All of us have played word games in our school days. They are exceptional for learning new words and making our vocabulary rich. But improving and enriching your vocabulary should not just be confined to childhood.
English has a large number of words, and learning them to expand your vocabulary should be a continuous process throughout your life, even as adults! But at the same time, learning new words and amplifying your vocabulary should not seem like a task. Vocabulary learning is not only for children; it can be life long pursuit of happiness and adults can learn it too through various games available.
In this post, we will talk about how games can be pivotal for uplifting vocabulary and learning new words to sound confident, poised and sanguine.
Vocabulary games for adults: Functional or not?
Learning is important, but we all need some relaxation as well, And the key to maintaining brain health is to learn new skills in a fun way to keep yourself engaged and updated. Games for adults can be fun to keep them healthy and fit(both mentally and physically).
Also playing Games:
- Makes you happy: It’s quite obvious that vocabulary games are fun to play with. According to studies[1], playing games promotes a feel-good hormone in the human brain. The fun, excitement, and enthusiasm during games make your vocabulary rich and provide a good feel.
- It improves your social skills: Word games are an effective tool when played in a group. It boosts your social skills as you spend time together, with a competitive zeal, and solving some problems creates a social bond with others.
- Learning vocabulary in gaming way is a stress buster: When you play vocabulary games and engage in them, your stress goes away, and you feel stress-free and light. Games are an excellent tool to get rid of stress. To make you stress-free, games are best.
- Boosts concentration and cognitive: Sometimes, adults feel that by the time their concentration level is reducing and they are unable to memorise things. But, by playing vocabulary games, you do brain exercise. The more you play, the better your brain would perform. Games boost both your Cognitive and concentration.
- Makes vocabulary rich: This is the most obvious point: playing a vocabulary game makes your vocabulary rich with new words.
Games & grown-ups: Breaking the notion
Adults and games, what comes to your mind first when you get to hear that? The first notion that crosses your mind is that grown-ups can’t play games; it’s a child thing. Yes, playing games is important for children’s growth, yet it is also beneficial for adults.
Games are a stress buster, adding joy and glee to life with some learning and connecting with others. It’s not late to develop your playful side as an adult. The notion that games are not for elders makes them worried about being childish. But nothing is wrong with being a little childish, children have incredible creative abilities, and they learn so many things while playing. Then why not the same thing is applicable for adults. Wouldn’t it be good to be a little childish and learn while playing games?
Maria Kambouri[2], in her research, states how games make a person more playful, productive, and knowledgeable. We need to break the notion and to do that, keep aside your self-consciousness and start playing games, a thing you haven’t done since the past many years, and enjoy the new pace.
The game-based learning for grown-ups can be a source of relaxation and learning more. Playing with partners, mates, or family members is a great way to fuel your energy levels, cognitive creativity, problem-solving skills, and mental health. As an adult, allow yourself to play games, and you’ll reap oodles of benefits like health, fitness, relaxation, and knowledge at the same time.
Let’s take a look at some games adults can play that will help them to improve their vocabulary while having fun at the same time.
1. Word Dumb Charades
We all have played the game of dumb charades where we guess movies based on the actions of the player. This is a similar game, but with words! People can divide themselves into two groups to play this game.
A good number of chits can be made with different 6-8 letter words on them. The teams can play their turn alternatively. Basically, one player from one team will come to the other team and pick up one chit and then enact the word for their team to guess.
For example, if the word on the chit says ‘facebows,’ the team member needs to enact it for their team to guess it and get a point. But the catch here is, the team needs to guess it, and spell it too! Only then would they be getting the point for the answer.
2. Be a poet
Be a poet is a fun game for adults and challenges them to craft the words on the spot to make the poetry more interesting. Select poetry from any book or the internet and provide a few words to participants to use within the poetry. Allow them some time (5 or 10 minutes for an individual or group).
Ask them to read the poetry aloud. This game can be substantially beneficial for adults; it will boost their confidence and make their vocabulary strong. To add more fun to the game, ask other participants to show scorecards when reading his poetry.
3. Tell Me One More Name
In the game, first, you need to divide the group into a team of two. The point here is that one participant from the first team will say a word and another one from the second team has to tell one synonym for the word. Set a time limit to make the game entertaining. For example. If 1 person from team A says ‘understand’. Another team member from Team B can tell the synonym for the word, by saying ‘comprehend.’
Give them a maximum of 10 to 15 seconds to think and tell, or else the participant will be out. You can even include antonyms if you wish to change the game a bit. Rules are simple to follow, and a fixed time limit makes it more interesting.
The teams can take alternate turns to give each other words. The team that gives the maximum answers in less time wins the game.
4. Write Many Words
The game is ideal for all ages, and even adults can have fun while playing, alongside learning new words. Each participant has to take a sheet and a pen. They have to divide the sheet into six sections. Give each section a name, such as rivers, countries, nouns, etc.
Allow any adult participant to say a letter, and then all the players will write one word in each section, starting with that letter. Give them points for each correct word they write on the sheet. If only a few could write correct words, give them star with double points. Finally, in the end, the person with the maximum points will be a winner.
5. Let’s Make A Chain of Words
The chain of words is suitable for adults as well as for children. The rules are pretty simple to understand and follow. One participant says a word(maybe based on some theme like food), any word is fine, whatever comes to the mind first. The next adult has to say the word starting with the last letter, what the first adult said.
The whole group will play the same way. Here you can add the twist as well, such as the next player has to say only a word related to the first word somehow (a bit tough, but you may try). The point here is to make them think and develop some new words. If they do that, give a point for each correct answer. This game is a bit challenging but fun to play with a group.
6. Move And Learn The Vocabulary
This game is good enough if you want everyone up and keep going. Try this fun rotation game. First, you need to divide the group in exactly half so that two teams can be formed. Ask both groups to form two concentric circles facing each other.
Give them a few flashcards (flashcards should have a picture on one side and about it on the other side). Adults of both circles can test each other turn-wise. Each participant will get the chance to play and test each other. The game will make them learn a few new words.
7. Speak But Nobody Should Listen
Players can form a line, and the person whispers a message or word to the ear of the next person and that person has to repeat the same message to the person next to them, and so on. When the message reaches the last person, they have to tell it to the entire group. Then the first person who started the game compares the original message with the final message. Usually, errors(the changed message) occurs in whispering due to unclear way of whispering and passing the message.
This game is really interesting but can be hilarious as there is a possibility that by mistake, which would lead to a completely different word or phrase. Sometimes an entirely different phrase or word brings laughter to the group.
8. Tongue Twister
This game can be played in a group. Tongue twisters are sentences made up of a sequence of the same sounds which are a little difficult to say, but adults can play this to enhance their vocabulary. For example, use a phrase like “she sells seashells on the sea shore” or make a sentence on your own (a simple and easy one).
You can keep changing the sentences and ask each adult from the group to tell the tongue twister one by one. They are extremely useful to learn a new word and its pronunciation. You can add one or two new words to already popular and available tongue twisters.
9. Draw And Tell
Drawing is fun; everyone likes to play with pen, pencil, and colours. The idea of the game is to make adults explain the meaning of a given word through their drawing and colouring abilities. They can play the game individually. Give them a word or let a ‘lucky’ one choose a word from the ongoing theme.
The twist here is that they all have to draw something about that word, colour it, and later explain the drawing to everyone. You’ll need paper sheets, pencils, and colours for each participant Or you can simply choose a kid’s normal whiteboard with a marker. What and why do they draw a thing? Let others ask them when a person is explaining.
10. Ball Tossing – Keep Shouting
The game is fun to play, but it requires a little time to think about a word. It also encourages coordination between group members. Th start the game; you need a ball. Start by forming a circle, telling them a theme name, such as kitchen, and tossing the ball to the first adult.
Then that adult has to shout a word related to the theme and throw the ball to another person. If anyone repeats the word someone already said, that person will be out of the game. You can make the game more interesting by adding a few more twists like instead of a theme; you can introduce like – you say ‘red,’ and then the next person will say a word connected with red such as ‘apple.’
Conclusion
We hope with these ten vocabulary games, adults will have a gala time, and at the same time, they will be able to enrich their vocabulary with lots of new words. Most of the games mentioned above strengthen participants’ communication skills as well.
These games are simple and easy to play and require fewer resources. And according to your requirements, you may change any rule or add any twist to make them more interesting. Concluding this post, hoping that the game list will help adults have fun and learn.
References:
- The University of Edinburgh. “Playing board games may help protect thinking skills in old age.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 26 November 2019.
- Playing the literacy game: A case study in adult education. (2006). Maria Kambouri. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439880601022015
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’,