Language Arts games are such a fun way to increase vocabulary, build brain connections, and create an atmosphere of curiosity, excitement, collaboration, and competition in learning. Word games help kids learn spelling by increasing their familiarity with words. Learning happens best when we begin with the familiar, and increasing the amount of familiar knowledge helps children so much!
Match 5 is a word game all about creating connections. It’s such a great exercise in creativity and has helped my kids in their creative writing efforts by teaching them that connections can be made between any two things, no matter how unrelated they may seem. Our brains are amazing connection makers!
The goal of the game is to find a common link between 2 words or concepts in 3 minutes or less. Each player gets a scoring sheet. One die in each color are rolled and matched up with the color and symbol on the word tiles.
When the timer begins, players try to create connections between pairs of clues indicated by their colors. Each color combination is listed on the score sheet – connect yellow with purple, pink, and blue, blue with red, yellow, and purple, and so on. The clues change each time as there are 6 possibilities on each word tile for a very large assortment of possible combinations!
When the time is up, players share the links they made between the two clues. In this game, majority rules! If the majority of players approve of a link, it is scored and any other players who thought of the same link also get to score.
The majority of players can also reject a link, in which case it is not scored.
An accepted link is worth 1 point, a matching link is worth 2 points. After each player has read all their links, scores are totaled and the round is over. Play 1 more round in the same way. The player with the most points at the end of two rounds wins!
Games like Match 5 provide a really fun and engaging, collaborative/competitive way to build vocabulary skills, creative thinking, and create connections. Thanks to Synapses Games for sharing this game with us!
