Games That Bring Stories to Life
1. Character Voices
Read a story together and then take turns doing different voices for each character. The sillier the better! Even children who resist reading will happily spend 20 minutes doing playing this game.
2. What Happens Next?
Stop in the middle of a story and engage with your child by asking: "What do you think happens next?" Let your child tell you their version before you read on. Have fun comparing their predictions of the story with reality.
3. Story Mashup
Take a finished story and switch it up! "What if the character made a funny different choice?" or "What if the story was set underwater or in space?" Follow the new story wherever your child takes it! It usually ends up in very exciting places!
4. Act It Out
After reading a story, act out your favourite scene. Assign characters, using props from around the house, improvise the conversations. This works brilliantly for picture books with clear, visual scenes.
5. Guess the Book
Describe a character or scene from a book you've read together. No title, no names and see who can guess which book it is first.
Games That Build Reading Skills Through Play
6. I Spy with Word
On a page you're reading together, task your child with spotting a specific word before you point to it. Good for early readers who are building sight word recognition.
7. Rhyme Relay
Take turns coming up with words that rhyme with a word from a story. No pressure, just rhythm and fun. Children who aren't yet reading can play this equally well.
8. Sound Hunt
For early readers: look for a specific letter sound in a page of text. Who can find the most words starting with 'S'? Make it a race.
9. Sentence Building
Write or say three words from a story and ask your child to build a sentence using all of them. This develops vocabulary use and sentence construction playfully.
10. Alphabet Author
Challenge: tell a short story where each sentence starts with the next letter of the alphabet. 'A fox found a feather. By the river, he wondered...' funny sentences will follow!
Games for Story Imagination
11. Finish the Story
You tell the beginning of a story, your child tells the middle, you tell the end , or any variation. Taking turns builds narrative structure understanding naturally.
12. Random Character Generator
Write down five animals, five places, and five scenarios on separate pieces of paper. Draw one from each pile and invent a story on the spot.
13. Story Map
After reading a story, draw it together! Not illustrations but a map: where the character started, where they went, what happened at each place!
14. Three-Word Story
Take turns adding three words to a story together. "Once there was…" / "a tiny elephant…" / "who loved cheese…" Works brilliantly on car journeys.
15. What If Monsters?
Take any familiar story and add a monster. Where does it appear? Is it scary... or reallyfriendly? What does it change about the story?
Games That Create Reading Habits
16. The Book Review Club
After reading a book, your child gives it a score out of 5 and explains why. This builds critical thinking and gives children a sense of ownership over their reading.
17. Reading Bingo
Make a simple bingo card with story elements: a funny character, an animal, someone crying, a happy ending. Children mark off squares as they encounter them.
18. Guess the Genre
Before reading a new book, look at the cover together and guess what kind of story it will be. Check your prediction at the end. This builds metacognitive reading skills.
19. Story Memory Game
Retell a story you've read, taking turns to add one detail each. If you get something wrong, the other person gets to correct it. Develops story memory and sequencing.
20. Character Interview
Pretend you're a journalist interviewing a character from a story. Your child plays the character and answers questions in character. "So, when you first found the magic door, how did you feel?"
Active Reading Games
21. Story Dance Freeze
Play music and move around the room. When the music stops, call out a character name from a story you've read — everyone has to freeze in that character's pose.
22. Emotion Charades
Act out an emotion from a story and your child guesses which scene you're acting. Then swap. This deepens emotional comprehension of the narrative.
23. Story Walk
On a walk, look for things that remind you of stories you've read. "That tree looks like the tree in...!" This builds the habit of seeing story in the everyday world.
24. Book Detective
Re-read a favourite book and look for things you missed the first time — details in the illustrations, clues in the text, foreshadowing of things that happen later.
25. Reading Fort
Build a reading fort from blankets and cushions and have all stories happen inside it for a week. Location matters more than you'd think — a special reading place becomes a special reading ritual.
