Home >> Games & Cards >> Games

Fun Book Games

Games involving characters or memorable scenes from books can stoke the imagination of children and adults, encouraging them to read more. Creating an interactive experience between a child and reading can lead to a greater appreciation for books, while increasing the child's ability to learn. Fourth-grade children who read at a first- or second-grade level understand only one-third to one-half of their printed curriculum, according to a study by the Children's Reading Foundation. Entertaining, book-related games will engage the reader and increase understanding of the material.

Memorable First Lines
- Read aloud the first line from a classic or popular book that your players are familiar with, and have them guess the book and the author. A game suited for children and adults, many great books have memorable opening lines that will immediately conjure up fun memories. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," from Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities," is instantly recognizable to anyone who has read the novel. For children, this game encourages them to remember details from stories, so they must pay close attention when reading.
Choose Your Own Adventure
- Keeping a child engaged while reading keeps him from becoming bored or distracted. "Choose-your-own-adventure" books offer the reader the opportunity to determine how the story will unfold, by deciding which path the story continues down.
  
  A child reading one of these adventure stories can decide whether he wants to explore a mysterious cave or continue down the road to a haunted house. If later he does not like the choice he has made, he can go back and read the outcome of taking the other option. The child has become engaged regardless of what he chose, and the more options there are, the more he can read.
Mad Libs
- A creative, interactive reading experience, Mad Libs let the reader create her own narrative. The moderator asks for verbs, adverbs, adjectives and nouns to fill blanks in the text to create a humorous narrative. Fun for adults and children, Mad Libs actively involves the reader in the story, while teaching the fundamentals of grammar.
  
  Create your own Mad Libs with your child by working together to create a basic story, while leaving blank a few words to fill in later. This will help teach the basics of story structure in a fun, interactive way.
Solitaire Adventures
- Solitaire adventure books, which are a combination of role-playing games and choose-your-own-adventure books, allow the reader to choose his own path by using the rules of a role-playing game. The reader creates his own character, and he must overcome obstacles in the story by rolling dice. How well the reader rolls the dice determines what happens to his character.
  
  This game encourages young readers to become involved in the story by providing multiple outcomes, while also teaching basic math principles.

Games