• Give your young students a head start with simple vocabulary games.child image by Renata Osinska from Fotolia.com
  
  Expanding your students' vocabulary can help expand their knowledge; having a poor vocabulary makes reading more difficult and less enjoyable. Students who struggle to read often struggle to learn. However, memorizing vocabulary can be a boring and repetitive task. Use simple vocabulary games are an early age to help your students learn vocabulary.
  
  

Airplane Competition

• Students love to make and throw paper airplanes, so use this to help them learn vocabulary. Prepare small paper plate targets before class. Write prize names on each plate. These prizes could be a fun-sized candy bar or a pencil. Glue the plates to a piece of cardboard and hang it in front of the class. Give each student a piece of paper to make a paper airplane. Make sure they understand they can only throw their planes during the game; also give each student a small bell. Ask the class to define a vocabulary word. The student who rings his bell first gets to answer; if he is correct, let him throw his paper airplane at the prize board. Hitting a prize plate wins that prize. Play the game until every student has answered at least once and had a chance to compete for a prize.
  
  

Apple Pass

• Use this simple game to help your students memorize vocabulary words. They will focus on the game in order to win, making them memorize the words more effectively. Have students stand in a circle. Hand one of the students an apple. The student with the apple must state and define a vocabulary word. She then throws the apple to another student, putting him in the vocabulary hot seat. Stating and defining a vocabulary word keeps the student in the game. Failing to state or correctly define a vocabulary word knocks a student out, and they must sit down. Dropping the apple also makes a student sit down. Keep playing the game until only one student is left. Reward the last student standing with a prize--and let them keep the apple for lunch.
  
  

Spin the Bottle

• Adapt this popular kissing game for your classroom. Split your students up into teams of four or five. Give each team a glass bottle to spin. Make sure these are soda or juice bottles--nothing inappropriate. Pick the first "spinner" for each team. The spinner gives the bottle a twirl, and when it stops, the person it points at must state and define a vocabulary word. Answering the question gives them the right to spin the bottle. If they are incorrect, the same original spinner goes again Let your students play this game until you think they are growing bored. Reward all your students by giving them a small prize.