Thursday, December 31, 2015

Having Fun With Words For Everyone

By Jessica Stone


Language is always developing and evolving, which makes it so interesting. Being a major form of communication for us as human beings, it's always a good idea to really understand how language works and how you can manipulate it as well. Having good language skills is a really valuable asset in life on a whole, and these skills can be developed easily if you learn to have fun with words along the way.

Here are some ideas of games to play with anyone, from family members to friends, no matter what their age. Word games are good for putting the brain to work and continuously challenging it to get better. Adding a twist to such games can enhance the brain exercise, for example, using rhymes or some other type of trick. The list of options is endless.

The alphabet is often a key component in many word games, serving as a point from which to begin or as a guideline throughout the game. You can pick any topic like cities, countries or animals and then every person in the group has to think of a word which begins with the next letter of the alphabet. Therefore the first player will say something beginning with the letter A; the next player's answer will start with B, and so it continues.

To make things even more challenging and trickier for the brain, switch it up by taking the last letter from the previous player's answer and using it as the starting letter for the next answer. This can turn out to be super fun for everyone, trying to stump one another. Adding a time limit will only heighten the tension.

For kids, a game can this can be simplified by doing it on paper. The game 'Name, Animal, Place, Thing' is a great example. Write each of these headings at the top of a column across a page and put the letters of the alphabet down the side.

Set a timer, and have each player fill in as many answers as they can, finding words to fit each topic and alphabet letter. Kids can play this at home, but it's also a great exercise for a school setting. It has the added benefit of keeping them quiet while they think for a while!

You can up the difficulty level of any word game quite easily. Think of how you can use rhyme to amp things up and stump one another. Write different words on folded paper and pick them out of a container one at a time. Each player has to find four words rhyming with the one written on the paper, or better yet, make up a poem with them!

Other tricks and styles in language can add to the fun besides rhyming. What about using puns, double entendres or onomatopoeia, which is the name for words that reflect the sound something makes? Tongue twisters can be especially difficult and equally funny; whoever says them the fastest wins. Or find the longest word and see who can make the most smaller ones using its letters?




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