Literature Games and Activities for Kids and Teens

How Can My Child Improve His or Her Reading Skills?

Reading comprehension and fluency come easier to some children than others, but even the most skilled readers can benefit from additional practice outside of the classroom. Practice options may include, but are not limited to, making story predictions, illustrating texts without images and writing alternate endings.

To provide quality practice for your son or daughter, it's best to select activities by age or grade level. Children of different ages have different focuses in school and different ideas of what they consider enjoyable. Get started with the options below.

Literature Activities by Age Group

Acting for Young Kids

By the time they reach the second grade, kids should be able to differentiate between characters in a story through actions and tone of voice. This activity gives them the opportunity to practice that skill and have fun at the same time.

Start by selecting a chapter or brief passage from a story your child is currently reading, and ask him or her to act out the scene using different voices, props and mannerisms. This 1-person play provides experience speaking in front of others and also understanding different characters' roles within a text.

Sequencing for Preadolescents

Story structure and sequence of events are important concepts for older grade school and middle school students to grasp. To provide your son or daughter practice with this skill, write out the events of a story on separate index cards. Mix the deck and ask your child to put them in sequential order to build an overall outline of the story.

Writing Poetry for Teenagers

Several types of poetry exist, and students heading into high school must understand those differences to create their own. Provide your child with a list of common poetry forms, such as sonnets, odes and ballads. Then, ask him or her to write one of each type based on a story that's currently being read. This activity will give your child experience with a variety of poetry forms, an understanding of how form affects meaning and the opportunity to write new text based on an original story.