Learning new words can help with the cognitive development of a child. Learning new vocabulary impacts different areas of the brain, leading to a sharp memory. But simple dictation or word cramming will not help kids. Instead, you must play fun vocabulary games with your class to teach them a new word in an engaging manner.
A study published by the American Psychological Association shows that games in learning improve children’s participation, emotional involvement, and social skills. Thus, by hosting classroom vocabulary games, you can better develop your students’ language skills.
This guide will walk you through fifteen simple educational games you can play in class without hassle to improve kids’ vocabulary.
Looking for more online Math games and ELA games to educate and engage your kids? Here are more games to check out!
15 Best Vocabulary Games for Kids (Fun and Educational)
Are you planning to organize a small word game competition in your classroom? Then, you have so many great vocabulary games online (and offline options) to entertain and educate your students. Some of the best vocabulary word games for kids, based on our research, are:
1. SplashLearn
Material Required: Computer or mobile phone
Appropriate Age: 4 to 12 years
SplashLearn is a free learning gaming platform with over 4000 games. You can download this app on your mobile phone to play quick vocabulary games with your class. The animated characters and interesting storyline help to keep students engaged in improving their vocabulary. Your students will improve their vocabulary without even realizing.
How to Play:
- Pick free reading games and ask all your students to play it.
- Students who score the highest marks or complete the level fastest will win the prize.
Rules: Give 10 minutes to play a game daily.
Rewards: You can share the score of the best player on your school social media pages with their pictures and gameplay screenshot.
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Try for free2. Checkers
Material Required: A checkerboard
Appropriate Age: 5 to 12 years
Checkers is a classic board game. However, you can reinvent checkers to improve the vocabulary skills of your students. This game can allow teachers to show students how to use words correctly. Simply download a checkerboard and give a checker sheet to each of your students.
How to Play:
- Write a word in the white block of the checker sheet.
- Then, whenever a student moves to a white block, you can ask them a question related to the word written in the block, like its definition or usage in the sentence.
Rules: Students will lose the game after two wrong answers.
Rewards: Stickers or badges
3. Pictionary
Material Required: Pictionary Junior cards
Appropriate Age: 5 to 10 years
Pictionary is a common family night game, so everyone knows how to play it. However, you have to improvise a bit to use it to improve the vocabulary of your class. For this, you have to order some Pictionary Junior cards and divide your class into two groups.
How to Play:
- Call a member from each team and give them a cue from your Pictionary Junior cards.
- Give a chalkboard or marker to draw a clue to guess the word on the chalkboard or on a sheet of white paper so the entire class can see the clues.
Rules: If the team member guessed the word, they would get one point. If the other team member guessed the word, they would get the point.
Rewards: 10 minutes longer lunch break.
4. Go Fish Vocabulary
Material Required: Go Fish Vocabulary cards
Appropriate Age: 3 to 15 years
This is the perfect game if you want to organize a vocabulary game competition with other classes or grade students. You have to first get Go Fish Vocabulary cards.
How to Play:
- Select the ten word cards matching your students’ vocabulary level.
- Then, you can divide your class into groups and assign them cards based on the number of groups you have created.
- The fun part is that when a student asks for the card, they don’t say the word. Instead, they define the word that the other person has to guess.
Rules: Nobody will say the word mentioned on the card.
Rewards: Anything you find appropriate
Related Reading: Best Educational Games for Kids by Subjects & Grades
5. Memory Cards
Material Required: Memory cards
Appropriate Age: 3 to 12 years
This is a simple card-matching game. However, instead of matching things on the cards, students must match words with their definitions. You can order word memory cards online or create appropriate ones for your students’ vocab level.
How to Play:
- Divide your class into small groups.
- Lay down all definition cards on a table in the center of the classroom.
- Give a word card to each team member and ask them to find the correct definition cards from the table.
Rules: Give the students 2 minutes to match the card.
Rewards: Anything you find appropriate
6. Verb Charades
Material Required: Paper slips
Appropriate Age: 3 to 10 years
It is one of the greatest English vocabulary games for young students who aren’t good at writing. It is similar to Pictionary, but it has simple verbs that young children can guess faster. Besides this, it involves physical activity to keep children engaged in the game.
How to Play:
- Divide your class into groups.
- You can either write a verb on a piece of paper or say it in a student’s ear such that no one else can hear what you have said.
- Then, ask the student to act so that other team members can guess the verb.
Rules: No speaking while acting the word.
Rewards: One point for the right guess
7. Word Association
Material Required: Nothing
Appropriate Age: 3 and above
It is the best word game for classrooms. Teachers need nothing to play this game, so it is suitable to organize impromptu game sessions.
How to Play:
- Divide your team into two groups.
- A player from a team will say a word.
- Other team players will respond with the word that first comes to their minds.
- It continues until one player repeats a word or pauses too long.
Rules: Prompt replies.
Rewards: A whole team gets no homework for a day.
8. Vocabulary Hangman
Material Required: Chalkboard
Appropriate Age: 8 to 12 years
Hangman is one of the classic ESL vocabulary games you can play online using virtual whiteboards. It is a perfect game to teach difficult words to kids, like razzmatazz or shenanigans!
How to Play:
- Give one word to a player.
- The player has to draw a series of blanks equal to the number of letters in the word.
- Other players guess letters.
- The first player will fill in the blank if the letter is in the word. If not, the player draws one portion of the gallows.
Rules: The game ends when the player guesses the word or when the picture is complete.
Rewards: Anything you find appropriate
9. Pyramid
Material Required: Pyramid worksheet
Appropriate Age: 6 to 14 years
This is a game that needs multiple players to promote cooperation and strengthen your students’ vocabulary. To play this game, download the worksheet and give it to your students and get started!
How to Play:
- Divide your class into teams.
- One player from each team draws a pyramid and adds six categories in three rows.
- Players with the pyramid must give clues to their teammates to guess the correct category.
Rules: Make the game time-bound.
Rewards: No homework for the week
Related Reading: Best First Day of School Activities for Students
10. Synonyms
Material Required: Pen and paper
Appropriate Age: 10 to 16 years
This game is appropriate for older kids who know more words. It can help to test the language level of your class.
How to Play:
- Write a word on the blackboard.
- Give a paper and pen to your class to write similar words to the blackboard word.
Rules: Give 5 minutes to write similar words.
Rewards: Extra marks on the annual school test
11. Headbanz
Material Required: Waste hairbands, sticky notes
Appropriate Age: 4 to 8 years
It is a DIY word game. First, you must get some hairbands and put a sticky note on them with a food item’s name. Then, you can take your class’s parents’ help to create Headbanz.
How to Play:
Give a Headbanz to each student and make them stand in front of the class one by one. Then, a player must guess a word based on the hints given by classmates.
Rules. No one can say the word mentioned on the hairband.
Rewards: A player who correctly guessed the food item’s name got a chance to eat that item
12. Basketball Vocabulary
Material Required: A ball and trash can
Appropriate Age: 5 to 10 years
This game can work both the brain and arm muscles of your students. It is perfect for engaging young kids.
How to Play:
- Simply use a trash can as a basket to throw the ball.
- Write a few words on the blackboard.
- Allow a student to put a ball into the basket. One who scored a basket gets to select the word of his or her choice to define. Otherwise, you can give a word of your choice.
Rules: Only chance to put a ball in the basket.
Rewards: Anything you find appropriate
13. Rolling Words
Material Required: A dice and word cards
Appropriate Age: 10 to 16 years
You need to order some word cards to play this game and make it appropriate to your class’s level. Then, roll the dice to improve your students’ vocabulary.
How to Play:
- Put all word cards face down on your table.
- Allow each student to roll a dice and place the same number of cards face up as the number they roll on the dice. For example, 3 points on the dice would mean three cards will be turned face up.
Rules: A player who defines maximum words wins the game.
Rewards: A trophy
14. Crossword
Material Required: A crossword sheet
Appropriate Age: 10 to 15 years
When you want to keep your class busy while you mark their test sheets, download a crossword sheet online and give it to your students.
How to Play:
Give a crossword puzzle and pen to your students.
Rules: Give 20 minutes to solve the puzzle.
Rewards: Anything you find appropriate
15. Word Search
Material Required: A word search puzzle sheet
Appropriate Age: 8 to 15 years
Depending upon your students’ reading and writing levels, download a word search sheet online and give them each copy to find the words.
How to Play:
You can either print a word search sheet or share it online with your students.
Rules: Give them time to solve a sheet
Rewards: The player who finds the most words in a month becomes the class monitor
Related Reading: Best Puzzles For Kids Of All Ages
Why Play Fun Vocabulary Games in Your Classroom?
Playing word games in your classroom is not only entertaining, they can also improve your students’ learning, thinking, and cognitive abilities. Thus, playing vocabulary and language games in your class will have the following benefits:
1. Master a Language
The obvious benefit of playing word games is learning a language better. Through games, children learn many new words they might not ever know otherwise.
Moreover, they can learn the correct word usage in a sentence. The rich vocabulary also allows kids to better express their thoughts in written and verbal ways.
2. Improve Spelling
Games will not only help to teach new words to your students. It can also help you improve kids’ spelling and grammar skills.
For example, games like Scrabble and doing crosswords can improve spelling. These games also help students understand the words’ real meanings and where they can use them in the real world.
3. Improve Concentration
It requires concentration to play games. So, when your students focus on finding new words in the dictionary, they will learn to focus on a task. This can help them in other parts of learning as well.
4. Develop Cognitive Skills
Language games put your brain muscles to work. Even when playing fun games like Rolling Words, you use your brain to identify the right word to complete the sentence.
So, when you put your students’ brains to work, it will improve their cognitive skills. They learn to process information faster and find solutions without your help.
5. Sharpen Memory
While playing word games, students also put pressure on their memory. They must dig into their memory lane to find the right word definitions, spellings, and sentences to win the game.
Moreover, most word games are strategic and time-bound. When a player recalls information with a clear goal, it makes it easy to organize and remember things.
6. Healthy Competition
Games always ripple a competitive vibe. Players will not only compete with their opponents, but also compete with themselves. The competition can motivate your students to improve their vocabulary and learn new words to win classroom games.
7. Self-Satisfaction
Scoring high in word games improves the confidence level in kids. As a result, they feel more satisfied with themselves. This confidence booster can also help them grow in other academic areas.
Related Reading: Amazing Writing Prompt For Kids To Improve Confidence
Vocabulary Games For The Win!
Children enjoy playing games. When you devote time to game-based or play-based learning, your child will develop critical thinking skills, motivation, and goal-setting abilities. As they play games that improve vocabulary and literacy, their confidence will also grow.
Want more ideas to inspire your child to enjoy learning? Then, test out SplashLearn Reading Games!The animated and fun online games will improve your students’ vocabulary skills. All the games are free, so don’t forget to try.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
When does a child begin to develop vocabulary and language skills?
Your child may know and use 20–100 meaningful words by eighteen months. Every day, you’ll notice your child using new words. Around the age of two, your child will begin to combine two words, such as “mummy car” or “me go.”
How can good vocabulary help children in life?
A large vocabulary helps with all aspects of communication, including listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Vocabulary is important for a child’s success for the following reasons: Vocabulary development is directly related to academic achievement. For example, in kindergarten, the size of a child’s vocabulary predicts their ability to learn to read.
