Games for Beginning Readers: Board Games for Elementary School Students
When we begin to read, a whole new world opens up for us. Up until that point, letters are abstract symbols that mean nothing. Anyone who has walked with a 6-7 year old on the street knows to be prepared for them to read everything out loud. This is the ideal situation, but what if a child isn't motivated to read? Does the child love to play? If so, let's try to approach it from this angle and play with letters and words.
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:
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.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 9 and up, 60 min, 1-6 players
Tools
1 pad of double-sided paper game boards, 6 dice, game rules
Skills
The game develops vocabulary, creativity, and strategic planning.
Instructions
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.
Word Bits
Simple rules, simple ideas, true Knizia ease.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 8 and up, 20 min, 2-4 players
Tools
60 cards, 4 dice, 1 rulebook
Skills
Develops vocabulary and quick thinking skills.
Instructions
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.
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.
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.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 10 and up, 15 min, 2-8 players
Tools
The Codenames: Pictures box contains 140 picture cards, 60 key cards, 16 agent cards, 1 assassin card, 7 timer tokens, a card stand, and a rulebook.
Skills
Codenames: Pictures develops critical thinking, teamwork, and association skills as players connect images with clues.
Instructions
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.
Concept
It's a game of abstraction and association.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 10 and up, 40 min, 4-12 players
Tools
The Concept box contains 1 game board, 110 concept cards, 4 player aids, 47 plastic tokens (39 cubes and 8 double cubes), and 1 storage tray.
Skills
Develops creativity, abstract thinking, and communication skills as players use symbols to convey ideas without words.
Instructions
In Concept, 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.
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.