It’s essential for kindergarten teachers to diversify the ways in which they introduce and practice early literacy skills in their classrooms. Without some fun or play, kindergartners can end up bored, checked out, or acting out in the classroom. Added stimulation through games is an excellent way to engage kindergarteners as they learn and practice early literacy skills.
How Games Help Improve Classroom Reading Centers
Classroom reading centers, otherwise known as literacy centers, are meant to allow students to access learning materials independently. In this way, children can be responsible for their learning by selecting from activities, books, and other materials that are set aside separately. Reading centers in the classroom are the perfect way to allow for independent learning time and work on literacy skills.
Including games in reading centers not only gives students the opportunity to practice early literacy skills in a fun and engaging way, it also helps them to develop an early love of reading.
What Kinds of Games Should Be in Classroom Reading Centers?
The best games for kindergarten reading centers incorporate practicing letter recognition, phonics, phonemic awareness and sight words. The best skills to focus on will vary based on the needs of the students in your classroom. With such broad criteria, there are many game options for you to choose from as a teacher. In one quick online search for classroom reading games, you might find hundreds of great ideas for reading games that are appropriate for kindergarteners. To save you time, we’ve compiled a list of our favorites.
4 Fun, Low-Prep Kindergarten Games for Classroom Reading Centers
- Roll and Read Games - A popular option for kindergarten games for reading is roll-and-read games. These are very simple to set up and are well-loved by young children. These games have many variations, but the core principles remain the same. A child will roll a die, and then based on the number that they roll, they will then read the word associated with their result on the dice. For this activity, the student will practice their counting skills (identifying how many dots are on the dice) and their read-aloud skills by practicing sounding out the corresponding word on the page.
- Anything Involving Magnetic Letters - Magnetic letters, also known as “fridge magnet alphabets,” are a favorite amongst kindergarteners. These games are also well-loved by teachers who have an easy time setting up word scrambles and letter identification games on magnetic surfaces such as filing cabinets. Students can unscramble words or spell their own words out with the magnets depending on the setup of the reading game.
- Memory Games with Words - Playing Memory is a classic children’s game that young students love. Pairing this fun activity with sight words and essential vocabulary allows kindergarteners to play one of their favorite games while reading and accessing materials beneficial to their development as young readers. A game like Memory will help students read words aloud, identify them on paper, and exercise their memory by making them focus on which cards they still need to collect.
- Read In Different Voices Activity - This activity is one for a not-so-quiet classroom reading center time, as this game can get quite lively with kindergarteners. For setup, create 2 stacks of cards - 1 stack of cards with the different types of voices you can use while reading and 1 stack of cards with simple sentences for students to read. Students will draw a card from each stack and read the sentence according to the directions on their “voice” card. Some ideas for these cards include “Read in your silly voice,” “Read in a sad voice,” or “Read in an angry voice.” This game can be great fun and practices reading fluency, read-aloud skills, and emotion identification in young students.
Getting Started
There are so many great options for games for kindergarten teachers to implement in classroom reading centers. These kindergarten games for reading help to reinforce early literacy skills and get students excited about learning. Click here to find resources to use with your kindergarten students.
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