During middle school, a lot of new concepts are introduced. While the maths and scientific topics can be inculcated with experiments and practically, is there a way to teach the rules of the English language and grammar? While we all know that learning the concepts of grammar precisely goes a long way! But is there a way to make comprehending grammar fun?
The answer to this question is GAMIFICATION! There are some fun and engaging ways to teach your kid and make them more captivated to learn the rules of grammar. Add a little color of grammar games into your child’s curriculum, which can amp up the ability of your child to learn and grasp the lessons quicker!
In this post, we will help you with some great options that’ll provide your child with a head-start on their English grammar skills!
Why getting a hang of grammar becomes imperative –
Effective communication is an essential skill for any individual, and the foundation of this can be carved during middle school. Kids who can effectively communicate their thoughts, ideas, problems, and solutions are better at solving problems, and working with other students.
Grammar gives shape to written and verbal language by encompassing a set of rules that makes it easier for kids to do their assignments, create presentations, or communicate without making mistakes.
Comprehending grammar is essential for students due to many reasons:
1. It is easier to learn a language when you know its rules.
2. It helps students in writing clear and error-free assignments.
3. Grammar makes a kid understand how to communicate effectively, thus improving their self-confidence.
4. It also helps students prepare for debates and essay competitions as they know the appropriate grammatical form.
However, some students may find grammar to be a challenge as they might still not have the awareness of the sentence structure and other basics. This is where you can help them by introducing online grammar games. Let’s dive deeper into these games and understand how they contribute to learning.
Online grammar games list for little learners
The more students practice their grammar skills, the more confident they feel while writing. And these online games do just that! While it is not an easy task to ask your kid to be studying all the time, you can surely mix them both, and inculcate some learning during the fun hours.
Here are ten online games on grammar that range in difficulty level and will keep you entertained throughout the process:
1. Sorting Parts of Speech
Learning parts of speech is a crucial part of the English language. The sooner a student understands that there are many different kinds of nouns, verbs, and pronouns in their language, the better grasp they will have on their grammar skills as they progress into another grade.
This game is all about matching the words according to their meaning; such as labeling an adjective or a verb or giving a specific type of word classification such as an adverb.
For example: what kind of word is “fast”? Or categorise words as an adjective, a noun, or a verb. Questions such as, “Is ‘kind’ a noun, a verb, or an adverb?” are part of this fun activity.
A lot of other questions like ‘how are these words used?’ make the game fun and teach them about parts of speech in an effortless manner.
2. All About Tenses- Present Tense Vs Progressive Tense
This game is based on the present and progressive tenses, which becomes a must-learn for every student. Present vs. Progressive Tense is a fun game helpful in preparing for tests and writing.
It is essential to use the correct verb tense to ensure the reader understands what you say. So, here’s how you can enjoy this game, you are given a sentence with a blank in it and must choose which tense is correct, present, or progressive.
The game also offers you tips on how to use tenses. Once you start playing this game, you will soon become an expert at using them.
3. Be a Champion on Grand Grammar Game
If your basic grammar rules have been slipping, The Grand Grammar Game can be a sorted way to get yourself back on track!
This game is a multiplayer one that allows you to play with a friend and helps you learn simultaneously! It includes specific rules for playing the game and has questions about the following grammar categories: adverbs, verbs, plural nouns, predicate agreement, and pronouns.
This game empowers kids to learn with their friends, as they can play along being the opponent. It acts as a great motivator; and can be played during activity hours, at home, during holidays, and even in the classroom for evaluation purposes.
4. Quest for Complete Sentence
In this action-packed grammar game, your third or fourth grader can pick from a vast array of words to complete sentences to collect gold coins and treasures.
Floyd Danger: Quest for the Complete Sentence is an exciting adventure into the world of grammar that allows your child to explore all things related to sentence structure.
The game helps develop sentence structure by assisting children and telling them about how to use full sentences, which are complete with nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions.
Floyd, the game character, collects gold coins and treasures by completing sentences with various fun prepositional phrases, sorting them depending on whether they are correctly structured and punctuated.
5. Learn spellings and new words through Word Search
This fun and colorful game is designed to teach your kids spelling and unique words. The game consists of thirty different categories into which each word or phrase falls neatly (e.g., Food, Personal Accessories, Music & Instruments).
The game is very simple. The goal is to find words that match the images before the time runs out. The game also helps with clues if you get stuck trying to guess an item. But, getting a clue will reduce your points and end your chance of winning a prize.
It’s a great way to reinforce high-frequency words, practice spellings, and get children to practice their fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. If you’re looking for an engaging activity with your little ones, this game is sure to be a fun tool!
6. Enjoy the antonyms with Furious Frogs
This exciting new game is specifically developed to help students practice their antonyms skills by enjoying the gamification experience.
Students worldwide can compete against each other and enjoy recreation and learning with Furious Frogs. Here, kids understand the difference between synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms through this thrilling game.
This game also eases the process of understanding the difference between homonyms and antonyms, which can be bewildering for the students. It has no dull moments and requires quick thinking to win the challenge.
7. Verb Viper
Many different apps help children learn and practice language arts skills, and Verb Viper is one such tool that provides children with the opportunity to work on their verb tenses with an interactive game.
It helps identify common verb errors and is beneficial to improve everyday conversations.
The rules are simple: toss the ‘viper’ onto the playing board, read the challenge card and determine whether the verb in question is written in the past, present, or past participle tense.
A kid can choose three playing modes as per their pace: Slow, Normal, and Fast. One can also select content types – such as past tense, present tense, and verbs to make learning fun and exciting.
8. Choose Countable and Uncountable Nouns
This game inculcates the concept of countable nouns and uncountable nouns. In simple words, countable nouns are objects which can be counted, like an apple. Whereas, uncountable nouns are objects which cannot be counted, like the air.
In this game, the kids will be asked to choose the correct noun to complete the sentence. The main goal of the game is to move up the ladder, and each time the student answers correctly, they move up the ladder to one level higher.
This game will help the students learn about the characteristics of countable and uncountable nouns as the game would focus on sentence structure.
9. Pick it: Adverbs
Adverbs is a crucial concept when it comes to grammar. Most English sentences require the correct use of adverbs, and therefore, one should have the correct knowledge of using them.
This game encourages just that! With a set of words given that form a sentence, the student needs to select the adverb from the sentence. For example – he thought deeply about her. Which of the words from the sentence is an adverb?
Not only would this game improve the sense of using the right words, but would also inculcate the concept of adverbs and their correct usage.
10. Monster Phrases
Nouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, adjectives — all are essential components of a sentence. Hopping from one to another and making a sentence can create a perplexing situation for the kid. But how about a game that teaches sentence formation in an easy manner?
In this game, the students are shown an image that depicts the sentence which is to be formed. Next, they are given a number of options to choose from. The sentence is divided into three parts, and based on the picture, the student has to form the sentence by picking the correct parts of the sentence.
The game has a scoreboard that tells the player how many answers were correct and incorrect. This is great if kids wish to evaluate themselves and rectify their mistakes in the game.
Understanding grammar through a multi-sensory approach of gamification
In recent years, the idea of using technology in the classroom has become common when it comes to teaching. Teachers realise how beneficial it is to use gamification(gaming+education) to teach the little one complex concepts such as grammar.
Have you ever wondered how a multi-sensory learning approach can help boring concepts become engaging? Using colors and graphics to explain grammar rules is a great way to attract children’s attention. Another good thing is that the concept uses the players’ motivation to get the best score or be the winner and applies that to learning.
This way, students feel empowered through a gamified learning environment. Moreover, receiving badges and points for completing tasks makes the process of understanding concepts more enjoyable.
Conclusion
When it comes to writing and passing a test, grammar rules can make all the difference. Indeed, learning grammar is not easy, but it becomes exciting and appealing when presented in a fun way.
Learning the rules and then retaining them also becomes vital because grammar is used throughout life. When learned and taught the right way, it acts as a great foundation to learn more complex concepts in higher classes, and even to become a master of the language. It is undeniable that to be a fluent English speaker, the rules of grammar must be clear from early days, and this is where gamification would come into play.
If your child is struggling with grammar today, then it might be worth looking at these online grammar games to help them improve. So, don’t wait anymore and try these fantastic, engaging games with your kids to be a part of their growing journey and help them shine in the world.
An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,