In the car the other night Simon announced, "I feel uneducated." He heard me hashing out some thoughts about a homeschooling method that is different than our own. He heard about a co-op where the kids his age spend an hour each week learning grammar. So Simon's announcement was quickly followed by a question, "What is grammar?"
His question fed my fear about the way we do things around here–where we don't start formal grammar until 8th grade. Before I had a chance to spit-out a carefully calculated response, and before I had a chance to bite my nails or grip the steering wheel a little tighter, Simon replied to his own question. "Is that like a noun? A person, place, or thing?" "Is grammar about verbs? Action words? Burp and fart?"
My eyes widened in wonder. How? How did he know? He must have sensed my questions because he started talking again. "Those books you gave me. You know. Those Mad Libs."
Right. Those. Mad Libs. Literacy games. Games that allow kids to play with words and learn to love language!
I explained to Simon, "Different families do things differently. Some homeschool families use spelling books and grammar workbooks in elementary school. That's fine. We use literacy games. And that's fine, too. I think you just proved to yourself that you are not uneducated."
Playing with words is an excellent way to learn some language arts basics without ever opening a textbook or scribbling in a boring-old workbook. Playing games also gives you opportunities to build memories and think critically. Students form positive associations with words which lays a good foundation for kids who will WANT to write.
Our Favorite Literacy Games
Banangrams
This little yellow banana has been around the world with us! We've also played Banangrams countless times at our dining room table. This was probably Elijah-the-word-lover's favorite game when he was in 3rd-4th grades.
Recommended Age: 7+
View the video for instructions for playing Banangrams.
Lickety Quick
Lickety Quick is super fabulous for children (like mine) who don't have a formal grammar program. Students can learn some of the parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) and other language arts concepts with this fast paced card game. Sometimes I let Simon play it as a single player–just to see how quickly he can go on his own without any competition from me; he usually wants to complete the entire deck!
Recommended Age: 8+ (I think younger children would enjoy this, too.)
Pathwords and Pathwords Jr. (junior version pictured below)
Pathwords (ages 12+) and Pathwords Jr. (ages 6+) combine words and critical thinking to solve the puzzles. Both of my boys enjoy these single player games.
View the video for instructions for playing Pathwords.
Mini Mouth Word Game
A short, simple, easy-to-take with you game! You always have time to play Mini Mouth. The trick is to remember that the tiles with asterisks can be used alone. We all give this game a thumb's up!
Recommended Age: 8+
View the video for instructions for playing Mini Mouth.
Word A Round
Word A Round is a new game for us, and it's Elijah's new favorite. Each card has three words found in the three rings around the card; one word is hiding in each color. Your job is to find where the word starts, so you can determine what it is. It sounds easy, right? Not for this old lady! Even though Elijah won with an obnoxious amount of points, I still think this game is a TON of fun.
Recommended Age: 10+
Watch the video and learn how to play Word A Round.
Boggle and Boggle Jr.
You can tell by the photo that this is a well-loved oldie here; it's starting to look vintage!
Boggle and Boggle Jr. are great games for secret spelling practice.
Recommended Age (for Boggle Jr.): 3-6 years
Pass the Peas
Simon says Pass the Peas is his FAVORITE game right now. You get 10 tiles (or peas) and you build a word in your pod. Every player passes to the left and tries to add on to make a new word. Pass to the left again and repeat. It is brain bending, for sure; you are super proud of yourself when you turn "sneaky" into "speaker" — I promise!
Note: We stretch the time limit on this because we are nerds and like to use dictionaries to try to build bigger words; you can rewrite the rules for this game to suit your family's needs!
Recommended Age: 8+
Word on the Street Junior
Word on the Street Junior sneaks in a ginormous dose of spelling practice WITHOUT any writing (this is extremely important for my guy). You will battle it out for each letter and have to use strategy and play defense in order to win this game. Love, love, love it!
Recommended Age: 8+
Watch the video to learn how to play Word on the Street.
Konexi
This is a newer word game for us, and we are still breaking it in. If Jenga and Scrabble were to have a baby, well, it would be Konexi. The goal is to add a letter to make a word from connected letters (the word does not have to be in order). The trick is adding it–the tower can't fall or you get a penalty. I'm good at that.
Recommended Age: 10+
Watch the video to learn how to play Konexi.
Do you love word games, too?
What literacy games would you add to this list for a language rich homeschool?
Thanks for sharing this!
These are really neat games! Thanks for sharing!!
Do you find that your child’s vocabulary grows with these games or do you play more to reinforce vocabulary?
Hi Katrina,
We’ve never used a vocabulary program in our homeschool (and my oldest graduates this year). I found that reading aloud was the best way to teach them new vocabulary. 🙂