Young children start learning about people and their surroundings from an early age, which is why teaching them adjectives is the perfect way to give them a solid foundation from which they can experience the world and build their vocabulary. In addition, by learning how to use descriptive adjectives to describe these experiences, kids start to feel more in control of their own world. The value of adjectives for kids comes from their ability to characterise a noun, giving more detailed and imaginative information about the object of discussion.
By adding the ability to visualise something more clearly, a reader can learn to convey feelings with more emotion and to describe exactly what you want using precise language. Do you want your child to expand their vocabulary by learning age-appropriate adjectives for kids for just 20 minutes every day? Then you should get the KidSmart app. KidSmart is more than just being one of those writing apps for kids, but a tried and tested educational tool geared towards critical thinking and self-learning through games and interactive activities.
Here’s a list of common adjectives for kids that you can start teaching based on their reading and interaction levels:
Contents
Adjectives for Kids by Grade (US) or Year (UK)
Grade 1
The following list of describing words are commonly used.
Colours: blue, green, purple, orange, black, white, pink, red, yellow
Size: big, small, short, tall, fat, thin
Sounds: loud, quiet
Shapes: round, square, oval, triangular
Numbers: one, two, few, many
Touch/Texture: rough, smooth, soft, hard
Weather: sunny, rainy, windy, dark, light, cloudy
Grade 2 – 3
Alphabetising the common adjectives for kids can help them learn the describing words and their respective meanings more quickly and organise their learning process. This will also allow them to find adjectives that start with a specific letter more conveniently and explore other options more easily.
Letters A-C: angry, bumpy, busy, brave, crispy, cruel, cheerful, chilly
Letters D-H: dangerous, deep, dirty, dry, empty, equal, easy freezing, funny, fat, fluffy, furry, fuzzy, huge
Letters I-N: itchy, icy, juicy, kind, lazy, long, lumpy, left, large, mean, messy, naughty, new, nice
Letters O-R: oily, old, plump, pretty, proud, quick, ready, ripe, right
Letters S-Z: short, simple, slimy, sloppy, slow, spiky, spoiled, sticky, stiff, still, stinky, strong, swollen, thin, tiny, tricky, ugly, weak, wise, wrong, wet
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Grade 4 – 6
Letters A-C: able, adventurous, absurd, apologetic, aware, alert, amusing, ancient, annoyed, anxious, bitter, brilliant, bashful, beautiful, bulky, capable, cautious, creative, creepy, cruel, curly, challenging, charming, clever, compassionate, cosy, cranky
You can learn many more adjectives for kids that start with a or start with b.
Letters D – H: damp, daring, delicate, delicious, disrespectful, dreadful, dull, ecstatic, endless, enormous, entertaining, exhausted, fantastic, foolish, frightened, furious, fussy, gentle, gigantic, gorgeous, graceful
Take a deep dive into many more adjectives that begin with e.
Letters I – N: innocent, icky, intelligent, infinite, jaded, joyful, jolly, jumpy, kind-hearted, kindly, knowledgeable, likely, lousy, loyal, lucky, marvellous, naive, nervous, nimble
Familiarise yourself with many excellent adjectives for kids that start with j, with m and with n.
Letters O – S: optimistic, oval, petite, pleasant, polite, precise, prickly, salty, shocking, slick, slippery, sour, sparkling, straight, stubborn, stunning
Jump to the list of excellent adjectives for kids that start with r and that start with s.
Letters T – Z: temporary, terrified, timid, tricky, truthful, whimsical, young, yummy
Classifying Adjectives: Grammar for Kids
There are different kinds of descriptive adjectives in the English language, all of which will at some point or the other be a solid stepping stone towards improving grammar for kids as they get older and advance through the school system. After organising the words in alphabetical order, these descriptive adjectives have been further sorted into categories for greater understanding and can be quite useful when preparing for promotional exams, such as the CEM and 11+.
Proper Adjectives
These adjectives are derived from proper nouns and are used to describe something in terms of culture, nationality, or religious affiliation.
Some examples of proper adjectives include: African, Asian, British, French, Japanese, Latino, American, Australian, Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish
Food Adjectives
There are many words that can be used to conjure tasteful images when discussing food choices. With the proper adjective definition for kids, they can understand the difference between a “ tasty, cheesy, homemade, spaghetti with meatballs” and a “regular mass-produced fast food pasta,” Some examples include:
Sweets: sugary, chocolatey, syrupy, minty,
Fruits: ripe, sour, juicy, tart, acidic
Dairy: Cheesy, buttery, creamy
Beef: Chewy, peppery, spicy, marinated, lean, dry
Cereal: crunchy, soggy, flakey, nutty
Adjectives for Describing a Person
There are many terms that can be used to describe people in terms of their physical appearance and personality traits. It is important for your child to have these words in their written and spoken vocabulary because as they grow older, they will at some point, face a situation that requires them to describe someone. Some examples include:
Characteristics and Traits: clever, creative, kind, generous, considerate, flexible, mysterious
Personality traits: calm, humble, arrogant, proud, charismatic, mean
Physical Appearance: straight hair, cropped hair, blonde, brunette, lanky, dwarfish, plump, skinny
Learn many more adjectives to describe a person.
Happy Adjectives
These words are great for describing jubilant situations, helping children create strong descriptions for a party or celebration scenes like their last birthday or playdate.
Examples include: beaming, joyous, blissful, joyful, delightful, pleased, cheerful, jovial, jolly, glad, thrilled, elated, gleeful, sunny
Peaceful Adjectives
These words are used to describe a state of serenity. Some examples include: serene, calm, harmonious, peaceful, nonviolent, quiet, undisturbed, still, soothing, tranquil, relaxing, restful
Sporty Adjectives
Many school curricula include a variety of sporting events as part of their physical education activities, so your children have most likely come across these types of adjectives.
Examples include: accurate, active, agile, athletic, frenetic, skilful, speedy, swift, slick,
Adjectives to Describe a Place
These descriptive words can serve as a springboard for the new territory that your child visits or reads about. By learning the right adjectives to describe a location, they become even more interested in learning more about the world outside of their immediate surroundings.
Some examples include: gigantic, grassy, exotic near, far, tidy, spacious, spooky, smelly, lively
How KidSmart Can Help Writing for Kids
Because descriptive adjectives are so common in everyday conversations and learning materials, learning more about them is vital to creating and speaking grammatically correct sentences. KidSmart can help achieve this through its array of gamification strategies and activities that are designed for
- Progressive Grammar – The app follows progressive development methodology and introduces new concepts based on the level of understanding specific to your child.
- Spelling – Since KidSmart is geared towards the UK curriculum, it presents words that are relevant for the child’s year and tests them multiple times to assess their confidence level. It then adjusts the difficulty level automatically based on the responses.
- Vocabulary Building – As your kids progress, new words are introduced with meaning and usage examples. They also have access to the Oxford Dictionary at any time.
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More Reading
Adjectives with S
What’s an adjective?
BBC: What are adjectives for year 2-3?
