23 Fun Reading Games for Kids

It’s no secret that kids love to play. So a fun way to improve reading skills is by playing reading games. And many of these games are free!

Free Reading Games

Yes & No Phonics and Word Game (Ages 4+)

Turn word lists into a “yes” or “no” game with questions such as these:

Does the word begin with the letter ____?
Does the word end in a vowel?
Does the word have a long “a” sound?

Say and Stomp (Ages 4+)

Write letters on the top of styrofoam cups. Say the letter sound and stomp the cup.

Memory Match (Ages 5+)

Make your own game of Memory with pairs of sight words or short phrases written on index cards.

Bingo (Ages 5+)

Bingo games give kids a fun way to practice reading a variety of words, from easy to difficult.

Go Fish (Ages 5+)

Make your own Go Fish game using sight words or vocabulary words. Create pairs or groups of four.

Word Search (Ages 5+)

Use foam letters and make a 3D word search for your beginning readers.

Silly Voices Reading (Ages 5+)

Belinda Kinney shares sixteen reading voice ideas. Her original idea is to use the reading voices for reading words, but I think it would be fun to read entire stories or parts of stories in these silly voices, don’t you?

Vowel Sounds Marble Game (Ages 5+)

Put a marble underneath one of three cups. Each cup should have a single vowel written on it. Take turns hiding the marble and mixing up the cups. The child guesses where the marble is located and says the vowel sound.

Fluency Target Time (Ages 6+)

Correctly read the first sentence or paragraph to advance to the second ring. If you make a mistake, stay on the outer ring.

Connect Four Words (Ages 6+)

Use word stickers on your Connect Four game pieces. Pick one of the word stickers, read the sight word correctly, then put the word piece into the game. Four in a row wins.

Word Towers (Ages 6+)

Add labels with words written on them to Duplo blocks. Build sentences and stories. Then, read what you’ve created.

Reading Games to Buy

Reading Riddle Maze Game (Ages 4+)

Read a riddle then move to get the tile with the riddle’s answer. The first player to collect three riddle cards wins.

Wordsearch Junior (Ages 4+)

Preschoolers do the six matching pattern puzzles or six picture hint puzzles and early readers solve the word-only puzzles.

Zingo! (Ages 5+)

Match pictures to the correct words to fill your Zingo (like Bingo) board. The first player with a full card wins.

What’s Gnu! (Ages 5+)

Use the letter tiles to create three letter words.

Go 4 It! Word Families (Ages 5+)

The goal of this Go Fish game is to collect words in word families, such as the “–ake” family of words.

4-In-A-Row CVC Words (Ages 5+)

Spin the color spinner. Read a word on that color tile and put a chip on it. Connect four words in a row to win.

Make-A Word Soft Touch Dice: CVC Words (Ages 5+)

Soft dice help kids make consonant-vowel-consonant words. Make up your own game and rules.

Let’s Go Fishing: First 100 Fry Words (Ages 5+)

Catch a sight word fish. Read it correctly and you can keep it.

uKloo Sight Word Treasure Hunt (Ages 5+)

Read and solve the riddle clues that contain sight words. Follow the trail to a prize.

Pirate Island: Reading for Details (Ages 7+)

Race around the board by reading short passages and answering the detail questions correctly. The first one to the treasure chest wins.

Free Reading Games