You all know that vocabulary is the basic component to learn. Vocabulary covers several areas of learning, as it acts as a building block for reading and writing. Without vocabulary, understanding comprehension is quite difficult as it helps you to know the meaning. Not only does it helps your child to produce better results, but it also expands their knowledge and intelligence. Ultimately it is a booster to strengthen your child’s confidence. Above all, for effective communication, your child needs to grow their vocabulary skills. Research shows that our children need vocabulary enrichment if they are to develop rich and varied vocabularies, which is so important to their future reading success. 

Children with good vocabulary skills will not only understand what they have read, but can add it to their daily life. Fluency is another important aspect of success in school. Fluent readers can process information quickly, which allows them to engage with text more deeply- this develops critical thinking. Vocabulary is also important for expanding writing skills. The one with a bank of vocabulary can express their ideas in a better way so others can understand more deeply what they are saying.

Related: How to develop reading habit in your children right from childhood.

5 Ways to build and improve your child’s vocabulary skills.

Here you can find 5 ways that can really help your child to increase and enhance their vocabulary. 

1. Sight Words Vocabulary flashcards 

Vocabulary flashcards are cards used as an aid for learning new words, definitions and examples of a particular word are written on it. The idea is that you study the card by looking at the definition and example, which helps your child to remember the meaning.

The use of vocabulary flashcards is the oldest and most cost-effective aid for vocabulary enrichment. Vocabulary flashcards can improve your child’s overall language skills. Use of vocabulary flashcards results efficiently as your kid can use the new word easily in their spoken and written expression by knowing its meaning because they have already seen it in context. It also helps them to improve their grammar. 

The best thing about flashcards is that you can make your own flashcards as it is an easy and efficient process. You can make it manually or using a computer – or buy the set of flashcards according to your requirement. It’s easily available everywhere. A great variety of flashcards can be presented to kids that will grasp their interest.  

Have a look at our amazing see and spell sight words flashcards that will make learning tricky words a treat for kids.

2.  Board Games:

If you really want to improve your child’s vocabulary, you should try board games as they are specifically designed to engage and enhance your kids’ vocabulary skills. Board games are a wonderful resource that will make learning fun for your kid. 

Board games like Bananagram and Scrabble help kids to learn learn and explore new words, therefore, enhancing their vocabulary skills. In addition, games like Brainbox-English Cards bring pleasure and fun for the child whilst also reinforcing concepts being taught in classrooms. All these games help promote critical thinking alongside easy and quick learning!

3. Magazines

Magazines are a great and classic source for not only the improvement of vocabulary but also for polishing grammar and writing skills, as they cover a wide range of topics. Kids can choose the topic of their interest in the magazine.  Short articles are designed especially for the kid’s eye so the child can read the text without any problem. A magazine article reads more like a chapter from a book, which makes it easy to digest. Kids will find a number of new words, used in different contexts. The variety of writing styles encourages kids to examine the tones of language and the meaning of words, which in turn improves their overall writing ability.

We have created a list of 11 fun-packed educational magazines that will sharpen your kid’s vocabulary skills. Read more here.

4. Electric thesaurus 

An electric thesaurus is an online dictionary that is designed to improve kids’ vocabulary. It is a user-friendly program and it is very easy to find the right word using it. Children’s vocabulary will be improved by playing various games and figuring out many puzzles. The thesaurus provides a list of antonyms and synonyms for every word you find.   It features various exercises, thousands of high-quality images and audio files, There is a built-in thesaurus and a visual dictionary – both will make the children love learning new words. The built-in thesaurus provides a variety of user-generated words and the visual dictionary provides photos to search for. The electric thesaurus enhances a child’s vocabulary, comprehension skills and creative writing. Hence, the child would learn a more enriched and enhanced way of speaking, writing and interpreting in their daily life.

5. Books from libraries 

Libraries are an important asset of any nation. The library is an area where you can get multiple resources to enhance your knowledge. You can have easy access to books, understanding materials, magazines and other data sources. Thus, your kids can accomplish a ton of information and knowledge. The significance of libraries is extremely extraordinary and significant for self-awareness.

The significance of libraries is equal for all ages. Libraries give books, admittance to PCs and numerous other important assets for individuals. Learning new words can be enjoyable! Looking at the enormous, lovely bookshelves at your nearby library will definitely provoke the wish of learning in kids. 

A library contains books of all kinds and you can easily borrow them from the library. Books can not only help you to enhance your knowledge but also improve your vocabulary, comprehension skills, as well as communication skills. A variety of books can help to learn a range of new words used in different contexts. Reading books from the library can enhance vocabulary in several ways. Books can,not only help you learn more about a subject, but they can also help develop a more complex vocabulary. Borrowing eBooks from the library can be a great resource for enhancing your vocabulary. There are also many websites that provide book suggestions to help you expand and enrich your knowledge in specific areas!

The post 5 Ways to Build Your Child’s Vocabulary appeared first on The Mum Educates.

How do these Halloween Character Description Writing Frames help children?

The lovely frames will help children write descriptively and build a wonderful story. The given word bank will introduce new vocabulary to the children and also help them with their spelling. The wonderful resource can be used during Halloween time or when children are learning to describe characters.

Why not download the amazing Free Halloween Word mat to help your student with their writing task. The mat is perfect for independent writing tasks. The mat provides key vocabulary for the Halloween topic.

Which characters are included?

The Halloween characters included are:

1. Vampire: Use this lovely worksheet to write descriptively about Vampires this Halloween.
   
2. Devil: Children will have fun creating spooky sentences while writing about this Devil.
   
3. Mummy: Let children experience the pyramids in Egypt. Help them express their feeling by writing the best Halloween character profile for this Mummy.
   
4. Skeleton: Write about this spooky character using the words bank and checklist.
   
5. Witch: Make writing magical with this cute witch illustration to help children write descriptively this Halloween.
   
6. Werewolf: An engaging yet simple worksheet will encourage children to produce their best writing about werewolves.
   
7. Zombie: The worksheet features a spooky zombie girl with a selection of words to support kids writing.
   
8. Frankenstein: Let children write about this iconic character this Halloween. Children will love looking at the wonderful picture and writing using the given vocabulary.
   
9. Black Cat: 

More Halloween Resources:

Halloween Adjectives Word Mat:

Our simple word mat features some key adjectives to create a spooky atmosphere or setting in children writing.

Halloween Word Mat:

The word mat provides the key vocabulary for the Halloween topic. It will be useful for children as a hand on prompt and spelling reference during independent writing tasks.

The post Free Halloween Character Description Writing Frames appeared first on The Mum Educates.

Give your story a dramatic turn with amazing story setting description. Our superb writing frames will definitely help children ace in their creative writing skills. The pictures will help their imagination flow and the vocabulary given will help them with spelling and introduce them with new words. Get children writing today.

Are you looking for more amazing writing prompts for young kids? Download Free Simple Sentence Writing Picture Prompts for kids now!

Story Setting Description Writing Frames:

Give confidence to your children to start a new story or piece of writing independently with these lovely story setting writing frames. Once they are done you can display their amazing work in your home or on the school display boards.

The story settings included are:

1. Enchanted Castle
2. Garden
3. By the River
4. Under the Sea
5. Forest
6. Beach
7. On the Road
8. Farm
9. Castle
10. Space
11. Hut
12. Mansion
13. Bungalow
14. Haunted house
15. Treehouse

Supplies needed:

1. Printer
2. A4 paper
3. Story setting writing frame
4. Pencil
5. Colouring pens

Instructions:

To download simply click on the image to download PDF format. Print the sheet and hand over to your child and they are all ready to unleash their creativity.

1. Story Setting: Haunted House

Use the ambitious vocabulary given to describe the haunted setting and then colour the picture.

2. Story Setting: Seaside/beach

Are you having trouble writing about the beach? Use this simple yet lovely seaside writing prompt to enhance child writing skills.

3. Story Setting: Castle

Let your children describe the castle with this lovely writing frame. The vocabulary given will help them write easily.

4. Story setting: By the River

This lovely writing frame will help children write independently using the image provided.

5. Story setting: Space

Use this handy writing prompt to help write about this amazing space story setting. The vocabulary given will support your pupil to write independently.

6. Story Setting: Road

Children can use this superb road story writing frame to inspire their writing and refine their description skills using the picture given.

7. Story Setting: Medieval Castle

Use this fun and free medieval castle writing frame to engage children and start writing.

8. Story Setting: Treehouse

Print this amazing treehouse story setting and help your students write about it quickly and efficiently.

9. Story Setting: Enchanted castle

Let children enter the magical world of fairies, dragons and elves with this awesome enchanted castle story setting.

10. Story Setting: Garden/Park

11. Story Setting: Bungalow

12: Story setting: New house

13: Story setting: Hut

14. Story setting: Under the sea

15. Story setting: Dark Forest

Also check: 20 Free Picture Writing Prompts for kids with Vocabulary

For more wonderful books and resources visit our store.

My Amazon picks:

The Mum Educates is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. As an Amazon Associate, I will earn some amount from your qualifying purchases. 

The post Free 15+ Story Settings Description Writing Frames appeared first on The Mum Educates.

Writing is such an important task for children. To make writing fun for children we have made this amazing writing prompts to support child story writing and narrative skills. Each page contains a picture along with vocabulary that will help children to write about the picture. Once children finish writing they can colour the picture to make their work more attractive.

The pages are full of different fun and creative ideas to let children imagination run wild. From dragons, dark forest or being at a spooky Halloween spot! These writing prompts have it all.

Related: 21 Creative writing story starters for children!

20 Free Picture Writing Prompts with Vocabulary:

Let your child imagination flow smoothly with these fantastic picture writing prompts. These prompts will provide them with plenty of new ideas that they never have thought about.

The prompts also come with writers checklist. Let children take ownership of their writing and self-assess what they have written.

To save the free sheets just click on the image and save a PDF file.

Let us know your favourite writing prompts by commenting below. For more amazing free resources, like and share our Facebook page and also follow us on Pinterest.

For more wonderful books and resources visit our store.

The post 20 Free Picture Writing Prompts for kids with Vocabulary appeared first on The Mum Educates.

Related: Year 1 Christmas themed Maths Worksheets

The wonderful word mat is free and ready to use, just print and laminate it to use straight away.

Christmas Word Mat

Also, Check:  Year 2 Christmas Themed Maths Worksheets

For more worksheets and blogs Please like and follow our Facebook page to stay updated.

I value your feedback, so please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or queries. Also, If you like my work please let me know by commenting below. Thanks

The post Christmas Word Mat – FREE – writing aid appeared first on The Mum Educates.

Also, Check: Year 2 English and Maths Book

Our lovely Halloween mat will be extremely useful for lower ability pupils with their spelling of topic words.

Go to our shop for more amazing resources: 

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Related: Best Educational Magazines for Kids

I came to know about Storytime magazine through a friend. The day I received the magazine, I was thrilled, as my search for something amazing finished that day. What a fab magazine it is!

It’s a true treat for avid young story lovers. 

Firstly, I will start with the material of paper. The paper used for this magazine is simply Luxurious and super quality which will bear kids mishandling. It has lots of lovely colourful pictures to attract children.  The magazine is not at all gender-specific. The colour schemes are neutral so it is wonderful for both girl and boy.

Each magazine is packed with wonderful fairy tales, myths, poems, and much more. The stories are a mix of classical stories along with stories from other countries and some new ones as well.

The text on each page is not overstuffed, so it gets easier for little ones to understand and read. Now reading is no more a chore for my little lady. It takes hardly 10 minutes to read one story. Each story is not too long to make it boring and not too short, Just the right size.

The main thing that I really love is that magazine enhances children literacy skills. The traditional tales fit with the new 2014 curriculum. Very rich and thought-provoking words are used throughout stories, so my daughter is learning lots of new words.

Last two pages of the magazine are dedicated to games, art and crafts activities, and quizzes which are just superb.

These are some riddles and stories related questions as well which enhances children comprehension skills.

Th last page of the magazine features Favourite Books of the Month, As well as chance to enter the competition and win wonderful copies of the books.

The Storytime website offers a section of free resources related to each magazine which parents can print and use at home. There are plenty of resources available such as colouring sheets, maze games and other fun arts and crafts sheets. To download go on http://www.storytimemagazine.com/free-downloads/

Each magazine costs £3.99 but if you get a regular direct debit subscription than it’s just

3 issues for just £9.99 – or The BEST DEAL – save 29% with 12 issues for just £33.99 (3, 6, 12 and 24-month plans available). For more information on subscription go to Storytime Magazine subscription page.

Disclaimer: This is not a paid review and Storytime did not know I would be writing about them. I am buying their copies since last 2 years and am writing about them because I genuinely think it is wonderful.

I hope you will really enjoy your next issue of Storytime magazine. Do let me know about your reviews on the magazine. Thanks

The post Review: Storytime Magazine appeared first on The Mum Educates.