What and How Can We Read While Playing Board Games?
How can we sneak in reading-related tasks for kids before, during, and after playing?
Written by
Máté Lencse
Educator, game designer,
founder of PlayWise
Why listen to him?
Máté has been regularly playing modern board games and classic abstract board games since 2013. He plays because he loves to. He plays because as an educator, it is his most important motivational and developmental tool. He plays because as a father, it is one of the highest quality times spent with his daughter. He plays because it adds to his marriage. He plays to get to know games and as a game designer, to be able to create new ones. Thus, it's not surprising that he often plays through 15-20 games weekly. Learn more about him and his background on his author page or follow him on social media:
We’ve already written many articles on this site about how playing board games can enhance reading motivation and comprehension. We recommend games for preschoolers and elementary school kids alike, but that’s not what we’re focusing on this time. Instead, we’d like to share a few ideas and tips on small tasks that children can be given in connection with board games, which support the development of their reading motivation or comprehension skills.
Let’s keep it casual and natural! These ideas are all about getting kids into reading situations without them even realizing it. Sure, it’s a little sneaky since we’re intentionally creating these moments, but the kids don’t need to know that. Think through what strategies you want to use, but also how to make them feel like a natural part of the situation.
Before Playing
Let’s start with something very simple. Ask the child to bring over the board game we’re going to play. If it’s a game they’re not familiar with, don’t describe the box to them or help them figure out where it’s located on the shelf. Let them go and find it themselves. They’ll start looking at the boxes and reading the titles because they’ll want to find the game—after all, whether or not we’ll play depends on this!
A variation of this idea is not telling the child what to look for, but instead asking them to pick a new game from the shelf that we haven’t played together yet. This becomes a more complex reading task, as they’ll need to read the titles and imagine whether a particular game might appeal to them. If we add specific criteria to narrow down the search, it encourages even deeper research and reading. For example, asking them to find a short game that can be played in 30 minutes or to check if it’s suitable for two players.
One of the author’s board game shelves
