Word games for kids are a great way for children to learn new vocabulary in a fun way. This list of word games includes a range of spelling games, and vocabulary games for kids that will get them talking and help their language development.
Word Games and Vocabulary Games for Kids
Word games are a fantastic way to get your kids learning when they don’t realise it. These types of games help to build vocabulary, learn to spell, and communication in general. They are also really fun and most of them can be played almost anywhere.
If you are looking for board games that you can buy, check out our board games for kids post. These word games below don’t need much preparation, but if you don’t have time to prepare your own, you can also purchase a range of fun word games for kids HERE.
1. Hang Man
The Game: Arguably one of the most popular word games for kids is Hang Man. This word game can be played with minimum 2 players and is perfect for kids to practice their spelling. Player 1 thinks of a word and Player 2 (or more) has to guess it before they get “hung.”
How to Play: Player 1 writes down a line for each letter of the word they have chosen, so that the other player/s know how many letters there are in the word. Player 2 needs to guess a letter they think may be in the word. If the letter is correct Player 1 writes the letter down on the line or lines. If it is incorrect Player 1 draws part of the “hangman”. If the drawing is complete by the time Player 2 guesses, then Player 1 wins.
2. Words within a word
The Game: This is a great word game for kids that requires them to create their own words out of one large word.
How to Play: Choose one really long word with at least 8-10 letters. The longer the word the better. Then set a timer for 1 minute and start. Each player needs to try to make a list of small words out of the letters of the long word. So, for example the word COMPUTER includes: put, cot, term, core, mop, top, pet. Etc. This is a really fun word game to help children’s spelling skills.
3. I spy
The Game: A really easy and fun word game for kids that doesn’t need any materials at all and can be played anywhere is I spy. Guess what the person “spies”. Play this guessing game with as many players as you want in the car, on a walk, or even at dinner.
How to Play: Player 1 looks around and chooses an object that he or she can see then proceeds to say, “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with __” The other players then need to guess what the word is. Whoever guesses the correct words is next up to spy. Great game to play in the car.
4. Unscramble the words
The Game: This is a simple word game for children that needs a little preparation, but will get them really thinking. Kids will need to unscramble the letters to solve the word.
How to play: Write down a list of words on a page, but scramble the letters so that they are not in order. Kids will need to look at the scrambled letters to try to form the word. For younger children, it can be simple 3-4 letter words, for older ones to make it more challenging try some 5-8 letter words. This is a great vocabulary game for kids of any age that will really test their problem solving skills.
5. Bingo
The Game: Bingo is such a fun and easy word game for kids. There are some really good versions on Amazon HERE. That you can buy, but you can also just make up your own. Kids must find the words on their bingo card and be the first to cross them all off.
How to Play: Draw a square grid on a page and choose a theme. Write out some words using the theme. It could be colours, shapes, animals, or even their sight words they are learning at school. For a group of players, make sure that all of them have slightly different words.
Make an extra copy of all of the words on every page then cut them up into squares and put in a bowl scrunched up. You and the kids can then take turns in pulling out a word and reading it out loud. Whoever has the word on their page covers it with a token). The first person to find all of the words calls out Bingo and is the winner.
6. I am going on a picnic
The Game: An old favourite, and a fun word game to help with your child’s memory and to get them talking. One person is going on a picnic and each person has to say what they are bringing along, but with a twist! The more you play this vocabulary game the better you get at it.
How to Play: This game can be played with 2 or more people. Player 1 starts with saying “I am going on a picnic and I will bring … (and chooses an item, eg sandwiches”
Player 2 then repeats what the first person said, and adds something of their own. So, for example “I am going on a picnic and I will bring some sandwiches, and some strawberries.
Player 3 (or back to player 1) then repeats what the first person said, then the second person, and adds something of their own. So for example “I am going on a picnic and I will bring sandwiches, strawberries, and a picnic rug.”
You keep going like this for each person around the circle and as you go, it gets more difficult to remember every item. The game ends when someone cannot remember them all.
7. Alphabet
The Game: Another simple vocabulary for kids to get them thinking is the Alphabet game where you go through the alphabet to name different subjects.
How to Play: Write down the letters A-Z on paper, and then choose a subject such as animals or places. Kids need to then go through the alphabet using each letter to write down something from that subject. For example, Ape, Bear, Cow, Duck, etc.
The person who has the most at the end is the winner. This word game can also be played out loud if you don’t have paper, taking turns with each player going through the alphabet until someone cannot continue.
8. Word Family Game
The Game: This fun vocabulary game requires children to rhyme and think of new words. It can be played with 2 players or even a group.
How to Play: Choose one word to start with, and then everyone needs to write as many words that rhyme with that word. For example if the word is “Mat”, answers could be: cat, sat, rat, pat etc. If you are playing in the car or on the go, you can do one word at a time. If you have paper, then start with a list of words and go through them all with a timer. The person with the most words wins.
9. Word Search
The Game: A fun but challenging word game for kids that encourages persistence is doing a word search. Kids need to find the hidden words within a grid.
How to Play: You can find lots of fun word searches online for free and print them out (as the one in the image above) Or you can make your own easily by drawing a grid of 10 x 10 squares. Once you have your grid, place as many words as you can within the grid. Words can go up, down, or diagonal. For older kids who need a challenge, make some letter overlap and used more than once.
Make sure to create a list on the side or bottom of the page of the words you have entered so the player knows which words to find. Once you cannot fit anymore words in, fill the blank boxes with a range of random letters.
10. Story prompts
The Game: This is a great vocabulary game to get kids talking and sparking their creativity by making up stories together.
How to Play: Kids need to take turns in saying sentences to make a story. Player 1 starts the story, and says the first sentence. Player 2 continues the story with another sentence. Player 3 (or back to Player 1) continues the story again with another sentence and so on. The stories can become very interesting as each person has different ideas.
Other Fun Learning Games for Kids
If you love these fun word games for kids then you may be interested in our other posts that are also educational and help kids with their vocabulary and communication.
- Best board games for kids
- Best car games for kids
- Best kids activities to do at home
- Fun and simple science experiments for kids
- Nursery rhyme lyrics
Best word games for kids of all ages
These word games will certainly encourage your kids to use new vocabulary and improve their spelling too.
The best thing about these word games for kids is that they can can be played with children of all ages. Even parents can join in the fun too. Just adapt the game to suit the age of the player. Let us know if you have a favourite word game for kids that we haven’t listed so we can try it out!
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A list of fun English word games for kids to help improve children’s spelling, reading, and vocabulary. This list of word games for kids includes word games that encourage conversation and early literacy that you can play on the spot or prepare yourself with just some paper and pencil.
Why are Word Games Good For Kids?
Word games and vocabulary games for kids are great because they get kids talking and using language while having fun. When you make a learning activity fun, kids don’t realise they are learning.
For reluctant learners, playing these word games can help and motivate them to want to play and learn more.
*This post may contain affiliate links, read more here.
10 Fun Word Games for Kids
Many of these word games for kids can be prepared easily at home with materials you already have. However if you don’t have time to prepare your own, you can also purchase a range of fun word games for kids HERE.
1. Hang Man
Probably one of the most popular word games for kids is the popular Hang Man. Player 1 thinks of a word and Player 2 has to guess it before they get “hung.”
Player 1 writes spaces for letters are written on the page so they know how many letters there are in the word. Player 2 proceeds to choose a letter they think may be in the word.
If it is correct Player 1 writes the letter down where it goes. If it is incorrect Player 1 draws part of the “hangman”. If the drawing is complete by the time Player 2 guesses, then Player 1 wins.
2. I spy
A really easy and fun word game for kids is I spy. You don’t need anything for this game except your imagination.
Player 1 thinks of a word and tells the others the first letter. “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with __” The other players need to guess the word. Whoever wins gets to be the spy!
This is a really great car game for kids too and helps to build vocabulary.
3. Bingo
Such an easy word game to prepare for kids. There are some really good versions on Amazon HERE. You can purchase the game, or use it as an example to make your own.
Draw a square grid on a page and choose a theme. Write out some words using the theme. Eg, beach: swimming, sand castles, water, sea shells, dolphin, sunbeds, picnic etc.
Make an extra copy of the words ensuring there are a few extra than the amount on the page. Cut them up into squares and put in a bowl scrunched up.
Take turns in pulling out a word and reading it out loud, then finding it on your page. The first person to find all of the words calls out Bingo and is the winner.
This fun word game for kids helps with reading and talking aloud.
4. Word Family Game
This game requires children to rhyme. Select one word and everyone needs to write as many words as they can that rhyme with that word. Eg. If the word is “Cat”, answers could be: hat, bat, rat, sat etc.
This is a great word game to help build kids vocabulary and help their language skills.
5. Word Search
Another fun but challenging word game for kids is a word search. Draw a grid of 10 x 10 squares and place as many words as you can within the grid. Words can go up, down, or diagonal, and letters can overlap to be used more than once.
Create a list on the side or bottom of the page of the words you have entered. Then once you cannot fit anymore words in, fill the blank boxes with random letters.
Kids will need to find the words as quick as possible. This can be a fun word game to do individually or as a team. For kids who like to compete, you can make identical grids and see who finishes first.
This word game encourages persistence and helps to improve their literacy skills.
6. Unscramble the words
A simple word game for children that will get them really thinking! Write a list of words down on paper but scramble the letter order while writing. Kids will need to look at the letters and try to work out what the word is and guess it.
This can be quite a competitive word game, but it helps to really get their mind ticking.
7. Scategories
While this is also an official board game, (which you can find online here) you can also make it yourself quite easily. Each player has a piece of paper and pencil.
Select 10-15 categories. These can be anything you like but remember they should be popular enough that you can guess something with most letters. Eg. Country, Movie, Body Part, Actor or Actress etc.
Once you have your categories it is time to choose a letter. Without a dice, the easiest way is to write the letters randomly on a piece of paper.
Then one person closes their eyes and points to a letter. When the letter has been chosen, players have 2 minutes to fill in the gaps with something in each category starting with that letter.
Winner is the one with the most filled in at the end, or the first to finish.
This is a really fun and competitive word game for kids that helps to improve their vocabulary, spelling, and conversation skills.
8. Words within a word
This word game requires kids to create their own words. Choose one really long word with at least 8-10 letters. The longer the better.
The aim of this word game is for kids to try to make a list of small words out of the letters of the long word. So for example the word COMPUTER includes: put, cot, term, core, mop, top, pet. Etc.
This is a really fun word game to help children’s spelling skills.
9. I am going on a picnic
A fun word game to help with your child’s memory and to get them talking.
One person starts and says “I am going on a picnic and I will bring some… fruit”
The next person says what the first person said, and adds something of their own. “I am going on a picnic and I will bring some fruit, and some sandwiches.
The next person says what the first, and second person said, and adds something of their own. “I am going on a picnic and I will bring some fruit, some sandwiches and some ice-cream.
You continue on and on and it gets more difficult to remember everything. We usually can get to at least seven or eight, and surprisingly my pre-schooler can often remember more than me!
This conversational game helps with memory, and also learning new vocabulary.
10. Story prompts
This word game involves making up a story by taking turns in saying sentences. One person starts the story, and says the first sentence. The second person continues the story with another sentence, and so on.
The stories can become very interesting as each person has different ideas. Bilingual flashcards are great for this or you can find a great version online HERE.
This conversation activity helps kid’s imagination, as well as building their vocabulary.
Other Fun Learning Resources for Kids?
If you love these English word games, check out these posts!
English Classroom Games – To play in class or at home
Knock Knock Jokes – To get the kids laughing
Best Board Games for Kids – Educational and fun
Top Book Sets for Kids – For all ages
Which English word games do you play with your kids?
These fun English word games for kids can be played with children of all ages and also with adults just by adapting certain aspects of the game to suit the age of the player.
This list of word games for kids will keep kids entertained for hours on end without feeling like they are actually learning.
Mastermind variation, with words
Reveal the picture by finding the word
Fill in the blanks to create words as fast as you can
Find the word in the telephone pad
Find the word in the blackberry pad
Discover the hidden word before it’s too late
Yes, the computer cheats…but how?
Create words on the letter wheels
Illuminate the hidden word by clicking in the right places
Place the words onto the crossword grid
Find the hidden word by connecting letters in the grid.
Unscramble multiple words
Find the hidden word in the grid
Find the word that isn’t really a word.
Our own variation on a traditional word search
Try our online language quizzes.
Our Games at Portland Proof
Find and fix the mistake in the sentence.
Select the correct word to complete the sentence
Make words by filling in letters
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Free Online Word Games for Kids
Free Online Word Games for Kids
Every day, more and more technology is being brought into the classroom. By having children play games on computers at home, they will already know the basic workings of a computer. For example, they will know how to efficiently use a mouse and will have a basic understanding of the letters on the keyboard. Because of this, children will become more engaged in the classroom, and in turn, more successful in their future.
The games keep children’s attention longer than if they were reading from textbooks. During game play, children concentrate on their next move or work on solving a problem. It helps increase their visual attention span, while they learn important new words.
Problem solving skills are another benefit of word puzzle games. Children need to think of what comes next, or what happens if they make a particular move. If a child spells a word wrong, he or she will have to go back and try again. Most of the time, children use the process of elimination to help them spell unfamiliar words.
Word Games To Build Vocabulary and Spelling Skills
Turtle Diary has many fun games that will help your child to practice and reinforce vocabulary and spelling skills without getting bored or feeling stressed about the process. When you begin to read, students will need to practice their sight words again and again to gain that recall. Sight words cannot be sounded out with normal phonetic pronunciation, so playing any of Turtle Diary’s Sight Word games, like Spell the Sight Words, will help your student to find success in their reading and vocabulary skills. It also helps that Turtle Diary has auditory options that will read students anything they need to hear within the game. Whether they are Flipping Cards or building Word Ladders, kids are sure to enjoy playing as they master their vocabulary skills. The more they are able to recognize the words, the easier it will be to spell them in games like Spell the Sight Words.
When working with vocabulary, students will love doing Animal Crosswords with hints about the missing animals, which encourages vocabulary recall and spelling skills. With a wide variety of animals and topics, your kids will love playing so much they won’t even realize the skills they’re building with each click.
For more advanced readers and spellers, Turtle Diary has Spelling Words that specifically practices words at their level before they are ready to move up to a more advanced game like Word Scramble, where they have to unscramble words, or Hangman, where they choose letter by letter to spell a mystery word before a monkey is drawn. Word Searches can also reinforce letter recognition and spelling skills as well as logic. No matter what game you choose on Turtle Diary, your child will be gaining invaluable skills for their literacy journey.
What are some fun word games for kids?
If you’re looking for some fun word games, check out one of our biggest hits: Word Scramble. It’s designed for students in 1st-4th grade. A picture provides a clue, and kids unscramble the letters provided to create the word.
Watch out though- there are extra letters to make the game a little more challenging! Scrabble is another fun word game. This classic game is just as fun online as it is playing around the table with your family
Can kids play word games online?
The internet is full of engaging word games that kids can play. Online word games are an incredible tool because they can be played on almost any device anywhere you have an internet connection. These online word games are a perfect way to develop vocabulary, spelling, and phonics skills while they have fun!
What are some easy word games?
An early reading skill is recognizing familiar sight words, and this sight word game provides practice, with levels ranging from pre-K to third grade. Another easy word game is our word ladder game. Students create a word ladder by changing one letter at a time, using picture cues to guide their work.
Where can I find free word games for kids?
All of the word games on TurtleDiary.com are free! You can choose games to focus on a variety of skills, including reading, writing, speaking, listening, grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Our games are created with a focus on elementary age students in grades pre-K through fifth grade.
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