Word Hunt Expedition

Grocery lists, DVDs, envelopes, traffic signs, peanut butter jars... Words are all around us. In fact, it's often the STOP on the corner street sign or the MILK on the carton that become the first words a child recognizes by sight. Entice your child to learn to read and boost her vocabulary by setting off on a safari hunting words wherever you go. What to Pack

• magnetic alphabet letters in a plastic bag

Now Get Exploring!

• Pick a letter. Pull a magnetic letter out of a bag and hunt for five words that start with that letter as you do errands around town. Find all five? Choose a new letter.
• Choose a word a day. Select a common word such as "the" or "man" and look for it everywhere—in the newspaper, online, on signs, on stores, on TV. Have your child name each letter in his word.
• Look for blends. How many words can your child find that start with the same letter blend? Look for words beginning with bl, cr, gr, sh and so on.
• Explore rhyming words. Find words that belong to the same "word family," such as all the words that end with –at, –ack, –ick, or –op.
• Try a word search. Older kids can hunt for words running across, down or diagonally in word search puzzles.
• Play Hangman. Can your young reader guess the word you're thinking of?
• Build a word. Use Scrabble tiles to create words. Your child starts with one letter, you add another, he adds a third and so on.
• Build a sentence. Use magnetic poetry words to show off your child's sentence-building skills on the fridge.
• Learn a big word. Kids love showing off big words they know, such as humongous or cantankerous.
• Investigate. Ask your child open-ended questions:
  • What's your favorite word?
  • What's your least favorite word?
  • What's the word you see most often?
  • What's a new word you just learned?
  • Can you make up a word?
  • Name some rhyming words.
  • Name some opposite words, such as tall and short.
  • Name some words that mean the same thing, such as street and road.
• Read all about it. Check out Big Words for Little People by Jamie Lee Curtis, My First Dictionary by Betty Root and Jonathan Langley, My Little Word Book by Roger Priddy, Fancy Nancy's Favorite Fancy Words by Jane O'Connor and Richard Scarry's Biggest Word Book Ever!

Educational Perks Recognizing sight words and decoding phonetic words are first steps in becoming literate. Bonus Explorer Activity Collect a word a day. Cut words your child likes out of magazines or newspapers and paste them in a scrapbook. Your child might want to illustrate each one. After dinner, let him read you his scrapbook or make it part of your bedtime routine.

For more exploring, play Dora's Great Big World game, find do-together Dora crafts, recipes, and activities, and print a personalized Explorer Kit for your child at DoraTheExplorer.com.

Thanks to Susan Hood

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