Challenging language skills can be mastered through games.
Spending a rainy day inside, whether at school or home, is an opportunity to teach youth different levels of language skills. Whether you're interested in encouraging students to work on the computer and finding sites online or would rather spend some quality time playing an educational board game at home, various options are available. Learning the intricacies of the English language in a fun way ensures future curiosity.
A-Z Junior
Fundex Games' A-Z Junior is a game geared towards children 5 years of age and older. Kids utilize a single electronic board that props up and has a single square for each letter of the alphabet. Category and player buttons appear at the top of the unit. To begin play, one player pushes his play button as well as a category button. Categories are numbered and random and include topics such as desserts, things that fly and types of nuts. The next step is to pull a card from the draw pile and see which topic applies to his category. The goal is to shout out a name that fits in the category and begins with a letter of the alphabet. Each child or team is running against a timer set at 30 seconds and must get as many different letter answers per round as possible. Each letter corresponds with a point. The player or team with the most points wins.
Anagram Challenge
Intended to be enjoyed by children 6 years of age and older, Activity Village's Anagram Challenge is a fun, educational way to explore the alphabet, individual letters, how letters create words, imaginative thinking and creative reasoning. Use letter tiles from another word game. such as Scrabble, or cut card stock into small squares and mark each space with a letter. Be sure to use a permanent marker for this step. To begin, decide whether kids will compete individually or on teams. Next, determine how many letters players will be unscrambling to make words. For example, ages 5 and 6 should work with three or four letters versus students 7, 8 and 9 working with six and seven letter words. Hand out enough tiles to each team and make sure they are mixed up--out of order. Set a time and instruct players they have that specific amount of time to create as many words as they can. The team with the most correctly spelled words listed on paper or shouted out wins.
Stick to It! Phonics Games--short vowels-long vowels
Stick to it! Phonics Games--short vowels-long vowels are two challenging games from game maker Educational Insights. They share the same board game designs, rules and principles of play. The only difference being the length of the partial words given as clues to players before taking their turns. Suitable for ages 5 years and up, kids take turns throwing a Velcro ball at one of two sides on a game board that attaches to the wall. Players choose between the letter or photo side before beginning play and then attempt to land their ball on a specific space. Once their ball lands on spot, children must identify what they've landed on, say it aloud, provide a rhyming word or answer a provided optional question about it. The player with the most correct guesses wins.
Tags: with most, Anagram Challenge, board game, board that, children years, children years older, Games--short vowels-long
