Summer Vocabulary
Summer vocabulary activities ideas are hard to get your head round.
Are they spelling tasks we're talking about or a more general language development?
Well I think with younger kids its a bit of both with the emphasis on 'a bit'. Too much at one time can put them off the initial enthusiasm for language altogether. Also fun must be a key word. Once it ceases to be exciting the learning process ceases too.
So I ve tried to put together some fun activities for introducing your students to the world of literacy!
Summer Suitcase
This simple summer vocabulary activity for preschoolers is easy to prepare and needs only a few basic items from your craft cupboard. It focus' on summer clothes items that the kids would need if they were going on holiday.
You will need:
- a simple outline of a suitcase, photocopied
- some magazines with pictures of children's clothes in
- scissors
- glue
Simpy ask the children to cut out pictures of the clothes they would like to take with them on their holiday. This could also include items such as sunglasses and sun cream as well as clothes.
And of course,they could always draw something for themselves if they can't find what they want in the magazine.
This is a good activity for introducing sun safety to them by asking questions such as 'Why do we need to take a hat when we go to a hot place and 'What else can we do to keep us from getting burnt?
Picture it! A summer vocabulary picture for you!
Choose a summery picture or postcard and ask the kids to tell you some summer vocabulary words that pop into their minds when they look at it.
The picture above is abstract so they will probably suggest simple colour words such as orange and green but maybe they will think of some not so obvious words like warm or happy,
List the words they suggest on a whiteboard or a large piece of paper and get them to write them out in large letters. They can then stick them onto a large sun collage which they could make beforehand.
They then have a word bank of summer vocabulary to use when they do any writing.
With younger children it is enough for them to think of the words to describe the picture and to make a game of finding as many as possible.
Seasons Game Pictures
I have created a worksheet for you to use with your classroom. It contains seasons pictures that you can use to talk with the children about Seasons - or play matching games with.
Download Matching Game [see below]
What Book?
The objective of this activity is to predict what a given book might be about by a brief look at the front and back cover. I chose a non fiction book about butterflies but you can just as easily use their favourite story book.
You will need to mask the front cover with strips of paper or masking tape.
When you have them suitably excited about this mystery book, slowly peel back each strip of paper to reveal part of the picture underneath.
After each strip you ask them if they have any ideas as to what book it might be or what it might be about.
Ask the children to predict what the title might be, showing them individual words as clues and then discuss and predict what the content of the book might be.
Once the cover is revealed ask the children to compile a list of questions that they think will be answered in the book You can list these on a chart or board and then look at the contents page to identify which chapter the information may be found.
You might like them to think of some words that they might find in the book and then use the index to locate them by using their alphabetical knowledge.
Too long a lesson?
Divide it into 3 and do each little bit on a different day. That way you ll keep them interested.
Silly Sentences
Want to keep your kids awake? Try this summer vocabulary exercise to keep them on their toes!
With younger children you can just make up some short sentences with the initial sound in 2 words wrong so that the sentence sounds silly.
Read then out one at a time and see if they can tell you which words sound silly and what would they need to do to make it not so silly!
For example: Humpty Dumpty cat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great ball!
or The old woman lived in a mouse that looked like a hoot.
or Summer bun is hot and winter bun is cool.
With older children you could give them a worksheet to correct. This way they would be able to read the silly mistakes before correcting them.
Don't forget to include words that they find hard to spell!
Find that Letter!
This is a fun activity for any age of children. I did it with my preschoolers and they loved it!
All you need is a page from a newspaper or magazine and a felt-tip pen.
You ask them to choose their favourite letter. Say the first letter of their name for example.
Then they search the newspaper page and circle that letter every time they see it.
I gave them a specific amount of time and made it into a competition. The one that circled the letter the most times was the winner.
You can also do it with words but you will have to be careful to choose a word that can be found lots of times.
If you have a word of the day you could use that too!
Summer Word Search
Word searches are a good way to increase vocabulary in children. And for them to have fun!
Here is a simple summer word search you can use.
Rhyming Word Worksheet
Download a free rhyming word worksheet!
Get the children to find the words that rhyme with SUN.
Why not have a look at summer activities for kids page to find some fun things to do with your students.
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