Word games help children make sense of sounds and letters. They are valuable tools for building essential literacy skills, such as reading, writing, and spelling. When you play such games with your children, you not only bond with them better but also help enhance their creativity and critical thinking skills.
Many word games do not need much equipment. You can play them with your kids while traveling, during dinner, at night before sleep, or at any other time of your preference. They are great to prevent kids from getting bored while the school’s out.
This article will list 6 best word games for young, school-going children.
The License Plate Game
This is an exciting game to play while you are driving with your kids. Look at the license plates of other vehicles and find the letter of the alphabet. Have a master list at hand to check off the letters.
You can find the letters in alphabetic order or in any order. The kid who finds all the letters first will be declared the winner.
To take it up a notch, ask your kids to create a list of all the letters in five to ten license plates. The winner will be the child who is able to create the most words out of those groups of letters.
Decode the Words
This is a very straightforward game but effective enough to get your kids thinking. All they need to do is decode the letters to form words. Create a list of words, but scramble the letters. It means putting them haphazardly so they are in the wrong order. Tell the child to look at the letters and form a word.
For older kids, you can take up to as many as five to eight letters. It might be a good idea to first introduce them to as many five-letter words as possible.
This game will strengthen the vocabulary of your children and help them retain new words in their memory.
First Letter, Last Letter
This is perfect for both older and younger children. The game begins when the first kid says a word. The next kid should say a word that begins with the end of the last letter of the first child’s word.
Here’s an example to help you understand it better.
- FIRST KID: COME
- SECOND KID: EAR
- THIRD KID: RAT
To increase the difficulty level, set a specific time period, such as 5 seconds, in which the child has to come up with a word. Otherwise, they lose. This game will help your children exercise their mental faculties by thinking quickly to come up with a meaningful word.
I Am Going on a Picnic
This is a classic word game that never fails to lose its charm. Assume that the first person is going on a picnic. They will say what they are bringing with them to the picnic. It can be any item of their choice.
For example, they can say: “I am going on a picnic, and I will bring fries.”
Now, the second person will say the same statement. But they will also add their own item to the list. So, it will sound like this: “I am going on a picnic, and I will bring fries and mashed potatoes.”
This will keep going on till it gets harder for every child to remember all the items spoken so far. The game will finally end when one of the children is not able to remember all the items in the correct order.
A Word Game for the Whole Family
This is a fun vocabulary game that will stimulate children to think of new words. It also needs them to come up with rhyming words. Begin the game by choosing a word. Now, every family member will write as many words as possible that rhyme with the chosen word.
For instance, if the first word was duck, other people can write pluck, luck, buck, truck, and so on. If you play this game while driving, choose just a single word. Otherwise, create a list of words and write rhyming words related to all of them.
Complete the Word
Another interesting word game is when the first person says a syllable or sound. The next person will add a syllable to complete the word. Then, both the kids will say the completed word together.
For example, the first child will say “hop.” The second child will say “scotch.” Another example is that of the first child saying “sun” and the second child will say “burn.”
This game allows children to practice roots and syllables. Of course, it may be possible that the first kid had a different word in mind when they said the root word. But it does not matter as long as the finished word makes sense.
Summing up
Word games are entertaining and yet offer several benefits to growing children. From increasing their vocabulary to training their concentration skills, they help children significantly.
Choose any of the fun games described above whenever you are traveling or just spending some time with your child. Play them regularly, and you’ll be amazed at the number of new words that your child starts to use in their everyday conversations!
