Games for Beginning Readers

There are countless ways to support the development of children's reading motivation, so what I recommend is just one of many possibilities. For me, what works is to start with letters, move on to words, and then to sentences. When getting acquainted with reading, my main goal is usually to provide reinforcement that helps the child continue on the path they've started. It's not about the challenge; I don't want to make them struggle. I'm simply looking for good gaming experiences that are entertaining and also involve letters or words. If the child gains positive experiences, they can more easily transfer the knowledge acquired to situations that might be less motivating.

Letters

To play with letters, you don't need much. We can play a word chain game, where you have to say a new word starting with the last letter of the previous word, and so on. If we have letter cards, Typo is also a great choice, especially if you like 6 Nimmt!. But we can simply draw a track for the OSKI letter game as well. (My friend József Jesztl even made a stamp so he can create a OSKI game board anytime he wants. Genius!)

I'll let you in on a little secret: we created a letter game using the Spot it! mechanics, which offers endless possibilities. Sometimes we just focus on simple problems, like differentiating between b and d.

Of course, letter games often get a classic appearance as well, so you can find boxed versions on the shelves of toy stores. I tried to choose less well-known games this time, but of course, Scrabble can also be a great choice.

Abszolút megvadult betűk (Absolutely Wild Letters)

Tetris? Word formation? Brain burner? Roll and write Scrabble.

The dice in the game only feature consonants. After rolling, you must form words by adding vowels and then write them on your board in any way you choose. The goal is to cover as much area as possible and to place letters on highlighted spaces that can be used to form additional words.

Tools

1 pad of double-sided paper game boards, 6 dice, game rules

Age

9-99

Players

1-6 players

Time

60 min

Skills Developed

The game develops vocabulary, creativity, and strategic planning.

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Word Bits

Simple rules, simple ideas, true Knizia ease.

We flip a card that has a word on it and an indication of how many dice letters need to be used. Then we roll the 4 dice, and the player who can quickly say an appropriate word wins the card.

Tools

60 cards, 4 dice, 1 rulebook

Age

8-99

Players

2-4 players

Time

20 min

Skills Developed

Vocabulary and quick thinking skills

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In our book Jól játszani (Playing Well), there is also a great letter game by József Jesztl. It's called Gombagubanc (Mushroom Mix-up), and it combines the rules of Reversi with those of word formation games. It's incredibly exciting.

Note from Máté

I won't claim that it's easy to encourage children to read while playing board games, but it's not a hopeless situation either. The key is trust. If you often show them good games and have many shared gaming experiences, they will be more likely to accept when you introduce something new, something that might seem harder to grasp at first. We must also be prepared for rejection; we may need to motivate ourselves a bit more, but it's worth it. These are genuinely good games, even if they demand a little more or something different from the players. In my experience, quiz-based games often face greater resistance, although there are many very innovative ones available.

Words

Of course, the goal of letter games is to form words from the letters, but I consider the games that use words from the outset to be on another level. I particularly favor games that encourage players to analyze these words, discover new characteristics, and create new connections, because if anything, it's these creative activities that truly deepen our vocabulary and linguistic skills.

Codenames: Pictures

The classic Codenames in a picture version, which makes it playable with younger children as well.

In the game, two teams compete to identify their agents on the board based on one-word clues given by their spymaster, while avoiding the assassin card.

Tools

140 picture cards, 60 key cards, 16 agent cards, 1 assassin card, 7 timer tokens, a card stand, and a rulebook

Age

10-99

Players

2-8 players

Time

15 min

Skills Developed

Critical thinking, teamwork, association skills as players connect images with clues

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Concept

It's a game of abstraction and association.

Players take turns choosing a word or phrase from a card and then use icons on the game board to give clues to other players. The goal is to help others guess the correct word or phrase by strategically placing tokens on the icons that best represent the concept.

Tools

1 game board, 110 concept cards, 4 player aids, 47 plastic tokens (39 cubes and 8 double cubes), and 1 storage tray

Age

10-99

Players

4-12 players

Time

40 min

Skills Developed

Creativity, abstract thinking, communication skills as players use symbols to convey ideas without words

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What's Next?

The sentences flow logically, but this is something that will be addressed in another article. Of course, it's not just the increasing complexity of texts that's a new element, but as we move further from learning to read, new challenges emerge. In my experience, mastering the basics of reading is a much smaller challenge from a motivational standpoint than practicing reading comprehension. After all, there's a huge difference between being able to read something and actually understanding it. However, board games can also be a great way to support this process.