Phonics and spelling has never been so fun! This is a great way to get your children building words from letter tiles. Each worksheet has everything you need for scissor practice, word family phonics, spelling and handwriting! Print out a set and your children will be making words in no time. You might consider cutting the letters for younger children.
If you’re not familiar with the ins and outs of “Making Words”, here are the basics. Making words is a great way to teach phonics and spelling. In these lessons, students incorporate cutting skills, writing skills and manipulation of letters, a total work-out if you will. 
For the first lesson, the -at family, students will cut out letters. Then you will direct them step by step to create a new word. The conversation would go something like this:
Teacher: We are going to make some words in the -at family! Lets begin by taking two letters to make the word aaaat. Can you hear the sounds? Take the letters to make at. Now write the word at on line number 1. You will then have them add and take away beginning sounds to make new words. In this first lesson there are two extra blanks. Your child can see if they can think of more words to add to the -at family.
Making Words with AM
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with AD
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with AG
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with AN
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with AP
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with AT
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with ED
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with EG
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with EN
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with ENT
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with EST
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with ET
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with IB
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with ID
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with IG
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with IP
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with IT
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Words with OX
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Short A Words
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
Making Short I Words
Free Making Words Worksheets for children learning to read. This set includes letter tiles as well as picture clues.
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One of the most effective ways for young children to gain knowledge and develop crucial abilities is through play. So, if you’re in search of some fun and educational activities to do at home, word games for kids are the perfect option to keep your little one engaged. This game also makes learning at home enjoyable and lays the foundation for successful school learning. Moreover, word games assist your kid improve their vocabulary, spelling, grammar, writing, reading, verbal, and communication skills. Parents can study alongside their kids as children like having their parents participate in their learning. In this post, we present you with a list of fantastic word games that kids and adults may enjoy together. Read on.
Benefits Of Word Games
If you are wondering why word games for children are beneficial, here are some reasons:
- Develops vocabulary
- Improves fluency in the language
- Hones comprehension and reasoning skills
- Develops a love of words and reading
- Sparks their imagination and memory
- Improves their problem-solving skills
- Encourages creativity
- Serves as a great pastime for the family
- Stimulates the brain
- Improves concentration
There are many word games for kids that help them learn new words. These games are entertaining and educational, making them enjoyable for everyone involved.
We have listed the 20 best word games for kids. These games will ensure you and your children have a great time learning new words.
1. Hangman
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Hangman is a fun paper and pencil guessing word game for kids that can be played between two players. More players can participate and take turns as well. It is a simple game where a stickman is hanged if a player fails to get the word right.
Age group: 6 to 10 years
No of players: 2
How to play:
- Take a sheet of paper and a pen and draw gallows.
- The first player thinks of a word and draws dashes above the gallows equal to the number of letters in the word.
- The other player starts guessing the letters one by one.
- If the letter the player says is in the word, the first player writes it in the corresponding spaces on the dashes.
- If the letter is not in the word, the first player draws one part of the stickman, starting from the head and followed by the body, hands, and legs.
- If the stickman gets completed before the second player guesses the word, that player loses.
- Switch sides and start again.
- Proper nouns or slang words are not allowed.
2. Name the animal
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Name the animal is a multiplayer kids word game that can help teach your children animal names and improve their reasoning skills. This game also offers your child the opportunity to exercise their lateral thinking skills.
Age group: 4 to 7 years
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- You can be the host of the game.
- Make a list of common animals and a list of words that rhyme with these animal names.
- Call out each player and present them a rhyming word, and let them guess the animal name. You can say things like, “I rhyme with fog. I am a …..”
- The player who gets the maximum words correct is the winner.
- You can also teach them animal sounds by substituting animal names with their sounds.
3. I spy
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I spy is one of the easiest games of the lot. All you need is your imagination and some eager players.
Age group: 4 to 6 years
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- Locate an object, and tell your child its first letter saying, “I Spy an object starting with the letter ….”
- Your child looks around and recognizes each object corresponding to that letter.
- Stop when they get it right and continue the game with the next player.
- You can also mention the color or shape of the object and let your child guess it correctly.
4. Make a word
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If your child is starting to learn new words, this word game for kids is useful. You can also play this game with older kids to make them learn difficult words and improve their memory. This game lays a solid foundation for playing advanced spelling games, such as Scrabble.
Age group: 4 to 12 years
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- You can play this game with younger children if you have magnetic letters, plastic letters, letter mats, or letter blocks.
- Give them a set of letters and ask them to make two- or three-letter words with them.
- For older children, you can play the game mentally or write a set of letters on a piece of paper and ask them to make as many words as they can from them.
- You can even play a timed version of the game with older children as they enjoy a good challenge.
5. Rhyming words
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Rhyming Words game is a variation of Name the Animal. This word game for kids encourages your child to learn new words and helps hone their reasoning skills.
Age group: For ages 3 to 6 years
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- Name any animal.
- Ask your children to say the words that rhyme with the name of the animal, in turns.
- For example, when you say the word “dog,”your children should come up with words such as fog, hog, and log.
- Continue with a player until they run out of words and repeat the game with the next player.
6. Name, place, animal, thing
Image: IStock
You might remember playing this game as a child yourself. This game helps in expanding your child’s knowledge and memory.
Age group: 5 years and above
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- Give each player a sheet of paper and a pencil.
- Say a letter of the alphabet and start a timer.
- Each player must write the words of a name, place, animal, or a thing starting with that letter. For example, if the letter is A, a player may write, “Alex, Australia, Ape, Apple,” under each of these categories, respectively.
- You can assign different letters to different players or the same letter to each one.
- You can include other categories as per your convenience.
7. Hink pink
Image: Shutterstock
Children love this game. This word game for kids is designed to maximize fun while learning new words and their meanings. The game can help improve your child’s ability to solve crossword puzzles and cryptic crosswords.
Age group: 4 to 12 years
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- Ask each player to come up with a set of rhyming monosyllabic words, e.g., fat rat.
- Help them make a clue about their words. In this case, the clue will be “a rodent that is not thin.”
- Each player says their clue aloud, and the others try to guess what the rhyming words are.
- If the children are older, you can play Hinky Pinky (two-syllable words) or Hinketty Pinketty (three-syllable words). You can even make different combinations between different syllabic words.
- Ask the children to act out the words too so that all of you have lots of fun while the children learn difficult words.
- Here are some more words to get you started: Thin Pin, Big Pig, Tan Pan, Fan Man.
8. Guess the correct word
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This word game for kids, if played mentally, is an excellent way to boost your child’s memory. It is a simple game and can be played with pencil and paper if you want to keep score.
Age group: 6 years and above
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- The first player thinks of a word and announces its first letter and the number of letters in the word to the others. If the player has thought of the word “Bananas,” they should say B and 6.
- The other players have to guess the word using these clues.
- If a player says another word but it has some matching words with the original word, the first player will say that the word is wrong but there are matching letters in the correct places or the wrong places.
- The next player uses these clues to make the next guess.
- You can keep the words simple or difficult according to the age of the children.
- As for the example of Bananas:
Player 2: Bullock
Player 1: That is incorrect
Player 3: Bahamas
Player 1: That is incorrect, but the As are in the correct place,
and so on.
9. Word hunting
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If your child is just learning the alphabet, this is an easy game to play. However, you can make some minor changes and tweak it for older children.
Age group: 4 to 7 years
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- Scatter magnetic letters, plastic letters, or letter blocks on a table.
- Ask your child to pick up a letter from the lot.
- For older children, you can write three- or four-letter words on little chits of paper and do the same procedure as above.
- For children who can read, you can ask them to pick words they see outside shops, etc.
10. Change one letter
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This is a great word game for school children. The game promotes out-of-the-box thinking and allows your child to come up with new words and even their meanings.
Age group: 5 to 10 years
No of players: 4 or more
How to play:
- Begin with a short word that has three, four, or five letters (according to the age of the children).
- Ask the children to take turns in calling out new words by changing just one letter of the previous word. E.g., park – part – dart – dark / mark – mare – mart / cart – care – case – cast – mast (and so on).
- You can set a timer or divide the players into teams to make the game more exciting.
11. Call my bluff
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Call my bluff is commonly played at sleepovers and during picnics and is an excellent word game for older children.
Age group: 8 years and above
No of players: 4 or more
How to play:
- Divide the children into teams.
- Give them a set of words that are common but unfamiliar to them.
- Ask each team to look up the meaning of each word, and make up two wrong meanings for each word.
- Each team asks the other team the meaning of a word and gives them the three options.
- If the opposite team guesses the correct meaning, they get points. If they don’t, the team that asked the meaning gets the point.
- For example, let us take the word “Bewildered.” You can give three choices (a) to be left in the wild, (b) shocked or surprised, and (c) out-of-control behavior.
12. Unscramble the words
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Let your children put on their thinking caps and play this game. The word game makes your child think and helps stir their imagination and improve their reasoning skills.
Age group: 5 years and above
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- Think of a word and write it down on paper but in a scrambled form.
- Your child has to think and arrange the word in the right sequence.
- You could even give clues so that they can unscramble the word faster.
- You could also write down a set of scrambled words, set the timer, and ask them to solve as many as they can within the allotted time.
13. Tell me a story
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Children are incredibly imaginative. Children, as young as three years old, start making imaginary stories. You can play this game to fire your child’s imagination.
Age group: 5 years and above
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- Start a “story” with a sentence.
- The next player should say another sentence and continue the story.
- As the story grows, it becomes hilarious and absurd.
- For example, you start with the sentence, “In a village, there was a man named Joe.” The next player can say, “He wore a red shirt every day,” and the next player may say, “One day, a bull charged at him,” and so on.
14. Words in a word
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This is one of the most popular word games for kids and one of the best word-building games of all time. It is useful in improving your child’s English, if it is not your native language. You might have played this game in your childhood. It is now your children’s turn to play the game and keep the tradition alive.
Age group: 5 years and above
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- Think of a long word. A popular word choice for this game is “Constantinople.”
- Ask your child to write words starting with each letter in the word. They should use the letters contained in the word only.
- For example, Constantinople can have words such as con, cot, on, oil, no, nap, sit, and sip.
- You can set a timer and ask your child to write down as many words as they can within the given time frame.
15. I’m going on a picnic
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This game is for older children. It helps hone their creative skills and improves their memory. The word game is usually played in classrooms, but they can play it at a sleepover or even with you as a family game.
Age group: 5 years and above
No of players: 3 or more
How to play:
- The first player starts by saying, “I’m going on a picnic, and I will bring a ….”.
- The next player adds an item to the list and repeats the words.
- Each player has to repeat the items named in the exact sequence.
- If a player forgets a name or the sequence, they are out of the game.
- You can either start the game all over again or ask the next player to pick up the sequence and continue.
- For example, the game goes as follows:
Player 1: I’m going on a picnic, and I will bring a cookie.
Player 2: I’m going on a picnic, and I will bring a cookie and a Popsicle.
Player 3: I’m going on a picnic, and I will bring a cookie and a Popsicle and a bottle of juice, and so on.
16. Crosswords
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Solving crosswords requires practice and a lot of patience. The game will not only teach your children new words but also develop their deductive reasoning skills to a great degree.
Age group: 6 years and above
No of players: 1
How to play:
- Draw a grid with white and black squares and number each row and column.
- Then, write a set of clues at the bottom of the grid with the corresponding row or column number.
- Ask your child to solve the crossword.
- You can set a timer to make the game challenging.
- You can get some printable crosswords with clues easily on the Internet (you will find some free and printable crosswords in this link). Crosswords regularly appear in newspapers and magazines.
17. Word quest
Image: IStock
Word quest is a word game for older kids. The game involves searching for words using single letters and makes your children use their deduction skills.
Age group: 5 years and above
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- Draw a 10×10 or 12×12 grid on a sheet of paper and divide it into squares.
- Write various words below and to the side of the grid.
- Write random letters in random squares.
- Ask your child to fill in the grid using the words you have written outside the grid.
18. Consequences
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This word game helps stir the imagination and encourages creativity. The game works well with both children and adults.
Age group: 5 years and above
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- The first player writes down a sentence on a sheet of paper and passes it on to the next player.
- The next player writes the next sentence and passes it on.
- Once all the players are done with adding their sentences, you can read out the story.
- You can also write 4–5 sentences with open endings on a sheet of paper and hand them over to each player. Each player writes their version of the story and reads it aloud at the end of the game.
- For example, you can write, “There was a man named …….. He …………. a woman named ……………. They went to …………. He said, “…………………” She said, “……………………” And then, ……………..” and so on.
19. Scrabble
Image: IStock
Scrabble is a popular classic word game for kids. If you want your child to learn new words, this is one of the best games.
Age group: 6 years and above
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- Get a scrabble boards.
- Set it up and read the rules.
- The number on each letter tile tells you how many points it’s worth, and the squares on the board tell you how many points you scored.
- The player who gets the maximum score is the winner.
- After a game of Scrabble gets over, the board looks similar to a crossword.
20. Pass the bomb
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Pass the bomb is an educational game that will test your child’s alacrity. The first player should say a word and pass the bomb as quickly as possible to the next player, who must say a similar-sounding word. The players need to be quick in passing the bomb before it explodes. You can get this board game at a shop or simply make your own set.
Age group: 5 years and above
No of players: 2 or more
How to play:
- Take a set of card papers and write two- and three-letter words on them with a marker.
- The first player picks up a card and passes it around.
- The “bomb” goes off after a certain time. If you have made the cards at home, you can use a timer or even play music.
- The moment the timer goes off (or the music stops), the player holding the card is out.
- However, before leaving, they have to say a word that contains the word written on the card.
- For example, if the card has “ART” written on it, the child who gets out can say a word with ART in it, such as part, mart, or cart.
1. How can word games help children improve their spelling skills?
When children engage in word games, they are required to focus on the spelling of various words, which helps them to learn and remember the correct spelling of those words.
2. In what ways can word games help children with their grammar?
Word games encourage children to think about language playfully and engagingly, making it easier to understand and remember grammar rules. Word games can also help expand children’s vocabulary, an essential component of good grammar. By learning new words and their meanings, children can improve their ability to express themselves clearly and accurately.
3. How can word games help children improve their vocabulary?
Word games are an excellent way to improve children’s vocabulary skills, as they help them learn new words and reinforce their understanding of familiar ones. Games such as Scrabble, Boggle, and crossword puzzles challenge children to think critically and creatively about words, requiring them to use problem-solving skills to develop new words and find hidden ones.
4. How can word games help children become better readers?
Word games can help children become better readers by improving their vocabulary, spelling, and comprehension skills. Such games require children to identify and create words, helping them to recognize new words and understand their meanings. This eventually improves their reading skills.
When education is imparted as activities and games, children tend to grasp it much faster and retain it longer. So, if you want your children to have great communication skills, fluent vocabulary, and fascinating imagination, involve them in word games for kids. Games, such as I spy, make a word, or hink pink, are effective in keeping children engaged and sharpening their grammar and vocabulary. Another good thing about these games is that you can be involved in playing too. So, choose a suitable word game according to your child’s age and have fun while playing.
Key Pointers
- Word games stimulate the brain to improve reasoning skills, vocabulary, and language skills.
- Spur creativity through games such as I spy, rhyming words, and hink pink.
- Test the memory with games such as guess the correct word and make a word.
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Word formation is of crucial importance in language learning. It gives a chance to enrich the vocabulary with the help of already-known roots and words. In this article, we will discuss affixation (adding suffixes and prefixes to the root) as a great word formation tool.
1. It is important for learners to know how to form nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. If the teacher intends to devote the lesson to noun formation suffixes, he/she may prepare a poster activity with a chart of different noun formation suffixes.
Learners are given a pack of verbs and they need to classify these verbs according to the appropriate noun formation suffIx (e.g. move, friend, revise, appear). This is a very useful activity since the learners work in groups and they come up with the forms rather than being provided with them. See an example of the chart below.
The same activity can be applied while teaching adjective or verb formation suffixes or prefixes.
2. A maze, aimed at recapping suffixes and prefixes, is a great revision activity of word formation. Students try to exit the maze looking for words which follow the same word formation rules. The task might be the following:
- find the right path choosing adjectives whose opposites start with the prefix in-.
- find adjectives which form nouns by adding ance/ ity, etc
- find the words with the correct word formation.
Students are timed and it adds extra competition spirit into the activity.
See an example of the maze activity here.
3. 3. The teacher prepares two sets of word card: prefixes/suffixes and words that fit the chosen prefixes/suffixes to create new words. Students select one card from the Words pile and try to match it with the appropriate prefix /suffix to make a new word, note the new word down, put the Words card aside, and continue until they have no Words cards left. They can play individually/in pairs, in groups, against the clock or against each other to make as many correct words as possible.
The example provided here is targeted at revising noun suffixes -ment, -tion, and -sion.
Parts of Speech Bingo is an old but a tried-and-tested way of not only teaching but also revising word formation. Teacher selects words he/she intends the students to revise and prepares bingo cards. The game can be played either in this way when learners call out names of parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb), students cross out one word at a time (even if they have several nouns on their bingo card) or read out a sentence with a gap. Students who have the fitting word say it out loud and cross it out.
5. Students stand/sit in a circle, you (or any other student) select a category (word building suffix or prefix), students pass the ball around saying the words without repeating them and you monitor whether they are correct. The first person to say the wrong word/not say anything at all is eliminated (leaves the circle). The game goes on until there are two players left. Change suffixes/prefixes for each new round. It is a super engaging game and helps the learners dig deep to find a word which fits the category.
All these games are nice tools to help learners memorize word formation affixes. In order to reinforce the material, learners may be asked to come up with sentences where they need to use some of the given words, make up stories, ask questions to their partners. In this way, the knowledge of these words seems more purposeful to them and they enjoy this great way of expanding their vocabulary.
10000+ результатов для ‘make up words’
How many days ….?
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make up questions
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Did you have ..?
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10
english
have got / has got
have got any
make up questions
question words
SM1
Spotlight 1
Spotlight 2
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Super minds starter
Do you like?
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english
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healthy / unhealthy
make up questions
Spotlight 1
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Super minds starter
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1-й класс
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Round Up starter alphabet words
vocabulary
make/do
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verbs
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Vocabulary
Funny
Ice Breakers
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Questions
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Warming up
The following list is yet another excellent resources for ESL/EFL teachers that will surely increase student engagement in the class. I am talking about easy-to-use, free word games generator online where teachers can easily create vocabulary games for review or warm up activities. I chose these websites because they focus only on one or two games thus they are specialized, very user-friendly and so convenient to use that you will be done making your games in seconds!
If you are not familiar with these warm up games, you may check out this post.
Free Word Games Generator
Spelling City
VocabularySpellingCity is an award-winning educational website focusing on spelling and vocabulary used by millions of teachers and parents worldwide. You can quickly start by creating your own word list and then choose an activity type for your students to play such as Spelling, Writing, Phonics, Vocabulary and more.
FlipQuiz
Are you familiar with Jeopardy? FlipQuiz is another free word games maker that does just that! It provides educators with a quick way to create your own game show-style boards for test reviews in the classroom. Traditionally, these are created tediously, using poster board, chalkboards, PowerPoint or dry-erase markers on overhead slides. The review questions themselves are usually written on a separate sheet of paper.
With FlipQuiz, questions are displayed on-screen and boards are saved for later use. Combined with a beautiful board, students are more likely to be interested and stay engaged with the test review process.
Puzzle Makers
There are many types of vocabulary puzzles for all ages including adults! I like the fact that I can have a number of different unique vocabulary puzzles created to printout on the same topic. So when we are studying a topic in English, say “Family and Friends”, I can print out six different sets then split the class into six groups and give them each a unique puzzle to solve.
Riddles
Riddle is an activity in which you must find out a word according to some given clues. Educaplay Riddles are quick games that can help the player review concepts through definitions, sounds and images. You can easily create your own riddle game when you register for a free account!
ALSO READ: Activities to End a Lesson
Brain Boosters
I love giving my kids brain booster activities! Discovery Education offers a wide selection of brain boosters that are fun and challenging! You can choose from different categories such as Logic, Reasoning, Word and Letter Play, and more! If your lesson finishes earlier than planned, you can easily go to the website and read out some brain boosters to your students!
Or you can simply download this ready-to-play Brain Teasers I made using PowerPoint.
Connect Fours
This fun and free word games generator is from my favorite ClassTools website! Students are shown 16 words. They need to group them into 4 rows of 4 connected items. This game is great for reviewing categories and making inference.
Bingo Baker
Bingo Baker makes it easy to create bingo cards. You can generate hundreds of random cards and print them using the printer-friendly PDF (with no ads or watermarks). You can also save paper (and waste electricity instead) by playing your bingo game online (it works on the iPad).
Instructions: Just type your words into the grid on the left. You can give your game a title and can change the BINGO column headings too.
Then click the Generate button and you are good to go!
HANGMAN.NO
The best site to create and play the classic letter guessing game hangman. Challenge your kids to guess as many secret words as they can before the time runs out. My students love the cool tune and slick animation!
THE WORD SEARCH
Let your students find hidden words in a grid of jumbled letters using this simple to use Word Search maker. You can create your very own or use their 100% free online collection of word search puzzles.
TABOO GAME
This website lets you create your own taboo cards by entering the word to be guessed in the top field and the taboo words in the bottom fields.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Classroom Speaking Activities for Any Language Class
JEOPARDY LABS
This lets teachers create their own online games of Jeopardy by using their simple online editor. No powerpoint and no registration is required, and each game has its own unique url address so this really stands out for me.
If you prefer doing it offline, then check out my ELA Jeopardy Game!
WORD SCRAMBLE
Make your own set of jumbled words using this cool word scrambler. It allows you to give hints and the game comes with a timer.
MATCH THE MEMORY
Help your students improve not only their English but also their concentration skills with this powerful memory matching game creator! Make your own custom memory game using pictures, words, videos and more!
WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE
Create a fun, free review game in the style of Who Wants to be a Millionaire with up to 15 questions and whatever values you choose for each round. The graphics and sounds used in this game are similar to that of the television show making this review game more exciting!
WORD GENERATOR
I love this super convenient tool that generates words for your guessing game. All you need to do is choose the kind of guessing game you want to play, the category and level of difficulty and you are good to go – the word generator will give you a game word from the list and you can play!
QUIZLET LIVE
Quizlet Live is an online classroom vocabulary game tool where teams of three or four students work together to be first to match vocabulary terms with their correct definitions. It is free and easy to use, allowing teachers to create customized flash cards with text, images and audio. Similar to Quizlet Live is the interactive game maker Kahoot.
Not tech savvy? Try: ESL Warm Up Games with Free PowerPoint Downloads
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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.
Word games generators free to download
On this page you will find all the free printable word games for kids. All the games are actually small programs that generates easy and fast printable worksheets. All the word games works in the same way. All you have to do is fill in the vocabulary you want to practice with your kids. Where needed the apps will give you suggestions for the words. For some apps descriptions of the words are required. In case the language is English, the app will try to give you a description from the dictonary. You can change the description if you want. When you have filled in everything, so can download a pdf file, which you can print and use in your classroom. But you can also save the game as an Excel file. You can use this Excel file to upload in a later time or load it in another game. In this way you can create different games with the same vocabulary.
The games are worksheet generators, so no computers are required in the classroom.
Boggle creater
Boggle is a popular wordsearch game. The rules are simple. Find as many possible words with the letters on the dice. All the letters of the word should be connected. This version lets you fill your words and it tries to create a puzzle with your words.
Codeword maker
A codeword is a completed crossword grid where each letter of the alphabet has been substituted for a number from 1-26. There will be at least one occurrence of each letter of the alphabet. Certain letters are given as starters. The solver must decipher the rest of the code to discover the words in the completed puzzle.
Communicative Crossword
The Split Crossword generates communicative crosswords for use in pair work. Each of the pair get the same crossword puzzle. But for 1 the across words are filled. The student has to write down the clues for the words in the puzzle. While the other student has to do the same for down words. When they both has finished writing the clues. They give only the clues to each other. And with each others clues they have to finish the split crossword puzzle.
Compound word bingo
Compound word bingo is a challenging word puzzle game. It is very easy to create the bingo cards With the compound word list helper. Choose words from over 2000 compound words on the site. You can choose to print only the second half of the compound words on the bingo cards to make it more challenging.
Compound word match maker
This compound word match worksheet has 2 columns of words. The kids has to draw a line from words from the left column to the right column to form a compound word. And write the compound word behind the second column. The page comes with an extensive list of compound words to help you to choose the right words for your kids. When you start to type a compound word, the program will give you a list of possible compound words. If you don’t want to type, you can just copy a word from the example list.
Crossword Maker
Make your own crossword puzzle online. Fill in the words and the clue and let the webpage generate the crossword puzzle. Then you can download the pdf file, which you can print for your students. Or select one of the saved games. After loading the words and clues you are able to make changes.
Daisy
The daisy game is a variation of a word shuffle game. The leafs of the daisy contains the letters to form a word. But all the leafs are missing one letter. This letter is used in every word ans is placed the middle of the daisy.
Hidden Word Puzzle Maker
The students have to fill in the crossword with the help of the clues, provided by the teacher. When they completed the puzzle, they will find the hidden word in the bold rectangles..
Reverse Word Search Maker
Reverse Word Search is a kind of word search puzzle, but instead of searching for words, you have to place the given words in the grid.
Word Bingo
The Bingo game is a variant of the well known bingo. This variant is uses word instead of numbers. You can use your own vocabulary which targets your students. The program will create all the bingo cards for the students.
The bingo games are controlled practice activities to help students recognize, match and remember vocabulary items, and to improve listening skills.
Word Bingo Synonym
Syno Bingo is a variant of the word-bingo game. In this game the teacher has a list of words, while the students have the synonyms on the cards. Or the teacher have questions and the students have the answers in their bingo card.
Word Chain
Word chain is a word game where the next word has to start with the last letter of the previous word. The word finder in the app makes ir very easy to create a word chain puzzle.
Word Fit
Word Fill In as a variation on the normal crossword puzzle. Instead of a list of clues, the player gets already the answers. But there are no numbers where the words has to be placed in the puzzle. The player has to try to fit all the words into the puzzle.
Word Ladder
The student is given a start word and an end word. In order to win the game, the student must change the start word into the end word progressively, creating an existing word at each step. Each step consists of replacing a single letter and changing the order of the letters.
Word Ladder with clues
The student is given a start word and an end word. In order to win the game, the student must change the start word into the end word progressively, creating an existing word at each step. Each step consists of replacing a single letter and changing the order of the letters. Clues are provided for every word on the ladder to make it easier to find the words.
Word Pyramid
The student have to fill in a pyramid with words. You need as a teacher to fill in for every step of the pyramid a clue. With this clue the students can fill in the word. But the game is an anagram, which means for the next step/answer the student must use all the letters from the previous answer and add one extra letter. The word pyramid games comes with a dictionary. When you select a word for a step in the pyramid the program will automatically search for correct words for the next step. And you are able to type word if it is not in the dictionary. The game can be difficult for the students. Therefor you have the option to fill in some letters in the pyramid to make it easier.
Word Scrabble
Word Scrabble is a game to construct words. Type your words you want to practice with you students. The site will create the scrabble tiles. Scoring the game can be done on the most words, most letters or letter value.
Word Scramble
It has never been so easy to create a word scramble puzzle. Choose a puzzle from the list or fill in your vocabulary. You have control over how many letters in a word can be switched. There for this tool is very useful for every grade.
Word Scramble with Clues
It has never been so easy to create a word scramble puzzle. Choose a puzzle from the list or fill in your vocabulary. You have control over how many letters in a word can be switched. You can enter clues for every word to make it easier for your students.
Word Search Maker
Make your own word search puzzle with the online word search puzzle maker. Or choose an existing puzzle from the game list. Then you can download the pdf file to download the printable worksheet
Word Search with Clues
The word search with clues maker is a program that generates a word search puzzle. But the words are not given, instead the descriptions of the words are given. The player needs to find the words with the help of the descriptions.
Word Sudoku
Word Sudoku is like the classic sudoku, but the numbers has been replaced by words. This makes it a little bit more difficult.
Word Wheel
Use the online word wheel maker to create your printable worksheets. The goal of a word wheel puzzle is to create as many words possible with the letters in the word wheel. You can only use each letter once and every word must have the letter in the center of the wheel.
Word Zigzag
Word ZigZag is a fun word search game that is very similar to Boggle. The objective is to find as many words as you can from adjoining letters. The letters can run vertically, horizontally or zigzag …
Terms of use of the edu games.
1. You can use the worksheets for free for non-commercial purposes, such as in schools, training centers or at home.
2. It is strictly forbidden to modify the worksheets in any way.
3. You can place an image of the worksheet on a website, but you have to place clearly and close to the image a link to www.edu-games.org.
4. It is forbidden to place the worksheet as a pdf file on a website.
5. You are allowed to use the worksheets (as pdf) in a closed environment for teaching purposes, as such Google’s Classroom. As long as the school or institution is free for the students and that they have free access to the worksheets.
6. There are no limitations on the numbers of worksheets you can create and download.
7. You give the edu games website the permission to use your created puzzles. Your puzzle will be checked and if it is suitable for other users it will be published on the website.
8. It is forbidden to embed www.edu-games.org into an i-frame of another website.