For English vocabulary games at home, choose a few concrete words, show their meaning and reuse them in short instructions. These six activities use ordinary household objects. They are intended for children learning beginner English, not as a complete language course or a grade-level assessment.
Choose five useful words
Start with cup, book, ball, door and chair. Point to each object and say its name without requiring immediate spelling. If pronunciation is uncertain, listen to a reliable recording before introducing the game.
The British Council offers topic-based vocabulary games with audio. The activities below are our original ways to reuse a small word set, rather than a reproduction of a complete course.
1. Find the object
Say “Find a book” and invite your child to point to one. Demonstrate first, then vary the order. Keep the game in a safe room without running or reaching for fragile objects.
2. What is missing?
Place a cup, book and ball on a table and name them together. Your child closes their eyes while you remove one object. Ask “What is missing?” They can point to a matching picture before trying “The cup.”
3. A colour instruction
Add red, blue and green. Give an instruction that matches the available objects, such as “Show me the blue cup.” If there is only a red cup, asking for a blue one creates an impossible task rather than checking understanding.
4. A home shop
Take turns as shopkeeper and customer. Practise “A book, please” and “Here you are.” Three exchanges are enough for the first round. This is an oral activity; spelling every word is a separate task.
5. Act on the instruction
Introduce stand up, sit down and open the book. Demonstrate each action, then change the order of the instructions. Let your child become the leader and choose what you do. Check that a phrase is understood before adding another.
6. Two clues, one object
Describe a familiar object with two accessible clues: “It is blue. You drink from it.” If a blue cup was introduced, the intended answer is cup. Accept pointing first and then model the English phrase.
Adjust the support
Use gestures, pictures or a slower repetition. A brief translation is fine when the child needs meaning clarified; return to a concrete example afterwards. The British Council parent guidance provides further ideas for supporting English at home.
Record three words your child uses in a new instruction. Reciting a fixed list and understanding a phrase in another context are different observations. For an English-speaking child who already knows these words, choose an appropriate school vocabulary set instead of presenting beginner English as a challenge.
If you want to turn current school material into quiz practice, see creating quizzes from lessons. Keep the lesson’s language and expected knowledge clear when preparing the activity.
