Which dictionary do you buy for a 6-year-old child?

[fantasyvn2008]

My son is in Year 1 and I would like to buy for him an Oxford Dictionary, to enjoy reading and to improve his vocabulary.

There are quite a few versions (Primary, Junior, Illustrated, etc), so I was wondering about which one to choose.

Could you pls let me know which dictionary you would buy?

My sincere thanks

[Watermelon]

I love the DK illustrated Oxford dictionary; you start looking your word up and then become side-tracked by some amazing illustration! Much less dry than a standard dictionary, children seem to love it too.
ISBN 0-7513-1110-3
(Not sure it's still in print but I bought a second copy for 1p on Amazon)

[Watermelon]

Have just noticed on reading back that your DC is in year 1 so obviously he would need a lot of help to use this dictionary - it is a heavyweight volume- maybe get this to complement one which he can use himself. I find that school dictionaries for children often contain hardly any words and so can be very frustrating for children to use.

[KS10]

I was going to say that 6 seems a little too young to be thinking about using a dictionary.

[Juggler]

Thanks for the recommendation, Watermelon.
Will try this for my DS. No harm

[moved]

Infants have dictionaries in school usually. Perhaps find out which ones are available to him in class.
We used sticker books and a DK picture dictionary when ours were little. DS requested a dictionary that he could use, but then he also asked for a times table poster when he saw one in a shop!

[Stroller]

I love dictionaries. Don't ask.

Assume you'll need to buy a couple over the course of a child's schooling. For the first one, buy the most attractively illustrated one you can find. You may be able to use some in your local library? In the early days, it's mainly to get the child used to the idea that some books exist to define and explain words and some of those words may be unfamiliar. Oxford, Usborne and DK all produce suitable volumes.

You will need to upgrade as soon as your child comes across an unfamiliar word that your dictionary doesn't define adequately. Ones that make it easy to see at a glance where you are in the alphabet are helpful (e.g. those that show the letter you're on enlarged as part of a whole alphabet shown along a page margin, or those that have a thumb index by letter).

By year 4 or 5, a good reader will definitely benefit from access to a much larger and more serious adult dictionary (or an online equivalent).

<soapbox>And - completely off-topic, but while I'm at it - there's no advantage whatsoever to a child being able to recite the alphabet until they get to the point where they need to use a paper dictionary. Parents who think the ability to recite a sing song alphabet at three is a sign of genius are mistaken. Just as any teacher will confirm that the ability to recite more or less sequential numbers in a sing song voice has little or nothing to do with understanding number and being able to count lots of objects that aren't sitting in a tidy line. </soapbox>