Vocabulary

1. Read, read, read! Read to your young children often. The more words they hear the more words they know. Older children develop most of their vocabulary through reading on their own. Reading a variety of material exposes children to a multitude of words.

2. Word of the day on the calendar. Make a game out of it and see how many times your child can use that word that day.

3. Watch and listen at homework time for those words your child doesn't seem to understand. Keep a short list and give your child lots of examples of using those words.

4. Ask your child to use a new word at least seven times in five minutes. Chances are they will know it well after that.

5. Talk about synonyms, antonyms and any associations of the words.

6. While reading with your child talk about new words.

7. Young children develop vocabulary by hearing words said often. Talk to your child as you are doing common activities.

8. Encourage older children to look up words rather than just giving them the meaning.

9. Word games like Boggle, Scattegories Jr., Scrabble, etc. can be very helpful in developing and using vocabulary.