10 Awesome Gifts To Boost Your Child’s English

1. LeapFrog LeapReader System Learn-to-Read 10 Book Mega Pack – with the included LeapReader pen, your child highlights the text and the reader reads the words.   The Mega Pack comes with 10 books, but more content can be downloaded from LeapFrog.  Plus, it also includes a curriculum guide for parents with additional ideas to encourage reading.  Ages 4-8 years.

2. The V Tech Touch & Teach Word Book is great for toddlers to learn beginning words in English.  The Touch & Teach Word Book has four modes of play – what’s that word, letter fun, music time and find it; making learning first words in English fun and challenging.  Ages 18 months – 4 years.

3. Foam Bath Letters make bath time fun and educational by encouraging kids to spell out words and sentences while they bathe.  I recommend you get more than one set since many words have more than one of the most used letters.  With more than one set you will also be able to spell out simple sentences.  Ages 1-8 years.

4. Educational Insights Fridge Magnetic Sight Words allow you and your children to create an infinite variety of sentences on your refrigerator or any other metal appliance or surface.  Words can be arranged to create hundreds of sentences and stories.  My recommendation is Educational Insights Magnetic Sight Words and Sentence Builders which includes 240 magnetic tiles that also includes capitalized versions of every word and punctuation marks.  Ages 5-8.

5. Silly Sentences Game by DK Games is a fun and entertaining way for you and your kids to practice grammar by creating funny sentences.  Using color coded tiles for the different parts of speech, it allows children to be silly while also learning and practicing English.  While having fun, the players also learn about capitalization and punctuation in sentences.  Truly a fun way to supplement language learning!  Ages 3-6.

6. Learning Resources Conversation Cubes are a pack of 6 cubes with a different question on each side.  They also come with an activity guide with suggestions on how to get conversations started.  These cubes are a great way to stimulate discussions in English as well as build students’ listening and speaking skills.  Ages 6 and up.

7. Learning Resources Writing Prompt Cubes are similar to Conversation Cubes except that they can be used individually to stimulate ideas for both creative storytelling and non-fiction writing.  Each cube has six open-ended questions and give students the opportunity to use additional verb tenses, such as past tense and conditional.  These are great for group or individual activities and also come with an activity guide with creative ideas for their use.  Ages 6 and up.

8. Scrabble and Scrabble Jr. – No list of games for learning English vocabulary would be complete without this classic board game.  Players form words for points using letter tiles on an intersecting game board.  Scrabble is a fun way to practice sounds and spelling as well as testing vocabulary skills, especially as the game progresses and the most-often-used letter tiles get used up.  Ages 5 and up.

9. The Usborne Write Your Own Story Book is another great writing activity.  It includes suggestions for story-related activities like how to create a character or how to describe a scene. This book is a great resource for kids who like to write. It inspires writing and thinking in English while giving kids ideas on how to create their very own story in English.  Ages 5-7.

10. Learning Resources Alphabet Marks The Spot Game is a fun game to help learn letters and sounds in English.  Use it for many early language-learning activities such as letter recognition, first sound fluency, matching a given picture to a letter with the same beginning sound, matching upper case to lower case, and more. With 8 different game modes, the learning possibilities with this game are endless.  Ages 5-10.