Sunday, December 27, 2015

How You Can Have Fun With Words

By Jessica Stone


Language is always developing and evolving, which makes it so interesting. Being a major form of communication for us as human beings, it's always a good idea to really understand how language works and how you can manipulate it as well. Having good language skills is a really valuable asset in life on a whole, and these skills can be developed easily if you learn to have fun with words along the way.

Here are some ideas of games to play with anyone, from family members to friends, no matter what their age. Word games are good for putting the brain to work and continuously challenging it to get better. Adding a twist to such games can enhance the brain exercise, for example, using rhymes or some other type of trick. The list of options is endless.

A lot of great word games involve using the alphabet as a guideline, marker or starting point. For example, pick a topic such as animals or countries or cities. Each person in a group can take it in turns to name one thing that falls under that topic, but it must begin using the corresponding letter of the alphabet. The first person will choose a word that begins with A, the second must say something using B at the start, and so on and so forth.

You can make things even more difficult and stump each other by using a previous answer's last letter as the starting letter for the next answer. This can be a lot of fun when there are a lot of people involved. It's even more fun and challenging when it's done to a specific time limit.

For kids, a game can this can be simplified by doing it on paper. The game 'Name, Animal, Place, Thing' is a great example. Write each of these headings at the top of a column across a page and put the letters of the alphabet down the side.

Setting a timer means every player only has so much time to fill in as many answers as they can, using a different word for the various categories. This is great for home or school, at a social or academic level. It's good for exercising the young ones' brains, but also a great way to get them quiet for a while!

There are so many ways to create more challenging levels with any word game. Rhyming can be incorporated to really get people stumped. Why not place some words on pieces of paper into a container and have each person pick a word and then find four words that rhyme? Even better, make up a short poem on the spot!

Other tricks and styles in language can add to the fun besides rhyming. What about using puns, double entendres or onomatopoeia, which is the name for words that reflect the sound something makes? Tongue twisters can be especially difficult and equally funny; whoever says them the fastest wins. Or find the longest word and see who can make the most smaller ones using its letters?




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