Creative word games to play with the kids

We discovered these amazingly easy and fun games when my son started going to impro classes, also known as improvisational theater. As the name suggests, it is a form of theater based on improvisation. All the games are unscripted, unrehearsed and rely strongly on imagination, which is what makes them great for kids.
This post is only about the words games we learned in impro classes, as they can be played basically anywhere and anytime – whether you want to entertain the children on a rainy day, during a long car ride or while waiting for an appointment.

Playing with words at impro class

- The word association game

You start with any word you want, say winter. The next player has to come up with a word associated with winter, like snow. The next one can say – snowman. Then hat, then father and so on and so forth.
It doesn't matter how many players there are, it can be played just in two.
Good for – building vocabulary, improving imagination.

- The alphabet game

You start with a word beginning with A. Like alphabet. The next player will say something with B, as in book. You get the idea.
If the kids are older it can be used as a memory game as well, with each player starting from the beginning and repeating the previous words. It goes like this
“A is for alphabet, B is for book, C is for car, D is for doctor...”
It can also be used to learn many different things – like animals, vegetables, countries, adjectives etc.
“A is for ant, B is for bear, C is for crocodile, D is for dog...”
It is also very useful for learning a foreign language, using words the children know in that particular learning.
Good for – improving vocabulary, imagination, memory, language skills.
Many laughs guaranteed as you get towards the end of the alphabet and there are so many words to remember.

- The alphabet story game

This game consists of creating a story with sentences beginning with all the letters of the alphabet.
The first player can start with something like:
“Aunt Julie is coming today for lunch”
“But you said we were going to the movies today”
“Can we leave it for another day?”
and so on. It doesn't matter if the story doesn't make much sense, the sillier the better, because improvisation theater is mostly about comedy.

- The questions game

As the name says, you need to create a dialogue based entirely on questions.
“Can you help me set the table?”
“Why would I help you with that?
“Don't you want to eat sooner?”
“Does it look like I'm hungry?”
Again, try to make it as funny and absurd as you can. Once the kids get the hang of it they will do their best to keep it up as long as possible.
This game works best with only two players.

These are only the basic rules for the games and being an improvisation exercise you can change it as you want or make up new rules.

Just use your imagination!

Thanks for reading