Reading Activities and Games
Reading activities to help show your child the fun side of learning! From easy reading activities to help practice letters to more advanced reading skills, we've got you covered! Use the selector on the right to narrow your search by grade.
Make This Game: Word Detectives
Got a kid who's learning to read? Looking for a new game to add to the bunch? No need going to the store. With a little help from your child, you can make your very own family trivia game! Bonus: not only is it fun, but it gives them practice with the alphabet, and the sounds each of the letters ...
Make a Story in a Bag
Ask a first grader to tell a story, and often the result will be hilarious because it's all mixed up. As fun as it is to listen to the tomato that went to sleep, ate dinner, and then put on his pajamas and went for a swim, teaching kids that stories have an order is important. Want to give your ...
Play Letter-Sound Hopscotch!
Hopscotch is classic fun for little kids. You probably remember playing it with numbers from one to ten, and that's great; but as your child prepares for first grade, try getting creative with letters, too. Here are two variations of letter-sound hopscotch that can build your child's phonics ...
Use Music as a Muse for Poetry
Here's a fun way to learn about rhyme in songs and poetry, and to get your middle schooler writing some poetry of his own!
Illustrate a Famous Book!
In the best picture books, the illustrations bring as much meaning to the story as the words themselves. But what if your child couldn't see the pictures? In this activity, she'll listen to a story without looking at it, and create her own images.
Play Nursery Rhyme Madlibs!
By the end of kindergarten, most kids can recite classic nursery rhymes like Jack and Jill, or London Bridge. They're fun, easy, and comfortably familiar. Here's a silly game to draw on that knowledge while introducing a concept that will be a big part of first grade reading and writing: ...
Leprechaun Treasure Hunt!
This hunt for leprechaun gold is so much fun, kids won't even realize they're working their reading muscles at the same time.
Take a Picture Walk
Everyone's heard of taking a dog for a walk. But how about an illustration? Kindergarten teachers have a technique, called a "Picture Walk", that teaches emerging readers to use pictures as clues to understand the meaning of a story, and guess at unfamiliar words. Here's how it works:
Root Out the Meaning of Words
When you can put together the meaning of a root with the meaning of a prefix or suffix, unlocking the definitions of words is a snap! Here's a fun activity to show your child how to use prefixes and root words to "root out" the meaning of a word!
A Field Guide to Grammar
Appositives? Clauses? Huh? Here's a review of some common (and commonly confused) grammar terms, as well as a quick activity to apply them to real life reading and writing.
