Teaching literacy is a huge undertaking. Reading, writing, speaking, listening, vocabulary, and more are all elements of literacy instruction. Sometimes we just need to give the students a little bit of fun. Literacy games are great for improving comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, and even sight words! Take a look at this awesome list of 10 fun literacy games to use today!
10 Fun Literacy Games
These 10 games are perfect for students who need to have a little fun or if you’re looking to add a little gamifying to your classroom lesson plans.
Doodle Challenge 4 of a Kind
To start, I have this great game for Morning Meetings that really wakes up our students’ brains and gets them to start thinking critically. Students will use language skills and develop an understanding of similarities. Pictures appear, and students figure out how they are connected! This fun literacy game will get those brains ready for even more learning!
Lego Words and Sentences
Grab those Duplo blocks and make a literacy game out of them! This could work with little Lego blocks too, but Duplo are probably best for the younger kids. Add words to the blocks (sight words or vocabulary words), and then let students create sentences or even a story using blocks. Stack them up and read them from top to bottom!
Trash Ball for Vocabulary
This is a really cool, fun game for teaching vocabulary. Have students stand in a line, or they can play during stations. Students have to define the vocabulary word. Then they get to shoot a ball of paper into the garbage. Most points win! Who doesn’t love trying to make garbage baskets?!
Free Reading Game
Of course, there are some great online literacy games for kids. PBS Kids Storybook Adventure or Story Creator is one of those free literacy games that kids will love using. Students get to choose their adventure in reading in the storybook adventure or create their own story in story creator. Easy to use and lots of fun!
Retell Through Pictures
Have some artistic students? Have students retell the story that was read aloud with pictures. Students can draw pictures or make it a game with pictures around the room and students have to race to get the pictures to retell the story first. This would work great as a relay race! Sequencing is a great literacy skill to master!
Rhyming Memory
All kids love the game of Memory. Grab some index cards and add rhyming words. Students play memory, but instead of finding picture matches, they have to find rhyme matches! So easy and fun!
Vocabulary Jenga
A good game of Jenga can’t be beat! Add vocabulary words or definitions to the Jenga blocks, and students have to define the word or say the definition of the word when they pull the block. If they get it wrong, they have to pull again! The rules for this one can be changed to work for you! This would also work great for sight words! They pull a block and have to say the word!
Puppet Shows
Who doesn’t love a good puppet show? Have students create brown paper bag puppets and retell stories, or create their own stories using puppets. Everyone will have fun playing or watching these puppet shows. This is really fun for reading comprehension!
Bingo Sight Word or Rhyming
Print out some blank Bingo cards, or prefill them for students and have a whole class game of Bingo. Instead of numbers, students have to mark if they have the sight word called or if they have a rhyme for the word that is called.
Fluency on Target
Here is a great one for small groups or stations. This literacy game has you print out a picture of a bullseye. You may want to laminate it. Then you have students read for fluency. If they read the passage fluently they move their game piece towards the target. You can definitely add in sight words or vocabulary or even comprehension questions to the target game to make it more fast-paced or change it to your needs!
Having fun while learning is always to the student’s benefit. Looking for reading activities can sometimes be daunting so you have to the right place for all of your literacy needs! If you are looking for even more fun literacy ideas, check out this blog about Writing Workshop or this one with Funny Read-Alouds ready to go! Have some fun with these 10 literacy games and watch your students’ literacy skills increase!