Vocabulary Building: Inspiring Your Child to Love Words

Science fiction author Isaac Asimov wryly observed, "If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood.  I'd type a little faster."  You may never be able to help your child reach this level of word-love, but you can certainly help him attain levels higher than his existing ones. In fact, if you involve the whole family in exercises like the following, you will be reinforcing the more joyous aspects of writing and word-acquisition.
 
Our SAT tutors, of course, have to deal with the metaphorical  "meat and potatoes" as far as the subject of language arts is concerned. But you, at home, can work on "amuse-bouches" or tempting brainteasers to increase your child's love of words. You'll have fun preparing quizzes like this one. Include in the challenges some words that may be unfamiliar to your child so you can help expand her vocabulary. (Discuss the meaning of those words once your child has completed the brainteaser.)
 
Think of a number of words that rhyme or are spelled the same way. For example, "pinch," "flinch," "cinch," "winch," and "clinch." Then, write the words as shown below, with the rhyming part indicated by blanks.
 
P
FL
C         _ _ _ _
W
CL
 
Here are a few others to get you started.
 
1.      ST
         C
         D                  _ _ _
         P
         T
         W
 

2.      ST
         S
         L
         GR                           _ _ _
         H
         F
 
3.      G
         ST
         T                           _ _ _
         D
         PH
 
If the whole family is working on these, you could make it a competitive exercise, with a dictionary, rather than sugared delicacies, as the prize.

Oh yes, the answers: 1 - art; 2 - ate; 3 - one.