How to practise 11+ vocabulary (in 10 minutes a day)
A routine that runs on your child's momentum, not your energy.
Most vocabulary practice fails for one reason: it depends on the parent's energy. The routine below is designed to run on the child's momentum instead — ten minutes a day, self-serve, with the parent checking in weekly rather than policing daily.
The 10-minute daily loop
| Minutes | Activity | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 0–2 | Word of the day — read it, say it aloud, use it in a silly sentence | Novelty + production beats passive reading |
| 2–8 | One vocabulary game round (synonyms, antonyms or roots) | Games generate voluntary repetition |
| 8–10 | Revisit 2–3 words got wrong earlier in the week | Spaced repetition on the exact gaps |
Why streaks matter more than sessions
A child who practises 10 minutes daily for 30 days meets each core word 4–6 times at natural intervals — the schedule memory researchers call spaced repetition. A child who does one 3-hour weekend session meets each word once and forgets 70% within a week. Protect the streak, not the session length.
What to do with "tricky words"
Keep a running list of words your child gets wrong (Lexi's Vault does this automatically as a "tricky words" list). Twice a week, spend the last two minutes of the daily loop only on those. This is the highest-value practice minute available — it targets the exact frontier of your child's vocabulary.
Weekly parent check-in (5 minutes, once a week)
- Ask your child to teach you three words they learned. Teaching is the strongest memory test there is.
- Glance at accuracy: below ~60% means the level is too hard — step down a difficulty, don't push through.
- Celebrate the streak, whatever the scores. Consistency is the actual goal.
Free materials to plug into the routine
- 11+ synonym word list — the core "power word" groups
- Antonym practice list with opposites and synonyms side by side
- Latin & Greek root words — the multiplier skill
- Collective nouns and idioms for English general knowledge
Turn this list into a game.
Lexi's Vault teaches every one of these words through quick, addictive games — synonym card battles, root-word decoding, daily challenges and streaks. Built for 11+ prep, loved by kids.
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