Encouraging a Love of Reading Through Word Games

As we know, encouraging a love of reading in children can be challenging, but by turning reading into a playful adventure, you can unlock their imagination and make learning a fun, enjoyable experience.

Simple word games can be the key, turning reading into an activity they look forward to and enjoy.

Benefits include:

• A positive association with reading

• Enhances vocabulary development

• Encourages creativity and imagination

• Supports social interaction

• Boosts confidence in reading

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Incorporating word games into your child's daily routine, even for just ten to fifteen minutes, can alter your reluctant reader’s approach to reading.

Examples include:

• Word connection - Start with a word, each player then takes turns saying a word that is related to the previous one. For example, if the starting word is "dog," the next player might say "tail," followed by "cat," then "whiskers," and so on. This game builds vocabulary and quick thinking.

• Junior Boggle - A classic word search game where players find words within a grid of letters. The more words they find, the more points they earn. It's fun, while at the same time building spelling and word recognition skills.

• Junior Scrabble – This is an excellent choice for encouraging both the blending of sounds and the building of vocabulary.

• Story Cubes – Roll dice with various images on them and use the pictures to craft a story. This game gently encourages creativity, storytelling, and vocabulary development as children link the images to words and sentences.

• Hangman-A much-loved classic where one player thinks of a word, and the others try to guess it by suggesting letters. With each incorrect guess, a part of a stick figure is drawn. This game helps with spelling, word recognition, logical thinking, co-ordination and pencil control.

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A this point I would normally recommend you choose one of the examples above and incorporate it into your daily routine, but there is no reason why you can’t switch them around, playing a different game each day.

This will help to exercise all aspects of your reluctant reader’s reading & linguistic skills, creativity, and imagination without them becoming bored of a particular game. But, if your reluctant reader forms a favourite, go with it.

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