5 Literacy Games to Play While You’re Shopping

Learning isn’t limited to the classroom. If you’re looking for some fun ways to encourage literacy as you’re shopping, getting gas, or taking a walk, here are five simple literacy games. These are perfect for on the go learning.

All five of these games:

• Are simple to learn
• Don’t take any prep time
• Don’t require you to bring along any materials – you’ll just use what you see around you

Are you ready to have some fun learning while you’re out and about? Let’s dive into the five games.

1. ABC Hunt

This game is a simple ABC order review. Your child will need to be familiar with the alphabet before playing, and able to identify different letters of the alphabet.

Materials Needed:

• Signs to look at

Procedure:

1. 1. Ask your child to find the letter A as you walk through the store and point it
      out to you.
   2. Ask your child to find the letter B.
   3. Continue until letter Z is reached.

If you can’t find a certain letter, you can decide to let your child skip it!

For a twist, ask your child to find the letters in Z-A order. This helps them to quickly identify letters in a different order. When you always start at A, sometimes your child will have to start at A in their mind when thinking of a letter. By mixing it up, you help them to see each letter as an individual instead of just the one after another letter.

2. Beginning Sound Hunt

This game helps your child find as many things as possible that start with a certain beginning sound. This helps with the connection between letters and the sounds they make.

Materials Needed:

• Items around you (they don’t need to be picked up)

Procedure

1. Ask your child to look for things that start with the sound “dddd” (remember to say the sound not the letter!)
2. Let your child point out a handful of objects that start with dddd.
3. Pick another letter sound and continue. Perhaps you’ll try:

• Mmmm
• Pppp
• Sssss

4. Then try a couple of letter blends!

• Sh (shelf, shoes, etc.)
• Br (bricks, brown bags, brownie mix, etc.)

3. Shopping Rhymes

This lesson review rhyming and helps your child distinguish between real and nonsense words.

Materials Needed:

• Items that you add to your shopping cart (or that you see along the way)

Procedure

1. As you add an item to your cart (or pass something as you walk), say the name of the object.
2. Ask your child to name a rhyming word.
3. Ask if that word was real or nonsense.
4. Repeat for another object. For even more fun, you can take turns naming the object and saying the rhyme.

Examples

Here are a few examples to get you started:

• Apple: Bapple (nonsense)
• Cracker: Snacker (nonsense)
• Potatoes: Tomatoes (real)
• Cheese: Please (real)
• Juice: Fuice (nonsense)

Have fun rhyming your way through the store.

4. I’m Thinking of Something

This game is all about vocabulary development and building questioning skills. Both are essential components of literacy.

Materials Needed:

• None

Procedure

1. Secretly think of something that your child knows about
2. Tell your child, “I’m thinking of something. Try to figure out what it is by asking questions.”
3. Encourage your child to ask yes or no questions to figure out what you’re thinking of. The first few rounds, they may need a little help. But, it won’t take long and they’ll have the hang of it.

Here are some questions to get you started:

• Will the thing you’re thinking of fit in our car?
• Are we buying the thing you’re thinking of?
• Does the thing you’re thinking of start with the letter s?
• Are you thinking of something yellow?
• Can I eat the thing you’re thinking of?

4. If your child gets discouraged, offer a clue and help them come up with a question to ask.

5. Once your child guesses or gives up, ask her to think of something. Then you ask questions to discover what it is.

5. Read 5

If your child can successfully sound out some words, they’re ready for this literacy game! The goal is to read five words on signs. (If your child is a more experienced reader, increase that number. This was designed with really early readers in mind.)

Materials Needed:

• Signs at the store or on the road

Procedure

1. Let your child know that you are proud of their hard work learning to read. Ask him to look at all the words around you.
2. Have your child find a word she can read, and point it out to you.
3. Ask your child to read the word.
4. Ask your child to see if there are any other words he knows.
5. Continue looking for words until your child has read 5 (or whatever number you set)
6. Celebrate with a big high five and a congratulations!

Literacy Games on the Go

Learning to read doesn’t have to be boring. And it certainly doesn’t have to take place at a desk. These games will help your child practice their literacy skills in a new way, while you’re out of the house. I hope you enjoy playing them together.

For even more literacy games, check out my curriculum: Teaching Reading Through Play. It’s a 36-week early reading curriculum that’ll take you child from knowing letters to reading short vowel words. And they won’t be bored to tears while learning, since there are activities and games throughout to reinforce the material.

You can learn more here:

Teaching Reading Through Play