Kids' Reading Games

Developing strong reading skills will give kids a great foundation for future educational opportunities. The ability to read well can help kids in all academic subjects and can be a wonderful hobby for a lifetime. Parents and teachers can encourage kids to get excited about reading by providing exciting reading games that help kids practice their basic reading skills.

Go on a Treasure Hunt

Treasure hunts are a fun way for kids to practice their reading skills without any added pressure. Parents or teachers can write short notes on pieces of paper and post them around the home or classroom. Each note should give a clue about the location of the next note. Kids will have a blast hunting down each clue until they get to the treasure. The treasure can be something simple like a small handful of candy or a sticker. Encourage kids to read each note aloud to practice their reading skills and help them avoid simply skimming the note.

Play Scrabble

Scrabble is a classic word game that has been around for years, but it can be played on any skill level and is a great way for kids to practice sounding out words and increase their vocabulary. Kids can play the game with a dictionary if they need help spelling a word or determining if the word they are thinking of is legitimate.

Cook with Kids

Cooking is a great way to spend quality time with kids and can easily be turned into an educational reading opportunity. Encouraging kids to read the recipe as you cook will help them see a real-life application of reading and help them to practice reading several new vocabulary words.

Do a Word Search

Word searches are a great reading game for kids that help teach new words. Parents and teachers can create their own word search puzzle using words that kids are struggling with or new vocabulary words to help kids get used to seeing the words in print. Turning vocabulary practice into a gamesmakes learning new words more fun for kids and helps improve their reading abilities.

Create a Ransom Note

Kids can create a fun ransom note for a pretend play activity by cutting out words from a newspaper or magazine and using them to write a short note to a parent or teacher. Kids can glue the words of their note down on a piece of paper once they have written their story and deliver it to a parent, teacher or friend. Kids will love creating notes using words clipped from magazines and newspapers. For some added fun, have kids deliver notes to each other and then try to guess who the note is from.

References

• National PTA -- 15-Minute Reading Activities
• Create a Word Find