Classroom Writing Games

Writing games can help to improve vocabulary.

Teaching anything can be fun if you make it into a game. Learning good writing skills is an important part of education. With some fun games, you can get students more interested in writing creatively as well as teaching them good spelling, grammar and punctuation all at the same time.

Lists

Choose a person, fictional or not, and have the students write down words to describe him, using a different word for each letter in the alphabet. They keep writing words until the other students guess who the person is. You can also use a place or an object to describe in the game. This will expand their descriptive vocabulary.

Missing letter

Have the students write a sentence without using a particular letter. For example, have them write a sentence without using any words that contain the letter "E." This game will make them think about word usage. You can also have them write a sentence with every word using a particular letter. For example, each word in the sentence has to have the letter "R" in it.

Dictionary

Choose a random, challenging word from the dictionary and have the students write a sentence or paragraph using that word as the topic. This will help to expand their vocabulary as well as help their creative writing.

Word Category

Divide the classroom into two or three groups. Write a word on the board such as "ANIMALS," "FOOD" or "STATES." Have the students write down as many words as they can think of that belong in that category within 1 or 2 minutes. Whatever group comes up with the most words, wins.

Stories

Have each child write three words to create a story. Start by writing three words on the board. For example, "The cat ran." The first student will add three words to that, followed by the next student adding another three words until each student has added three words and there is a complete story. The rules are that the story has to make sense and have proper spelling and punctuation. This will help with cognitive thinking, spelling and grammar.

References

• Everybody Writes: Writing Games and Tips
• ESL Kids Stuff: Classroom Games and Activities