Second Grade Reading Games and Activities

Reading Standards for Second Grade

Children typically read with more confidence and fluency by second grade. They recognize main ideas and supporting details, understand character development and make predictions about the text. When it comes to nonfiction books, your second grader can locate information using indexes, subheadings, captions and glossaries. Reinforce these skills at home with the following reading games and activities.

What Reading Activities Are Appropriate for My Second Grader?

Story Idea Slips

Write story ideas on slips of paper, such as starting and ending sentences, character names and settings. Fold the slips and put them in a container. Ask your child to choose a slip and create a story that incorporates the idea. Write down his story as he tells it. For an extra challenge, he can pick more than one slip to use for his story.

Encyclopedia Q & A

Using a children's encyclopedia, list five topics and write one question about each topic. For example, you can ask how fast a cheetah is able to run. Give your child the list and ask her to find the relevant information in the encyclopedia to answer the questions. Encourage her to use the index and table of contents to find the topics on the list.

Poetry Collage

Give your child a variety of printed materials to read through, including periodicals or junk mail. He can write down or cut out any words and phrases that he likes. Ask him to arrange these words into a poem on a sheet of construction paper and include his own drawings and other images. If he likes, he can create several poem collages to display as an art exhibit or make into a book.

Character Trading Cards

Use unlined index cards or card stock for this activity. You can also search online for printable trading card templates. Ask your child to make trading cards of her favorite characters from books and other fictional works. Each trading card can include a drawing of the character and facts about him or her, such as likes, dislikes, age and relation to other characters. When she's finished, go through the cards with her and discuss each character.