Shop for words at the market: opposites, things that go together, where the cat is, action words and describing words. Big levels find synonyms, order words from weak to strong, add un, re, ful, less and er, work out new words from clues and pick between two meanings of one word.
The big ideas
What the levels teach, in grown-up words.
Words come in pairs and groups. Opposites (big and small) and categories (fruit, animals, vehicles) are how children organize new words. Sorting is remembering.
Some words tell where, some tell what you do, some describe. Position words (under, behind), action words (jump, swim) and describing words (red, tall) are the building blocks of talking about the world precisely.
Synonyms are shades. Large means big, but huge and gigantic are bigger still. Choosing between warm, hot and boiling is what makes writing and speaking exact.
Word parts carry meaning. Un means not, re means again, ful means full of, less means without, er means a person who. Knowing a few prefixes and suffixes unlocks hundreds of words.
The sentence tells you the meaning. A new word can be worked out from the words around it, and a word like ring or bark means different things in different sentences. Reading for clues is how vocabulary grows.
Try it at home
Quick experiments that match the game.
Opposite day. Say a word and have your child shout its opposite: hot... cold! Up... down! Then switch roles.
Grocery groups. At the store or unpacking bags, sort things into groups: fruit, vegetables, things in boxes, things that are cold.
Stronger words. When your child says something was good, ask for a stronger word: great? amazing? When something is big, is it huge? gigantic?
Prefix spotting. Hunt for un and re words in a book: unhappy, untie, redo, replay. Say what each one means by taking the prefix off.