Building Reading Skills With Boardgames - The Family Gamers

2/21/24, 12:53 PM Building Reading Skills with Boardgames - The Family Gamers
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Building Reading Skills with
Boardgames
June 1, 2022  Anitra Smith  Resources for Parents
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When reviewing a game, I often note whether it’s suitable

for young children – are the pieces too small? Rules too RSS
complex? Does it take too long to play? But one of the
biggest factors is reading.
It’s no secret that some children seem to pick up reading

We are an Amazon
easily, while others struggle for years. Some even try to Associate
avoid reading whenever possible.
Podcasts, reviews,
If you have a child that struggles with reading, and gift guides
boardgames can help. may contain links
to purchase
products on
No Reading Required To Amazon.com. As an
Build Reading Skills Amazon Associate,

The Family Gamers
To start, think of all the games that don’t require reading; earn a small
games like these keep struggling readers from having a amount from
disadvantage when playing with a mixed group. A game qualifying
purchases.
with no text at all will level the playing field between
readers and non-readers.
Shop Now
None of these games require reading – not even numerals.

Only Onitama has text, and it is not necessary to the game.
But you can also use boardgames to practice and

improve important reading skills. As we all know, practice
is easier when it’s fun!
There are six skills that are crucial for learning to read.
How can boardgames help with each of these?
1. Decoding
Decoding is the fancy name for matching letters with the
sounds they make (phonemes). With very young children,
this starts with rhyming and alliteration; even if they aren’t
looking at written words, they will start to recognize that
there’s something special about certain sound
combinations.
I like Bananagrams as a teaching tool – make a word

ending and let your child try different letters for the
beginning sound.
Letter-recognition or sound-recognition games can also

help here. Some of our favorites are Flip-Pix! and Anomia
Kids. Sequence Letters also has players match letters with
sounds that begin words.
2. Fluency and Word Recognition,

with 3. Vocabulary
An average child (or adult) needs to see a word up to 14
times before it becomes a “sight word” that doesn’t need
to be sounded out. A child with dyslexia may need to see
a word 40 times to get the same benefit.
Card games are especially good for seeing the same set
of words over and over again!
Pick some games with a small vocabulary. This could be

a simple *memory matching game* with labeled cards. It
could also be games with just a few words, like Point
Salad.
To keep building vocabulary, try a game with more text –

preferably where an adult can do most of the reading,
like Silly Street, Sleeping Queens, Go Nuts for Donuts,
Dragonwood, or Happy City. Keep reading out the words
on the cards until your kid takes over and reads (or
“reads”) them for you!
4. Cohesion
Cohesion is the foundation for understanding sentences.
How does one set of words connect to the next?
There are several different cohesive devices that most of

us don’t even think about, but may cause early readers to
struggle. Instead of specific games, my recommendation
here is a technique. Talk through games with your kids
and aim to use these more often in the way you describe
game play:
Ordinal words, like “first – next – last” or “if – then”

(perfect for describing how events relate!)
Transition words, like “because”, “since”, or “so”.
Substitution words, like pronouns and synonyms.
FIRST, I pull a SINCE I rolled Making this pig

piece from the green and dirty. Yes, that
bag. orange, I can one.
Ordinal words, Transition words, Substitution words

5. Background Knowledge
Reading flows more easily when you understand what
you’re reading! But where does that understanding come
from? Some of it comes from what you already know,
giving you a framework to fit the rest in place.
Board games can introduce new concepts and

knowledge that will help kids as they learn to read. For
younger children, games with “kid” themes may help
them gain familiarity with the same topics they’ll
encounter in reading, such as firefighters, farm animals, or
emotions.
But adding more background knowledge is helpful even

once reading comes easily! This is one of the things that
our family has continually turned to in gameschooling
with older children, using games like Unmatched to
introduce literary figures, Pan Am for airplane vocabulary
and world geography, and Periodic for elements and their
atomic relationships.
No matter what the topic, talk with your kids about what
is present in the game. Name the different components
and talk about what is happening as you play.
6. Executive Function – Attention

and Working Memory
The last reading skill is a group of skills that get used all
the time in board games – focusing attention and
exercising working memory.
If this is an area where your child seems to have a hard

time, try some games that reward these skills specifically.
Simple dexterity and stacking games are a great way to

focus attention on the current task. Our favorites are
Jenga, Suspend Jr., Don’t Break the Ice, and Go Cuckoo.
Hang colorful, wobbly sticks Stack sticks and carefully

in Suspend Jr. place eggs in Go Cuckoo!
You can improve working memory by trying to hold on to

more than one piece of information at a time. Obviously
memory matching games are great for this, but simple
deduction games (keeping track of what information is
known, like in Outfoxed) and drafting games (keeping
track of what you’ve already seen, as in Sushi Go,
Draftosaurus, Kingdomino, or Dragomino) will also
encourage this skill.
Pass tiny
dinosaurs and
Keep track of Try for the best
place them in
clues in Outfoxed eggs in Dragomino
pens in
Reading is
FUNdamental
Armed with this arsenal of boardgame tools, I hope
reading can be more fun and less of a chore. If one game
isn’t working, try a different one, or try building a different
skill for a while.
And don’t forget to model reading for enjoyment – if kids

see the grownups in their lives doing it, they’re more
likely to push through until they can do it, too.
As these skills get more practice, they’ll become easier

and easier until your kids hardly have to think about them
anymore. Then everyone can read together – and play
even more games!
What do you think?

Have games helped children in your life hone their skills
for reading? Let us know in the comments below or in our
Facebook community.
 Anitra, reading, young children
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2/21/24, 12:53 PM Building Reading Skills with Boardgames - The Family Gamers

Play Games with Your Kids!

Podcast Episodes Reviews For Parents Interviews About

Shop our Merch

Reading skills are P d t

built in many ways. Google

When reviewing a game, I often note whether it’s suitable

It’s no secret that some children seem to pick up reading

Build Reading Skills Amazon Associate,

None of these games require reading – not even numerals.

But you can also use boardgames to practice and

is easier when it’s fun!

I like Bananagrams as a teaching tool – make a word

Letter-recognition or sound-recognition games can also

2. Fluency and Word Recognition,

Pick some games with a small vocabulary. This could be

To keep building vocabulary, try a game with more text –

There are several different cohesive devices that most of

Ordinal words, like “first – next – last” or “if – then”

FIRST, I pull a SINCE I rolled Making this pig

Ordinal words, Transition words, Substitution words

Board games can introduce new concepts and

But adding more background knowledge is helpful even

6. Executive Function – Attention

If this is an area where your child seems to have a hard

Simple dexterity and stacking games are a great way to

Hang colorful, wobbly sticks Stack sticks and carefully

You can improve working memory by trying to hold on to

And don’t forget to model reading for enjoyment – if kids

As these skills get more practice, they’ll become easier

What do you think?

 Anitra, reading, young children

Podcast Episodes Reviews Resources for Parents About Our Partners

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