Language Arts Games for Kids

People, Places and Things

• Teach your preschool and kindergarten students about nouns with this game. Prepare by printing out pictures of random people, places and things. Hand a picture to every child and tell them to decide whether the picture is of a person, a place or a thing. Give them about 10 seconds to decide, then go through the room and ask each player to hold up his picture and give his guess. Once a player tells you her answer, ask everyone to hold up their hands if they think she guessed correctly. Everyone who guesses correctly gets a point. The game continues until all the players have shown their pictures. The player with the most points wins the game.

Write the Sentence Relay

• To play this grammar- and spelling-building game, start by creating an open path from the back of the classroom to the whiteboard. Divide the kids into two teams and give the first player in each team a piece of chalk. Start the game by stating a simple sentence, such as "The man walked across the street." The first players in both teams immediately race to the chalkboard and write down the first word in the sentence. They head back to their teams and hand the chalk off to the next players in line, who then go back to the board to write the next word in the sentence. This continues until one team has completed the sentence with correct grammar and spelling. If neither team has written the sentence correctly, the players take turns just as before in trying to correct the mistakes. Award the correct team with a point. Continue with several rounds, making the sentences harder as you go. The team with the most points wins the game.

Mystery Meanings

• Teach the children new words by playing this vocabulary-building game. Start by handing each of the children a piece of paper. Pick a word from the dictionary that most of the children probably haven't heard of yet. Tell them the word and ask everyone to write down what they think the word means. While they are writing, write down the real definition on your own paper. Once everyone has written down their guesses, collect all the papers and read each one aloud. Have the kids pick which description actually defines the word. Any players who guess the correct definition gain a point. Continue the game by picking several different words. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.