best literacy board games
Literacy doesn't always mean reading. There are a lot of board games that you can play with friends and family to have fun whilst improving your literacy skills. Learn new vocabulary, improve your spelling and become a better storyteller whilst playing games. These are all ways that playing word games will help your literacy... without you even realising.
Banagrams
Banagrams is a fun and fast word game for all ages. The game is played using 144 letter tiles (much like Scrabble tiles), which are laid on top of a table. Each player then takes 8 letters from the pile to create their own individual crossword. When a player uses up their 8 tiles, they select more from the central pile until all of the central pile are used up. The winner is whoever completes their crossword once all the tiles have been selected. You can play Banagrams with 2 to 6 people. Ages 7+
2. Codenames
In this fun party game, players are divided into a Red team and a Blue team, with each side nominating a team leader. At the beginning of play, 25 cards are laid on the table each with a different word written on it. Every card is also secretly assigned a colour (red, blue or neutral), but be careful because one of them is The Assassin! Only the team leaders know which colours correspond to the cards, but they must guide their team mates using word clues so that they are the first to find all the cards of their colour. Codenames is a really fun word game to play with 4 to 8 friends. Ages 14+
3. Scrabble
In the classic game of Scrabble, each player is given 7 random letter tiles. On each players' turn, they are allowed to put down words on the Scrabble board scoring them points depending on the complexity of the word and where it's placed on the board. Once you put tiles down onto the Scrabble board, a player draws more letter tiles until they have 7 again. The game ends once the tiles run out, and the player who has thought of the most points win. This board game really gets you thinking about the most interesting words you know, in order to score as many points as possible! You can enjoy Scrabble with 2 - 4 players. Age 10+
4. Boggle
In each round of Boggle, the "Boggle Cube" containing16 letters in a 4 by 4 grid is shaken in order to randomise the letters. Once shaken, the one minute timer starts and it's up to the players to write down as many words as they can see! After the minute is up, compare answers with the other players and any shared answers score zero points. Whoever has the most points after wins! Boggle is a simple game, but due to the random letter combinations can be played endless times. You can play Boggle on your own as a brain teaser or with up to 7 friends. Ages 8+
5. When I Dream
In this game, one person becomes the "Dreamer" whilst the others are dealt cards to decide whether they are "good", "bad" or "trickster" dream spirits. In two minute rounds, the dream spirits will draw cards and describe part of a dream using one word only. The dreamer will try to guess these words, and gets points for how many are correctly guessed. Before the dreamer "opens their eyes" they must use the words to create a dream-story in order to win extra points. A wonderful game to inspire story-telling, where your imagination is the limit. When I Dream is a fun game to play with 4 - 10 players. Age 8+
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