Verbal games

[Earthmerlin]

I'm with my rising 2nd grader on a European vacation for a month. We had to pack light & although she has a few toys, books, & games I am looking for additional ideas to pass the time (while standing in lines, waiting for trains, etc.). Any ideas? She likes 'I Spy' & themed alphabet games (i.e., A-Z names of foods, animals, story characters, etc.) but we tire of these & I need more in my repertoire. I'm sure there are lots of oral games played by children but I'm currently stumped. I would especially appreciate math games. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[Jenn in CA]

A license plate variation: Make up a phrase w/the letters in a license plate, for ex. MXR = Many Xcellent Rats. Extra challenge: find a word which uses those letters in order. MXR = MiXeR.

 

Math games: Just find numbers and add them up! Or count by 3's, 4's, etc. starting with a number you see.

 

 

[SanDiegoMom]

A variation on the word games- we just played catch in the pool and every time someone threw the ball they had to come up with an adjective that started with the last letter of the previous adjective someone used. So loathsome led to elegant led to tyrannical... The kids had a blast and it was so great for their future writing assignments. I can only hope...

[MasaMama]

DS likes "Would you rather" questions and "I'm thinking of a number, a person, place, etc" game.  

[alisha]

Synonyms: What's another way to say sad? think of as many as possible before going to the next word.

 

Tell me a Story: Give 3 (or however many work) different words and have her put together in a story. For example-gorilla, map, fireplace

 

Countries: how many countries can you think of that start with c (or another letter); for more difficult, go by continent.

 

I'm going to.... (memory): 1st person:  I'm going to Europe and I'm taking an apple. Next person: I'm going to Europe and I'm taking an apple and a banana; 1st person: I'm going to Europe and I'm taking an apple, a banana and a antelope; (and so on, each person remembering what's already been done and adding a new one in alphabetical order (doesn't have to be fruits or certain topic).

[rwilk]

Geography!  Start with a place (country, city, state, river......), and the next person has to name a place startig with the last letter of the previous location.  So if person 1 says California, person 2 could say Akron.....and it just continues until someone reuses a location or can't think of one.  

 

 

[Earthmerlin]

Thanks so much for these ideas! I'll use them today for sure on our bus ride to the next adventure! I also play an invented game--secret number. 'It's a number between 0-20. It's even. Its double is 16. What is it?' Good stuff here though too!

[Acorn]

Green glass door

 

http://icebreakerideas.com/green-glass-door-game-riddle/

[Tanaqui]

"Secret word stories", which was inordinately popular with the girls when they were that age.

 

I start off telling the kids three vocabulary words, bonus points if they have nothing to do with one another. Then I tell a story, making sure to use those words. If they hear those words, they get to tickle me. If I get a word out without them hearing it, I get to tickle them. I think it's the tickling that makes it fun :) For bonus learning, throw in random math problems, as in "The giant ate five plates of eggs, in addition to his 17 plates of fish. How many more plates of fish did he eat than eggs?" The pause while they figure out the math gives you time to figure out the next plot twist.

 

I strongly suggest if you're going to do this that you memorize a buttload of folk and fairy tales so you don't have to make these all up on the sly.

 

Traveling stories: You know this one. You say a few lines of a story, then pass it on to her. She says a few more lines, then passes it on to Dad, and so on.

 

Secret math rule: Come up with a secret math rule, anything from "add one" to "square it, round to the nearest ten, divide by two, add seventeen". The other people playing take turns giving you numbers, and you tell them what the number becomes once you do your math trick to it. When somebody figures out the rule, they take over. Depending on how mathy you all are, this is either great fun or torture.

 

Beep: Start counting, each person taking a number in turn. So it's Mom: One! Dad: Two! Kid: Three! : Mom: Four! and so on. When you get to seven, or a multiple of seven, you have to say "beep". If you get to a number that's not a multiple of seven but has seven in it, you say "bop". This works better with more than three people. If you have enough people, you can add another number, such as three, eight, or nine with other sounds to say.

 

Riddles: Go online, memorize as many riddles as you can. (Or cheat and use your phone to look them up while waiting.)

 

Memorization: Look around, then close your eyes. Your kid asks you a bizarre trivia question like "how many balloons are there?" or "what color is the shirt of the woman in front of us?" Then it's your turn. If there's only two of you, it's your turn whether you guess correctly or not.

 

The quiet game: That's the one where you want five minutes silence so you can figure out if you're lost or not, and if so, how badly. Your kid gets a prize at the end because they're the only one playing :)

[three4me]

My kids made up this ridiculous game where one person thinks of a food and we all ask yes/no questions to try to figure out what it is. For example:

 

Do we eat this for breakfast?

Does it have multiple ingredients?

Is it green?

Do we eat it cold?

 

We love trying to trick each other by coming up with something obscure. Ice has been one of the trickier ones so far! We often play this while waiting for our meal at a restaurant. It's pretty strange, but really keeps everyone interested and engaged.

[barnwife]

Spelling. One person says a letter. The next person adds another letter. It must be a letter that could follow the first in a word. The goal is to make a long string of letters without actually spelling a word.

So if the first letters are T-A, the next person can't say "B" because tab is a word. But they could say "C". The person who spells a word gets a point. Fewest points wins.

[Tanaqui]

Spelling. One person says a letter. The next person adds another letter. It must be a letter that could follow the first in a word. The goal is to make a long string of letters without actually spelling a word.

 

So if the first letters are T-A, the next person can't say "B" because tab is a word. But they could say "C". The person who spells a word gets a point. Fewest points wins.

That's Ghost, isn't it? When we play, we don't count words under four letters.

 

My kids made up this ridiculous game where one person thinks of a food and we all ask yes/no questions to try to figure out what it is.

 

So, like 20 questions, but you don't count the questions?

[Earthmerlin]

"Secret word stories", which was inordinately popular with the girls when they were that age.

 

I start off telling the kids three vocabulary words, bonus points if they have nothing to do with one another. Then I tell a story, making sure to use those words. If they hear those words, they get to tickle me. If I get a word out without them hearing it, I get to tickle them. I think it's the tickling that makes it fun :) For bonus learning, throw in random math problems, as in "The giant ate five plates of eggs, in addition to his 17 plates of fish. How many more plates of fish did he eat than eggs?" The pause while they figure out the math gives you time to figure out the next plot twist.

 

I strongly suggest if you're going to do this that you memorize a buttload of folk and fairy tales so you don't have to make these all up on the sly.

 

Traveling stories: You know this one. You say a few lines of a story, then pass it on to her. She says a few more lines, then passes it on to Dad, and so on.

 

Secret math rule: Come up with a secret math rule, anything from "add one" to "square it, round to the nearest ten, divide by two, add seventeen". The other people playing take turns giving you numbers, and you tell them what the number becomes once you do your math trick to it. When somebody figures out the rule, they take over. Depending on how mathy you all are, this is either great fun or torture.

 

Beep: Start counting, each person taking a number in turn. So it's Mom: One! Dad: Two! Kid: Three! : Mom: Four! and so on. When you get to seven, or a multiple of seven, you have to say "beep". If you get to a number that's not a multiple of seven but has seven in it, you say "bop". This works better with more than three people. If you have enough people, you can add another number, such as three, eight, or nine with other sounds to say.

 

Riddles: Go online, memorize as many riddles as you can. (Or cheat and use your phone to look them up while waiting.)

 

Memorization: Look around, then close your eyes. Your kid asks you a bizarre trivia question like "how many balloons are there?" or "what color is the shirt of the woman in front of us?" Then it's your turn. If there's only two of you, it's your turn whether you guess correctly or not.

 

The quiet game: That's the one where you want five minutes silence so you can figure out if you're lost or not, and if so, how badly. Your kid gets a prize at the end because they're the only one playing :)

 

 

I like these ideas, especially the 'secret math rule' & 'memorization'! I'll try both out tomorrow on our next outing. Thanks!

[Earthmerlin]

"Secret word stories", which was inordinately popular with the girls when they were that age.

 

I start off telling the kids three vocabulary words, bonus points if they have nothing to do with one another. Then I tell a story, making sure to use those words. If they hear those words, they get to tickle me. If I get a word out without them hearing it, I get to tickle them. I think it's the tickling that makes it fun :) For bonus learning, throw in random math problems, as in "The giant ate five plates of eggs, in addition to his 17 plates of fish. How many more plates of fish did he eat than eggs?" The pause while they figure out the math gives you time to figure out the next plot twist.

 

I strongly suggest if you're going to do this that you memorize a buttload of folk and fairy tales so you don't have to make these all up on the sly.

 

Traveling stories: You know this one. You say a few lines of a story, then pass it on to her. She says a few more lines, then passes it on to Dad, and so on.

 

Secret math rule: Come up with a secret math rule, anything from "add one" to "square it, round to the nearest ten, divide by two, add seventeen". The other people playing take turns giving you numbers, and you tell them what the number becomes once you do your math trick to it. When somebody figures out the rule, they take over. Depending on how mathy you all are, this is either great fun or torture.

 

Beep: Start counting, each person taking a number in turn. So it's Mom: One! Dad: Two! Kid: Three! : Mom: Four! and so on. When you get to seven, or a multiple of seven, you have to say "beep". If you get to a number that's not a multiple of seven but has seven in it, you say "bop". This works better with more than three people. If you have enough people, you can add another number, such as three, eight, or nine with other sounds to say.

 

Riddles: Go online, memorize as many riddles as you can. (Or cheat and use your phone to look them up while waiting.)

 

Memorization: Look around, then close your eyes. Your kid asks you a bizarre trivia question like "how many balloons are there?" or "what color is the shirt of the woman in front of us?" Then it's your turn. If there's only two of you, it's your turn whether you guess correctly or not.

 

The quiet game: That's the one where you want five minutes silence so you can figure out if you're lost or not, and if so, how badly. Your kid gets a prize at the end because they're the only one playing :)

 

I really like the math rule game you mentioned. I'll try it tomorrow on our next outing & see how it goes. Thanks!

[Earthmerlin]

I'm re-visiting this thread to remind myself of the great ideas it contains. Also, why not verbal analogies (A is to B as C is to D)? Or trying to figure out how 2-3 things are related. Me likey....

Edited July 17, 2016 by Earthmerlin

[Earthmerlin]

I'm here again, reading yet again these ideas. Can you tell we're on the go a lot? Next, I think we'll try connecting 3 random words together in a sentence or story on our trip to NYC. Any US states oral games ideas? We're currently learning those....