Thanks to Dictionary.com’s Word of the Day some time ago, I discovered the word “logophile,” and I immediately thought, “That’s me!” (Noun: a lover of words)
I love words, and I’ve enjoyed reading, writing and learning about words since I was a kid. Because of my habit of and passion for reading that my mother instilled in me when I was growing up, I encouraged the same with my kids. I read to them from the time they were in my womb until they were old enough (and choosy enough) to want to read on their own. I played word games with them and showed them fun ways to discover words and their meaning.
Here are some of our favorite tools for learning and enjoying words:
APPS and WEBSITES
The Dictionary.com has been a staple app on my handphone for years. I use the app and website for its comprehensive and easy-to-use dictionary and thesaurus. I follow it’s Word of the Day – a great way to learn new words! And if you don’t mind seeing ads, the basic version of the app is free to use!
My kids don’t want to install a dictionary app so they prefer to look up word meanings (if and when they need to) on Google. According to the site, Google’s English dictionary is provided by Oxford Languages, so when you search for word definitions on Google, you’re using the Oxford English Dictionary, a well-respected and definitive source of the English language.
I remember having so much fun teaching my son to read while using the printed books from Progressive Phonics. It was a fantastic, effective, free tool that I was so happy to discover during our early homeschooling years.
FUN AND GAMES
When my kids were much younger, we enjoyed watching the TV Show Word World on the Disney Junior cable channel. Learning the meaning and spelling of words within the context of a funny or exciting story with animated creatures made for fun learning.
I first discovered the Apples to Apples card game when we visited my brother and his family in California some years ago. He brought out this card game and when we played it with the kids, we laughed so much because of the weird, crazy word combinations that came out in the game! So after we got home, I soon bought our own set of Apples to Apples, first the Junior set, and eventually, the Party Box. This game quickly became a favorite with my kids and their cousins.
Filling up Mad Libs Junior books was another fun activity for my son. He would come up with silly stories and we would all have a big laugh reading them!
BOOKS, OF COURSE
I saw the first book of this series in the bookstore, and since I had read and enjoyed the original Hardy Boys book series when I was young, I thought I would introduce this series to my son. This was probably the first book series that my son got into. The stories were engaging and the books were affordable and easy to find in bookstores.
This was another book series that my son enjoyed and finished reading, and perhaps it was this series that piqued his interest in greek mythology, something that continued into his tween and early teen years.
I remember how my daughter first stumbled upon the Katie Kazoo series in our neighborhood library. And whenever we would visit, we would make sure to check the shelves for the Katie Kazoo books that she hasn’t read yet.
Geronimo Stilton was very popular among kids, including my daughter’s friends, when my daughter was in her early primary years. These books were fun and colorful, and made for a common topic of conversation among my daughter and her friends — a good choice for nurturing a reading habit.
- Percy Jackson Series
My son’s early interest in greek mythology continued into his early teen years. Because I was also keen on it, I was more than happy to introduce him to the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. My son and I have remained Rick Riordan fans and we’ve continued to read and love his various book series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Kane Chronicles, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, and The Trials of Apollo.
After my then-early-teenage daughter saw The Hunger Games movie with us, she enjoyed it so much that she wanted to read the bestselling book by Suzanne Collins. After that, she devoured book 2, Catching Fire and book 3, Mockingjay. And that began her interest in dystopian young adult novels, as she went on to other book series like Veronica Roth’s Divergent Series and Marie Lu’s Legend Series.
These are just some of the fun ways that my kids and I have enjoyed words over the years, especially during their early homeschooling years. A love of stories, books and reading is the first and the best way to learn about words. Word games can also be a good way to encounter new words and to reinforce familiar ones without it feeling like a lesson or a requirement. Ultimately, I believe that an attitude of word curiosity is what leads to a richer vocabulary at any age and stage of learning.
Featured Image Photo by Edho Pratama on Unsplash