How many of us want our kids to have an extensive vocabulary? Most of us, right. We know that a large vocabulary improves communication skills which are needed in all aspects of life. Increasing a child's vocabulary also increases their reading comprehension as well as their ability to express themselves in writing.
Now, how many of us enjoy learning vocabulary? Sure, now that we are older we enjoy finding random interesting words on occasion, but in school. Did we enjoy vocabulary? I suppose a few did, but most of us found learning vocabulary words tedious.
Well, I fit both of the above categories, and my kids definitely fit the second one. Vocabulary is not their favorite part of language arts to be sure. Does that mean I am not going to teach them vocabulary? No. I still think it is important, so while we may work through it a little slower, vocabulary is here to stay!
I can on occasion make reviewing vocab words more fun though which is just what I did with this Vocabulary Word Egg Hunt!
***WARNING - Your kids are likely to want to repeat this activity over and over until you are out of hiding places!***
Supplies for a Vocabulary Word Egg Hunt
- Plastic eggs
- Words your kids are learning
- Basket or bag for each kid
How to Set Up a Vocabulary Egg Hunt
This is a simple, simple activity to set up, and your kids are sure to have fun, especially if they are used to worksheets or flashcards for vocabulary practice.
Print out your words or words and definitions or stems and definitions, whatever you are studying and cut them apart. You can hand write them if you wish, but I found typing easier.
Now just stuff one in each egg.
After all your eggs are stuffed, go hid them like you would for any egg hunt!
Now you are ready to hunt!
Running a Vocabulary Egg Hunt
The first part of this Vocabulary Egg Hunt is easy, turn the kids loose with baskets or bags, and let them find the eggs!
Once they have run around maniacally for those eggs, have them bring them in and open them.
There are multiple ways to do the review portion. The first couple times we used Latin stems and their definitions in the eggs, so I had the kids work together to match up the stems to the definitions. You could also have them compete for the most matches if you have more than one child participating.
The next few hunts, I used our vocabulary words, but no definitions. Of course you could easily use the definitions just like with the stems.
Since we didn't have enough eggs to use all the words and their definitions, each kid just opened the egg they found in front of them and collected their words. I then called out a vocab word, and whoever had the word had to give me the definition. If they didn't know the definition, the other child got a chance to answer, and if they got it right, they got to keep that word. The one with the most words won!
Of course, you could also do fewer words and their definitions to match up or do even more eggs and definitions if you are really ambitious!
No matter what way you choose to score your egg hunt, it is sure to be a fun way for kids to review. Maybe not as much for you the eighth time you are hiding the eggs!
Of course, you could also do fewer words and their definitions to match up or do even more eggs and definitions if you are really ambitious!
No matter what way you choose to score your egg hunt, it is sure to be a fun way for kids to review. Maybe not as much for you the eighth time you are hiding the eggs!
