4 Reasons We Still Love Mad Libs

My daughter recently discovered a collection of partially completed Mad Libs books in a pile of relics from my childhood, and she quickly claimed them as her own. In case you need a refresher, Mad Libs is a word game that involves filling in the blanks of a short story without any context except cues for the part of speech or general category. This tends to yield hilariously random non-sequiturs, like the alternate rendition of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere,” penned in my nine-year-old scrawl: “One if by Honda, two if by penguin.”

Besides offering a funny window into my elementary school-aged mind — and spelling! — the recent reintroduction of Mad Libs into our family reminded me how much there is to love about them as both a parent and a teacher. Decade after decade, here are four reasons we still love Mad Libs.

Mad Libs provide versatile entertainment — and a good laugh.
Mad Libs books are perfectly sized for tucking in a bag for appointments, travel, or restaurants. They can be enjoyed in a group, duo, or solo. They can be labored over to fill a long wait time or completed speedily before bedtime or to fill a few classroom minutes. Most importantly, Mad Libs tickle readers’ imaginations by inviting them to play with words in unexpected ways. Nonsensical commands like, “Go comb your mustard!” and “Stop picking your kangaroo!” are guaranteed to elicit a smile.

You can adapt Mad Libs to fit kids’ needs.
Besides their obvious power to make learning about parts of speech engaging, it’s easy to weave in customized prompts for kids while they fill in Mad Libs blanks. For instance, if kids’ capitalization habits need work, insist that all their nouns be proper. If they’re working on mastering the r-controlled vowels “ir,” “er,” and “ur,” brainstorm or provide a list of words with these spelling patterns, and have kids choose one that fits the direction for each blank. This embeds practice reading and spelling target words in a fun activity.

Choosing just the right words for Mad Libs blanks builds vocabulary.
As a child, I favored standard adjectives like “cool” and “gross” on repeat. As a parent and teacher, I challenge kids not to use the same word twice in a Mad Libs story. You can also nudge kids towards precise words for their basic choices: Do they mean “gross” like “noxious” or “rancid?” Or is it “revolting” or “nauseating?” This encourages kids to build their mental networks of how words connect to each other. You could also reinforce prior vocabulary learning using Mad Libs by challenging kids to pick from a list of words they’ve recently learned, like those from a book or related to a specific topic.

Reading completed Mad Libs stories can build fluency and comprehension.
My daughter reminded me how ideal Mad Libs are for developing readers when she insisted on re-reading her completed story to every family member. Multiple readings of a short text are ideal for building fluency. As I silently cheered for the bonus decoding practice, my daughter’s renditions of her story became progressively more automatic, animated, and expressive.

Talking about what makes completed stories funny can build kids’ background knowledge. Reading Mad Libs stories asks kids to imagine and describe the zany situations their filled-in blanks suggest. They also offer quick and engaging practice in visualizing, a key comprehension habit. (For example, what would it look like if British troops arrived by Honda or penguin?)

Just like filling in the blanks, the possibilities for enjoying Mad Libs with kids are endless. For more ideas for using Mad Libs as a teaching tool, check out this handy Educator’s Guide to Mad Libs. Plus, don’t miss these free Mad Libs printables and activities.

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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2020 and updated in 2025.