This is a fun and easy way to practice and increase vocabulary.

Make a grid with letters of a 4-5 letter word across the top and categories down the side. Then, have your children fill in an item for each category under that letter. For example:

	C	L	A	P
People	Clay Aiken
Places	California
Animals		Lion		Ptarmigan
Food			Avacado

In the above example there would be a total of 16 points possible. (This player would have received 5 points, since they only filled in 5 slots)

If you are playing competitively, have children cross out any word someone else used. If two people chose “Lion”, both would cross out that word. A better choice might be Lemur. This encourages them to think of more unique and unusual words. This is a great "Family Fun" activity!

Dena Wood is a homeschooling mom to five children, ages 19-5, and resides in eastern WA State. She is co-owner of Trigger Memory Systems (home of Times Tales!) and works as Customer Service and Schoolhouse Store manager for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. She also does a bit of freelance writing when she gets the chance