Reading is certainly one of the most determining factors within the process of socialization of a child. In addition to teaching him or her manners, values and education, learning to read at an early age will result in better performance on a personal level.

In the following paragraphs you can find 30 games to learn to read with your children, school pupils or even people with reading difficulties.

Learning to Read

On many occasions, reading is taken as a purely mechanical, imposing and obligatory act without explaining concretely to the reader the benefits of it. But this is a serious error.

Children must learn to read in order to develop and activate their cognitive skills from an early age, to know how to interpret the message, to allow for creativity and imagination. Knowing how to read also implies learning how to relate to others as their way of expressing themselves evolves.

30 games to learn to read

Below you will find a series of fun activities to make learning to read more enjoyable.

1. Food as letters

It is a good way to introduce the letters of the alphabet for children . There are many products such as cookies, chocolates or fresh pasta that are shaped like letters. This option is very common and one of the most efficient.

2. The animator’s game

With the human body we can also learn to read properly. We must make the child in question a participant, asking him or her to represent the shape of the letter we are asking for . It is also important not to complicate the activity too much, so in this case it is advisable to start with the vowels.

3. The clapping is syllables

Here it is a matter of making the child aware of the syllables contained in a word . Depending on the number of syllables in each word, one or more claps will be given.

4. The blackboard

We have to tell the little one to fill in the gaps left within a word . Or we can, in another way, present some photographs with different objects or living beings so that he can identify them and write them down on the blackboard.

5. I see, I see, what do you see?

It’s a classic. Playing a guessing game to identify what we see, and make the child discover it, is a good way to learn to read since it will activate his cognitive processes and he will learn to identify short words .

Obviously, the student must be given clues so that the power to guess does not become a nuisance.

6. Alphabet soup

We return to a culinary resource to offer a fun way to read , taking advantage of the time at a diner. When we prepare soup of any kind in the form of letters, the boy or girl will have fun looking for a way to form a word.

7. Cards with accents

We can take the cards as a way of learning. We write a letter with a check mark on it and ask them to think of a word that needs it.

8. Letter recognition

In some cases children can confuse some letters that are very similar, such as m and n, or b and d. It is necessary to prevent them from falling into error in time by preparing letter recognition games, putting the cases mentioned and making the child recognize which letter is different.

9. The dioramas

Dioramas are landscapes formed in relief with different shapes. In this way, we can ask the child to identify each object he can see on the canvas using cards with names .

10. Books with pictograms

Learning to read with picture books is another alternative to classic books. These are stories that replace some words with representative pictures to help understand the written part .

11. The crossword puzzle

The resource of a lifetime. We can use different crossword puzzles. Obviously to learn to read you need to have a basic level. We can use drawings and have the children fill in the gaps, or fill in some columns with letters so that the words can be better identified.

12. Identify the letter

By writing different words, we can ask the child to identify those that have the same letters . For example: ring, eye, cover, notebook, little.

13. Plasticine

This material is widely used in schools. We must take the plasticine and ask the child to make the shape of the letter he or she has to identify. In this way he can develop his imagination and learn to memorize the letters by sight and touch .

14. One letter, maximum words

We choose a specific letter, and in a certain time we ask the child to write everything he can think of with the T, for example.

15. Searching in the park

The time we spend in the park with the children can be spent by having them identify some objects with a letter we choose ourselves.

16. Playing with drawings

This way of learning to read is very didactic . We can choose several mixed drawings, classify them by vowels and ask the child to group the drawings according to the vowels that each shape contains.

17. Children’s songs

Here we can chant a simple song so that the child can identify, for example, the different syllables or vowels that the lyrics contain.

18. Identifying upper and lower case

On a sheet of paper we write letters in upper and lower case. We can ask the child to identify both cases by marking one with a circle and the other with a square . You can also use the colors.

19. Insist on the syllables

We take any word and ask the child to fill in the missing syllables , and then we order him/her to represent the word he/she has deciphered by means of a drawing.

20. Color what you hear

We present the child with a series of figures, and ask him to colour the object that can be pronounced with a single voice , such as the sun or the sea.

21. Learning the accents

As with the syllables, we must teach them as children what tildes are . One way to learn is phonetically, and we can ask the child to put the tilde in those words that he or she thinks are appropriate.

22. Memorizing images

Other entertainment to the consumer’s taste. We show a series of images to the child and then ask him/her to say everything he/she has seen.

23. We thought of a letter

It is a guessing game, but a bit more complex . We think of a letter, and we ask the child to construct the word we had in mind. If he gets it right, we give him a prize.

24. Word Bingo

We take the game of bingo as a basis, but instead of numbers, we substitute letters or words. When the balls are drawn, we will say aloud the letters or words we have.

25. The word chain

We’ll start with any word, book, for example. Then we ask the child to choose another word that starts with the last syllable of the previous one . In this case, “shooting”, for example.

26. Puzzle

We must create some cards that contain the words of the alphabet . With each word, we will form a word that the child must know how to fit with the rest of the cards in the form of a puzzle.

27. 4 in line

The idea is to draw ourselves a picture to be completed with any letter in 4 boxes . The first person to fill in a word with four letters will be the winner.

28. The Human Body

In this way one learns to read by getting two elements: identifying the human organs and helping the child to memorize the words of each element. We use a human body made of paper or draw it, and ask the child to fill in the gaps.

29. Family members

We can take a family photo with as many loved ones as possible. Then we ask the child to write on each character the word that represents him/her.

30. The house

Another way to learn to read is to walk the child around the house and ask him/her to identify as many spaces and/or objects as he/she can relate to a letter that we choose at random. For example, he should pronounce anything he sees that contains the letter E.