What games can help improve children’s numeracy and reading skills?
“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” — Frederick Douglass.
My 5-year-old loves to play more than he loves sitting down on himself to learn. So I am using games to teach him how to write/read progressively. Here are some of the games I use, which can also be adapted for younger or older children. Some of these games can also be purchased, but I find that making our family’s own one for free is more powerful as can be tailored to the kids’ interest. Also for each of these games I add some adaptations to focus on learning numeracy or writing.
· Pictionary- draw, guess, write : Draw something on a piece of paper and have the child(ren) guess what it is. For instance a boat, car, tree, elephant or more difficult things if the kid(s) are a bit older. If the child guesses correctly, ask/help him write the first two letters of the word (for instance CA for car). Older children can be asked/helped to write the whole word next to the drawing. Once the child guesses correctly, it is his turn to think of an object to draw and the others (including the parent) need to guess what it is. This adaptation of the classic Western game is a great way to develop kids’ drawing AND reading/writing while having fun together.
· Matching word and first letter: On small squares of paper of post-it notes/flashcards, write each letter of the alphabet in capital letters. Then, on other small squares of paper, write the name of one object or animal which starts with each letter (for instance “Apple” for A) and draw this object. Ask the child to find the matching pairs (for instance, the square with “A” and the square with “Apple”). Anytime the child finds the right pair he scores one point for himself. For anytime the child gets wrong, it is one point for you. Each time the child plays he needs to aim for a better and better score.
· Letter matching game: On small squares of paper or post-it notes/flashcards, write each letter of the alphabet. For each letter, one square write the capital letter (for instance “A”) and on another square the minuscule letter (for instance “a”). You can also add cursive letters. Ask the child to find the matching pairs (for instance, A and a). Anytime the child gets the pair right he scores one point for himself. For anytime the child gets wrong, it is one point for you. Each time the child plays he needs to aim for a better and better score.
· Bingo: Write numbers 1–50 on small pieces of paper, twice (so 100 small pieces of paper total!). Put each set of numbers in two different baskets. Ask each child to pick 8 numbers out of the first basket. These become their numbers. Then, have the parent pick numbers out of the other basket and call the number he picks. If one of the children has that same number in his hand, he says “bingo!”. (For instance, if the parent picks/calls “29” the child who had picked number “29” says “bingo”). The first child who calls five bingos (out of his eight numbers) wins. This is a good game to get children more comfortable with numbers while adding an element of fun.
· Word snatching game: For children who are starting to read, you can write on small squares of paper some words that they are starting to be able to recognize. For instance, “cat” and “dog”, “school”, “boy”. Then, the adult says one of the word (for instance “cat”) and the child(ren) need to grab the square with the word (here, “cat”) as quickly as possible. Go through all the words written on the squares. At the end, each child counts how many words they were able to recognize. You can start with only 15 words, but as the kids become better readers you can add more words or make the words more difficult (for instance “danger”). This game is great to develop word recognition while keeping the focus on speed, fun and connection.
