How to Play Mad Libs Word Game
Developed in the 1950s by television comedy writers Leonard Stern and Roger Price, "Mad Libs" are word games that require players to call out words based on the parts of speech. The provided nouns, verbs and adjectives contribute to humorous stories that are entertaining to read and hear. Whether you're a child just learning the parts of speech or an adult looking for an engaging party game, learn how to play and customize the game to suit your activity or the theme of the event.
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Instructions
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Choose one person to be the "caller" for the Mad Libs round. The caller will need to request the desired part of speech, write the provided word in the correct space and read the entire Mad Lib story to the group once he fills in all of the blanks on the page.
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Equip the caller with a blank Mad Libs sheet and a pencil. The sheet will feature a story, poem or song with several words left blank. There will be a specific part of speech such as "noun," "verb," "past-tense verb," "adjective" or "adverb" written in small letters beneath each blank space.
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Instruct the caller to request suggestions for a word to fill in the first blank by telling the players the required part of speech. If she says, "verb," for example, the players can call out suggestions such as "walk," "run," "dance" or "eat." The caller must choose one word and write it in the blank.
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Repeat the calling and writing process until the caller has filled in all of the blanks.
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Read the completed Mad Libs story aloud.
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Tips & Warnings
If you're playing the Mad Libs game with a large crowd or in a classroom, consider having players raise their hands or letting the caller choose one person to provide an answer to ensure everyone gets a turn to participate.
Customize the Mad Libs activities and create your own stories by printing famous song lyrics, scenes from movies or a paragraph from a short story. Cross out 10 to 20 of the existing words and ask the players to come up with their own nouns, verbs and adjectives to create a new version of the song, scene or paragraph.
Use Mad Libs word games as an entertaining way to reinforce grammar lessons with children in elementary school. Instead of letting the students call out random nouns or verbs, require them to provide specific types, like proper nouns, past-tense verbs or words that start with the letter "N," for example.
The person requesting and writing the parts of speech onto the sheet must not reveal the theme, context or any sentences of the story when asking for words. This ensures that the words provided are completely random for a humorous result.
