English Words for Kids by Topic

The order of the topics is also the recommended learning sequence. If your child is 5–6 years old, first read where to start English with a preschooler.

You can make the flashcards yourself: print pictures or draw them together with your child, put the English word on the front and the translation on the back. That’s half an hour of work. The harder part is something else: revisiting these cards on schedule for weeks, not just two evenings in a row. How to take that burden off your shoulders is in the Mova section below.

Family — Family

The first topic is almost always this one: these words connect to real people, so they stick the fastest.

Colors — Colours

Teach them through action: “Bring me the red car,” “Where is the blue one?”

Numbers 1–20 — Numbers

First 1–10, then 11–20. Count real things: steps, cars, train cars.

* The th sound ([θ]) has no exact Ukrainian equivalent: place the tip of the tongue between the teeth and blow out an “s” sound. “Sri” is only a hint — be sure to listen to the audio.

Animals — Animals

The most rewarding topic: you can show animals, make their sounds (“A cat says meow”), and look for them on a walk.

Food — Food

This one gets repeated without any “lessons”: at breakfast, name what’s on the table.

Body — Body

The “Touch your nose” game: the child moves, and the words stick better.

Clothes — Clothes

Repeat them when your child is getting dressed: “Where are your socks?”

House and room — House

Stick the word card table on the table, door on the door. A week later, remove the stickers and check.

School — School

For first graders: all of this is in the backpack.

Actions — Verbs

Through movement: “Jump!” — and the child jumps. Then they give the commands.

Feelings — Feelings

This is where the first sentences begin: “I am happy.” Show feelings with your face.

Weather and seasons — Weather

Every morning, look out the window and say what’s there: “It’s sunny!”

How to learn these words properly

A list is just raw material. To make the words stick, follow five rules:

1. 5–7 words at a time. Too much today means emptiness tomorrow.
2. Flashcards with pictures, no translation on the front. The word cat should connect with the image of a cat, not with the word “cat,” so write the translation on the back.
3. Play instead of drilling. “Bring me…,” “Show me…,” “What disappeared?,” memory matching with card pairs.
4. Spaced repetition. The next day, then after 3, 7, and 14 days — otherwise up to 80% of what was learned will be forgotten. The Leitner method with the same flashcards is in the article how to help a child remember English words. The hardest part is not losing the schedule: boxes of flashcards and a repetition calendar are usually something nobody keeps up with after a week. So it’s easiest to hand the schedule over to Mova: the app picks the words that are due every day on its own, sends mistakes back to tomorrow, and you don’t have to count anything.
5. Use words in phrases right away. Learned colors and animals? Make phrases: a red cat, a big dog. By the way, in Mova the words don’t live separately either: the child meets them in a short lesson text.

How many words a child needs in total — see the article how many English words a child should know and the Oxford 3000 list: all 134 words from here are included in that core list.

How Mova repeats words for you

Flashcards are easy to print and hard to keep repeating for weeks: parents get tired of reminding, and kids get tired of sitting down “for English.” Mova takes that on: a daily English lesson on the child’s iPhone, while games, social media, and videos open only for the minutes earned by that lesson. No reminders or negotiations are needed — the phone itself becomes the reason to review the words. The flashcards can still be used for play with your little one, while Mova handles the consistency that usually makes them fall apart.

• 6 words and 1 rule a day, then a short quiz — within the same 5–7 words.
• The app counts the intervals. Correct answer — the word returns after 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 days; a mistake — it comes back tomorrow. “Knows” means four correct answers with increasing gaps.
• Minutes for results. A “Super” quiz earns 30 minutes of screen time, “Good” earns 20, and if all the day’s quizzes are “Super,” that’s another +10. You can change or turn off the rewards.
• The level adjusts automatically, with no placement test.
• A streak keeps the rhythm. For every 5 days in a row without missing, you get bonus minutes.
• You can see progress. In the parent dashboard: how many words the child knows and how many they are learning.

What it cannot do: explain live — card games for little kids are still up to you. And it works only on iPhone.

Ukrainian-letter transcription: pros and cons

Ukrainian letters in the tables are a compromise, and it has limits.

Transcription is a hint for you, and every new word should be played for the child in an online dictionary. When your child becomes interested in letters, start with the English alphabet with pronunciation and transcription.