5 Simple Word Association Games To Improve Your Child’s Vocabulary

Running out of ideas of games to play with your child either at home or in the car? Try these 5 simple yet fun word association games wherever you may be!

Basic Word Association

A basic word association game involves giving a child a word and having him/her state the first word or phrase that comes to mind. For example, if you say “car”, your child might say “wheel”. After which, it’ll your turn (or daddy’s) to say another related word, such as “honk”. The game continues till one of you run out of words.

Synonyms or Antonyms

One way to play the game is to have your child respond to a given word with a synonym or antonym. This can help children recognise different ways that words are related. For example, if you say “run”, your child can respond with a synonym for run such as “dash” or “rush”. Or if you are playing antonyms, your child can repond with words such as “stroll” or “crawl”.

Rhymes

Another way to play this game is to use words that rhymes. You can either decide to have the first syllable that rhymes, or the last. This helps children to pay more attention to pronunciation. For example, if you say “funny”, your child can respond with “sunny” or “money”.

Secret Words

Instead of having your child provide the words related to a given word, you can reverse the game and have him/her try to guess a secret word by providing related words or phrases. For example, if the secret word was “snow” you might say “cold,” “white,” “frozen,” etc. and keep giving words until your child guesses the secret word.

Words Related to a Topic

Another way your child can make connections between words is by focusing on words related to a common topic. This game can be played in one of two ways. First, you can provide your child with a list of words and have him/her determine what all of those words have in common or provide a topic for the words. The second way to play is to provide a topic and have him/her try to think of as many words related to a topic in a given time period (say 2 minutes). You can make the challenge more difficult by focusing on a specific letter of the alphabet, for example “School Words Starting with S.”

Whether you want your child to learn new vocabulary words or just encourage them to think outside of the box, word association games can help.

For over 15 years, Augustine’s English Classes has helped hundreds of students fall in love with the subject and excelling in school exams. If you are interested to know how our classes work, or what our secret winning formula is, do feel free to drop us a message or give us a call.