What are the first 100 English words my 3.5 to 6 year old should learn?

Which English words should my child learn first?

Words your child needs every day: to greet people, ask for things, name what they see and say how they feel. Action words (go, eat, play) and small words (I, my, more, up) matter as much as nouns, because they let children build short sentences like “I want more” or “Dog go up”. In reading, a small set of very common words also does a lot of work: one widely used word list notes that the first 100 most common words make up about half of all written material.¹

“So I built Little Lingos as a garden, not a race.”Krashanu Garg, Founder, Little Lingos

A list of 100 first English words

Use this as a guide, not a checklist. Swap in words that matter in your family, such as a pet’s name or a favourite food.

• Greetings and manners (10): hello, hi, bye, please, thank you, sorry, yes, no, good morning, good night
• Family and people (10): mummy, papa, baby, brother, sister, grandma, grandpa, friend, teacher, me
• Colours (8): red, blue, yellow, green, pink, orange, black, white
• Numbers (10): one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
• Body (8): head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hands, feet, tummy
• Food and drink (8): water, milk, apple, banana, rice, bread, juice, biscuit
• Animals (8): dog, cat, cow, bird, fish, lion, elephant, monkey
• Home and things (8): ball, book, car, bed, door, cup, shoes, toy
• Action words (12): go, come, eat, drink, sleep, play, jump, run, sit, stand, look, give
• Describing and feelings (8): big, small, hot, cold, happy, sad, tired, hungry
• Small useful words (10): I, you, my, more, all done, up, down, in, on, this

How can I teach these words at home?

1. Use them in routines. Name food at meals, body parts at bath time and clothes when dressing.
2. Sing them. Songs about colours, numbers and body parts make words stick.
3. Point and name. In picture books and on walks: “Look, a big dog!”
4. Play “I spy”. “I spy something red.”
5. Repeat often. Children need to hear and use a word many times before it is theirs.

What games help young children learn English words?

• Simon says: action words like jump, sit, stand and run.
• Feely bag: your child feels a toy and guesses its name.
• Colour hunt: find three things that are blue.
• Kim’s game: hide one toy from a group and ask which is missing.
• Puppet talk: a puppet asks your child simple questions in English.

How do first words lead to sentences and reading?

Once children know a handful of action words and small words, they start joining them: “more milk”, “I go”, “big ball”. Expand what they say into a full sentence (“Yes, that is a big ball!”) and they soon follow. Many of the small words, like I, my, the, in and up, are also among the first words children learn to read, so speaking them first makes reading easier later.

How do Little Lingos Seeds classes teach first words?

In Seeds, our stage for ages 3.5 to 6, the first term, Hello, Garden, covers greetings, colours, numbers and family words. Later terms add animals, action words, food, feelings and short sentences like “I like” and “I can”. Every class ends with one word to practise at home, and the Friday WhatsApp update tells you the week’s words.