Synonyms for "big"

To help encourage a wider vocabulary, we had a challenge this week to not use the word "big" when speaking - we had to replace it with a different word (me included!).

On the whiteboard, I wrote the word "big" in the centre and together we thought about different words we already knew, then took it in turns to add them to the board. Then we looked through some of the storybooks we had for more examples to add. Finally, we asked Papa if he could think of any interesting words to add. 😁 (You could use a thesaurus too, if you wanted, but that wasn't the focus of the activity for me - I want to introduce the idea of a thesaurus as a lesson in itself, once the girls are confident with the idea of similes first.)

 I drew a tally chart at the bottom of the board, with everyone's name and a space besides each one. If we used the word "big" during the week, we needed to add a tally to the board. Whoever had the least tallies at the end would be the winner! I also bribed them with the promise of a handful of Smarties - but I would take away one of the Smarties for each tally next to their name. 😂 I didn't tell them the initial number in the handful though, so the flexibility was there to make sure they got something lol.

During the week, we could also add to the whiteboard if we came across any other synonyms for "big". We got the word "monstrous" from one of the volunteers at the allotments!

At the end of the week, after looking at our tallies and eating our sweets (😋), the girls copied the spider diagram onto a piece of coloured A4 to keep in their folders.

This was a really simple activity which I think we'll keep repeating sporadically for a good few months, insha'Allah. It definitely boosted their vocabulary as even after the week had finished they continued using alternatives for "big" in their everyday speech and play. 👍