10 Games to Learn to Read and Write

Step by step, children move forward with perseverance and effort, but... Did you know that there are also games to learn to read and write?

The process of learning to read and write is achieved through a progressive system from the first steps to the end of the journey, where mastery or perfection is achieved. To do this, you must have patience and passion for teaching, as you have to make learning as enjoyable as possible for little ones. Therefore, today we’re going to present you with some games to learn to read and write that your kids will love.

The best thing about them? They’re organized according to their level of difficulty, from the most elementary to the most difficult. This way, you’ll be able to see together the steps your children take and enjoy this exciting path even more. Besides, creativity’s what makes a task less tedious, so we invite you to add your own personal touch to the games. Let’s get started!

10 games to learn to read and write

As research published in 2021 by Antioch University indicates, not only have reading and writing games proven to be a perfect pedagogical tool for teaching and learning, but they’re also completely necessary. This is because their implementation in the classroom shows remarkable improvements in the development of knowledge.

For this reason, we present an educational program specially created to collect the fruits of the linguistic content step by step. It can be adjusted according to the level and age of your child. We suggest the following levels:

• First: Learn the letters.
• Second: Differentiate capital and lowercase letters.
• Third: Corporeality and theatricalization of the contents.
• Fourth: Learning syllables.
• Fifth: Writing with mom and dad.
• Sixth: Development of knowledge outside the classroom.
• Seventh: Assimilation of skills in a group.
• Eighth: Pedagogical exercises. You can use the Montessori method.
• Ninth: Logic and analysis exercise.
• Tenth: Group practice.

Once your little one can handle each of the levels, you can move on to the next one. That said, here are the games you can play at home to develop these skills. Take note!

1. Letter hunt

The child will have to circle all the same letters they see in a word. To do this, you can start with short words and then gradually move on to phrases and sentences. For example, you can use the word “tomato” and the child will have to point out with a pencil how many “o”s they’ve detected. When they can already handle this letter, you can move on to “tomato and carrot”.

2. Circle and square

The second lesson consists of learning uppercase and lowercase letters. To do this, you’re going to make the child point out the lowercase letters in circles as they did in the previous level, but with the added step of also using squares to mark only the uppercase letters.

3. Represent letters with the body

It’s time to act and get moving! The whole family should sit on the couch. You’ll choose a piece of paper that will contain a hidden letter that the other members of the family won’t be able to see. Then, the player must stand up to imitate it. Whoever guesses the letter first wins a point. Whoever has the most points will be the next teacher of the circle and square class!

4. Syllables with clapping, one of the games to learn to read and write that applies acoustic memorization

Start working with meaningful names for this part, such as your own. Also, make sure that the syllables you use for practice follow the C+V process, that is, consonant plus vowel. This is because, according to Philological Studies, this is the order that most words follow, and, therefore, it will be easier for little ones to understand.

Once you sing a syllable, clap your hands to mark its end and invite the child to repeat it with you. If they become more fluent, you can move on to longer words until they can identify them.

5. Die-cutting

For this activity that will finally immerse your child in writing, you’ll need the collaboration of an adult. We suggest that you write some sentences on a piece of cardboard and that your child, using a child’s awl, goes over them as if he were tracing over them. Little by little, this will improve their handwriting considerably and they’ll learn to retain the letters that make up these words.

6. I spy

I spy with my little eye something that starts with the letter… It’s essential to incorporate this mythical game on the way to the park, the store, or during any task that involves leaving the house to see the world. The best thing is that the little ones are always fascinated by them.

7. The collector

Several children can participate in this game at the same time. It’s one more step in their learning and, in addition, it will help them to interact in a group. To play collector you’ll only need a sheet of paper, a pen, and a stopwatch. The referee will say a letter and when they say “time”, the stopwatch will start and the children will have to write all the words they remember that begin with that letter.

8. Memory, one of the games to learn to read and write most endorsed by specialists

We invite you to make cards with drawings of animals, plants, or whatever your children like. However, try to create identical pairs and write the name of each figure so that they’re placed on a table face down. This way, the child will have to find matching pairs. Each player can only pick up two at a time. If they’re not a match, they’ll have to turn them over again until they remember where the identical pairs are. This idea, as explained by Ève Herrmann, who presents this activity, is based on Montessori Pedagogy so that your child learns based on their own experience, pace, and self-correction.

9. One of these words is not like the others

Write three words on a piece of paper. One of them shouldn’t be related to the other two. For example, it may be different because it begins or ends with a different letter, has a different number of syllables, or whatever other difference you can think of. That will be the key that your child will have to guess to cross out the one that’s false.

10. Word chains

The time has come to play the classic game where you’ll be able to use all your linguistic skills. One of the players has to say a word and the other has to mention another word that begins with the last syllable or letter that the first one ends with.

Step by step, you can perfect your child’s language skills with these games to learn to read and write

The key to progress in any learning process lies in patience and quality time. That’s to say, it doesn’t matter if you spend 4 hours playing the same game if you don’t end up liking it. The important thing is that you have a good time, even if it’s short, and that you have fun together. One productive hour (quality) is worth more than many hours wasted a day (quantity).

We hope you found these games to learn to read and write fascinating and useful. Which ones do you think are best for your child? Can you think of any more? Leave them in the comments and we’ll read them for you.