16 Word Games for Kids and Families

Fun word games for kids are a great way to fight boredom while also helping kids improve vocabulary, spelling, and communication skills. Kids will retain more vocabulary, remember grammar rules, and learn spelling tricks if they have fun while learning and these word games are a great place to start.

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What are the benefits of word games?

I have sorted the games into the following three categories below:

• Thinking word games that require no-prep, some are pen and paper games
• Word board games (Actually none of them use a board, ha ha ha)
• Sight word games, particularly good for the classroom

So, what are you waiting for, start playing!

Word and Vocabulary Thinking Games

What I love about all the word game ideas in this section is that they are free word games!They are travel friendly, and even older kids will enjoy them. Play them on the go! Play them when you are stuck in traffic! Play them while you wait in line at the DMV! Improve your kids vocabulary whenever and wherever you want.

Words within A Word

Words within a word is probably my favorite on the list, and it's great for teachers in the classroom. Write out a long word on a piece of paper or a white board, if you have one. Set a timer for 3-5 minutes and challenge kids to come up with as many smaller words as they can using only the letters in the designated word.

For example, if the word is "onomatopoeia": poem, name, top, pot, ate, etc.

Unscramble

You will need a pen and paper for this word puzzle.  Write a list of 10 words, but instead of spelling them correctly, mix up the letters and challenge your child to unscramble them. To make it a little more fun, select all words from a single category. For example: kcae, kieooc, epi, ssertde, eci mreac becomes cake, cookie, pie, dessert, ice cream.

TIP: for younger kids choose only 3-5 letter words. I also have a frozen version of this game to play in the bathtub! For older kids, try taking 2 word phrases and scrambling them together as if they are one word.

The Minister's Cat

You can play this game with 2 or more players and it's great for learning new words! The first person starts off by describing the minister's cat with an adjective that begins with the letter "A." For example, "The minister's cat is an angry cat." The next player uses an adjective with the first letter "B," and so on through the alphabet. "The minister's cat is a bulbous cat." "The minister's cat is a cantankerous cat."

VARIATION: The Minister's Cat is also a memory game. Players must remember all the adjectives in order as they are added to the game. Using the above example, the second player would say, "The minister's cat is an angry, bulbous cat."  The third, "The minister's cat is an angry, bulbous, cantankerous cat."

MORE: Memory Games for Kids

Hink Pink

Hink Pinks are rhyming word puzzles. One person thinks of a two word rhyme and gives a two word description. The other player then must guess the "Hink Pink." For example, if one person says, "angry boy", the other player responds, "mad lad." Or, "wet canine" becomes "soggy doggy."

Hink Pink examples: shy fly, funny bunny, slow crow, big wig.

TIP: If players are having trouble coming up with hink pinks, write down a bunch of hink pinks on individual slips of paper and place in a jar for players to draw out on their turn.

Human Thesaurus

Choose a simple word like "beautiful." Think of as many synonyms as you can. If playing with others, you can set a timer and trade off with different words, or write words down and see who can come up with the most.

Storytelling Word by Word

Start a story with a single word. The next player says that word and builds the story with another word. The next player says the first two words, adds a third, and so on. Alternatively, you can build sentence by sentence. TIP: keep sentences short.

MORE: Storytelling Games for Kids

Hangman

This classic word game probably needs no introduction! One person thinks of a word and draws dashes along a paper to represent each letter in the word. Above the dashes he draws platform and stand. The other person guesses one letter at a time. If the letter is in the word, the first person fills in the blank(s). If not, the incorrect letter is written below and the first person draws one body part at a time.  If the person guesses the word before the body is completed (head, torso, 2 arms, 2 legs), he wins, if not -- well, he loses.

Word Board Games

You can find some really wonderful word "board" games to play with kids, either for family game night or in the classroom. I put "board" in quotation marks because none of these games use an actual board!

Boggle

Boggle is such a classic game and the shaking sound when mixing up all the letter cubes brings back great memories of playing the game way back when I was a kid.

Find it: Original Boggle | Big Boggle

Word-A-Round

Word-a-round is a relatively new game but great for kids who already know how to spell fairly fluently. It's also an excellent travel game. Each round card contains words spelled in a circle. Players race to decipher the words before anyone else!

Find it: Word-A-Round | Disney Word-A-Round | Marvel

Bananagrams

This classic game is very similar to Scrabble, but without the board. Plus, it comes in a cute banana-shaped pouch! When the kids were younger and had few spelling skills, we played as teams, with each adult paired with a child. Now there is a version for developing spellers.

Find it: Bananagrams | My First Bananagrams (ages 4 and up)

MORE: Best Tile Games for Family Game Night

Quiddler

Quiddler is a lesser known card game that we've had great fun playing. Read more about Quiddler in my game of the month feature.

Find it: Quiddler

Sight Word Games

If you are working specifically on sight words with your kids and students, try using these diy sight words games and sight word board games to make learning more fun.

DIY and Printable Sight Word Games

Sight Words Dominoes from No Time for Flashcards

Sight Words Pancakes from Playdough to Plato.

Sight Words BINGO with Dolch Words from The Activity Mom

Zingo!

Zingo, Sight Words Edition. The original Zingo is an excellent classic game for pre-readers and early readers and this sight word edition is a must-have addition to the family of games. The Zingo games definitely take the pain out of memorizing sight words and give kids the confidence they need to improve their reading skills.