Playing word games can be a great way to improve your vocabulary, exercise your brain and have fun. After the library closes and I’m alone in the children’s section, I occupy my time by playing word games with the library mice. I win almost every night. That’s because they are always scurrying here and there. But I have excellent concentration. Instead of running away when I hear something, I stay very quiet and blend in with the dust bunnies under the shelves. My favorite word games are rebuses and crossword puzzles. Here are some links to great spots to expand your vocabulary and have fun, too. Check out my original games and activities, too if you want an extra-special challenge.
Original Games and Activities
Summer Travel Word Search (view the puzzle)
Family Trivia (view the puzzle)
Mixed-Up Character Word Puzzle (view the puzzle)
Who Let the ______ Out? Word Puzzle (view the puzzle)
Fortune-telling Fun Word Game (view the game)
Vanishing Titles Word Puzzle (view the puzzle)
Need answers to our original word puzzles? (view the answers)
Mad Libs
Stalk nouns, adjectives and verbs as they whiz by on screen; your “catches” are inserted into a randomly-generated story:
Stories geared for grade three and above; pick a title and make up a word list:
Definition of “mad libs” and how to make your own:
http://library.thinkquest.org/J001156/games/cp_madlibs.htm
Book Publisher Kid’s Activity Pages
Word-searches, scrambles and spelling games, as well as arcade-type matching games:
http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/Kids/GamesAndContests/Games.aspx
Arcade games, puzzles, writing prompts and downloads:
http://www.scholastic.com/kids/stacks/games/
Trivia quizzes covering books, current events and popular culture:
http://blog.scholastic.com:80/ink_splot_26/trivia-1/
A word find, a spelling game and a geography game:
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/games.jsp
