Language Arts can seem like countless spelling tests and lifeless worksheets, but I’m telling you that it doesn’t need to be that way. We use games in our language arts all the time, I even found a board game that teaches the parts of grammar! All of these games are loved by our whole family and it’s great because we are able to sneak in some learning during our family game nights! I honestly think that you could do all of your elementary language arts with just games and good books!
Scrabble Jr.
Scrabble Jr is different from the original scrabble back the board has pre-spelt words. The objective is still the same, spell words. The difference is that you are adding to the words that are already there each turn with different letters. Hint: You could even use this as a quiet solo activity for children, simply just get them to match all the letters to the words on the board.
Scrabble UpWords
This is similar to the classic scrabble where you are actually building the words on your own. The main difference is that you can build on top of other people’s words.
Very Silly Scentences
Rocking the grammar world one roll at a time! In this game, you roll a giant die to find out what part of your sentence you’ll be trying to get. Once the die shows you what you’ll be trying for you spin the spinner to try and get your card. Your goal is to make a silly sentence on your sentence card with all of the different pieces you get.
Quiddler
Similar to go fish but instead of making pairs you are trying to create words with your letter cards. A very simple game that you can take with you to play with friends while you’re out.
POP for Sight Words & POP for Letters
These games are extremely similar, the purpose of the game is to know as many words or letters as you can. All the little “popcorns” are in a box in between the players and you take turns picking them out. If you know the letter or word you simply put it in your pile, you play until the all the pieces are gone. The person with the most popcorn pieces at the end of the game wins.
Story Cubes
Creative story game for any age of child. You don’t need to be able to read this game so it’s great to use with younger children or in a group of kids who are at different levels. You roll the dice which have little images on them and you use the images to make up a story.
Jump Ship Card Game
A continuous “you choose” style story that you decide by picking different cards. You could also use this for math as you are adding the gold you are collecting along your story. You can play this game by yourself or with friends!
Bananagrams
This is word building game similar to scrabble but without the need for a board. It allows you to take the game with you wherever you go. You can also use the letter tiles for other activities, you can match letters or even use them for your spelling tests.
