Games that Help Kids Read

*This article appeared on General Mills Box Tops 4 Education Family Matters Web site in May 2009.

Boost your child's word power - and confidence-with these fun family activiites.

Create a signal for, “What does that mean?” Ask your child to use a special signal every time she hears a family member say an unfamiliar word. Whenever she uses the signal, such as a finger placed alongside her nose, the person who used the word has to define it. “Use new words now and then so she’ll have an opportunity to use her signal,” says Richard Bavaria, Ph.D., senior vice president of education outreach for Sylvan Learning. “You’ll be amazed at how this increases a child’s attention.”

Display a Word of the Day. Write new words on a chalkboard or post them on a bulletin board, suggests Dr. Vicki Folds, vice president of education and professional development for Children of America Educational Childcare. “Display the ‘word wall’ for repeated opportunities to point to a word, ask [the] child to say the word then give you a definition,” she says.

Host a family spelling bee. Showcase the new words your child is learning. Take turns being the judge—the one who has to correctly use the word in a sentence for the speller. Award the winner with a new book or a trip to a book store or public library.

Use new words in your own stories. Each time your son or daughter comes across a new word while reading a story, have her write it down on an index card. When she’s done, shuffle the cards and ask her to draw a card and start a new story, using that word in the first sentence. Take turns drawing cards and developing your story line, one sentence at a time.

Collect and use new words in conversation. Create a booklet in which each family member contributes words to learn and use, recommends Bavaria. When a person uses one of the new words in normal conversation, he gets a small prize, like the privilege of wearing a winner’s “crown.” Fill up the journal and save it as a family keepsake.

“Be a good role model by using new and expressive words, by reading to the child, by letting your child see you reading for your own pleasure and by pointing out new words you’ve learned,” says Bavaria. Soon learning new words will simply become routine.