join in too; well, everyone will have a great time.

The game of categories

This game teaches children new words, as well as their meaning, their context and the relationship between them. How to play the category game?

• Choose a category, such as fruit, cuisine, zoo, music, clothes …
• Make a long string of words that belong to the category. In turn, each player must add a word.
• Each word can only be said once.
• If a word is repeated, one is chosen that does not belong to the assigned category or, simply, a player runs out of ideas, you have to choose a new category and start over
• You can motivate yourself by writing the record of how many words you say in a category to try to overcome them in another round.

This game is ideal for teaching children to understand the context of words and how they relate to each other. Words do not live in isolation, they work together. Children may have a good vocabulary of general words, but they may also begin to develop some topic-specific words that are more unusual in everyday language.

As they grow and develop more interests, they also learn the lingo related to their hobbies. As you play, try to add some interesting and less common words from time to time, when it is your turn, but always explain the words that your child does not know.

It’s me? , one of the best vocabulary games

This game is about finding the words to explain something. It will expand your child’s vocabulary of adjectives and verbs. How do you play?

• While your child closes his eyes, you have to look for any object in the room and hide it behind your back.
• You should describe the object while your child tries to guess what it is.
• Use riddle phrases like: “I’m long, I’m bright, I’m used to eating, I can handle liquids …” “What am I?” (A spoon).
• Give him all the clues he needs until he guesses the object.

• When your child guesses it, it is his turn to hide an object behind his back and describe it.
  

The reason why you should be the first to describe the object is because, in this way, your child learns through modeling to play well. The younger your child, the simpler and more obvious the clues you use should be, but as he gets older, you can complicate it a bit.

I see I see

This game is an old acquaintance that children love to play. It is a variation of the previous game and it also teaches them to use language in a descriptive way.

• Find something in the same room that you are playing in.

• Briefly describe the object and let your child guess what it is about. For example: “I see something that is very small, blue and makes noise if you shake it.”
• When he guesses it, it’s your turn to guess the object that your little one describes.

To vary the procedure for this game, just give a set of descriptions and then let your child guess as much as necessary.

In the previous game, the object was hidden, while in this game, the object is in the room and should therefore be detected. The process of guessing and listing the many potential items is also good for vocabulary development.

In short, with these games your children will learn more vocabulary while spending more time with you and enjoying being by your side. Vocabulary is essential for learning and, as a parent, it is your duty to enhance it.