Dyslexia is often detected during a child’s early years from spotting signs such as a difficulty in remembering nursery rhymes to struggling with primary school learning and the development of life-long skills such as telling left from right.
Games used in the classroom may not be easy to comprehend for children that have dyslexia, however there are other ways to learn and we’ve listed our Top 8 educational games below.
Best of all, these games are fun. They will help overcome those barriers with a different solution, and encourage positive learning in an enjoyable way.
- Word search generator
Wordsearches and crossword puzzles can encourage vocabulary and spelling patterns.
Perhaps get creative and list all things starting with a certain letter, words that rhyme, a set of seasonal words or simply use their weekly spellings and enter them into this wordsearch generator for a little bit of educational fun.
The other advantage to wordsearches and crossword puzzles are they’re not timed, but for fun whilst learning!
- I Spy
Played for decades, this game can be played anywhere. It helps develop letter recognition and spelling to something that can be spotted.
The second person guesses the item through descriptions and asking questions, encouraging engagement and social skills.
- I went shopping
This game is great for verbal memory development. One child starts by saying ‘I went to the shops today and bought an apple. ‘
The second person replies, ‘I went to the shops today and bought an apple and a doughnut’. And the game continues by adding another word to the end of each go. This helps practice memory and also listening skills, whilst keeping it fun.
- Where’s Wally
The traditional children (and perhaps adult!) book is excellent for engaging the child to find Wally. Through fun images and searching, children can get used to the format of a book, turning pages and enjoying the images whilst searching.
- Spot the difference games
Spot the difference games improve the individual’s perception and attention skills. Comparing two cards and identifying what the difference is between each – there’s always one that is trickier and causes lots of giggles! This game also helps to practice descriptions and learn location concepts.
- Dominoes
Dominoes is a great number game, helping children with their number recognition and counting skills, through practicing adding and subtracting. There are other variations of dominoes, including blends and digraphs, long and short vowels to help with word building practice.
- Bingo
Bingo is fantastic for developing your child’s development. Using letters, numbers or words, bingo helps develop cognitive function and social skills. Like wordsearch, using a themed game can help their knowledge in certain areas too.
There are many templates available online, try searching ‘printable alphabet bingo template’ on your internet browser.
- Board Games
There are many board games that encourage quick thinking, word forming and get those cognitive skills going. Games such as Articulate (word describing), Balderdash (improving reading ability) and Scrabble (a favourite among early readers) help the child to practice their reading skills in a fun, stress-free way.
Small changes make a big difference
We’d also like to highlight that the smallest change could make a difference to a dyslexic individual.
When reading on a white background, with black text, this can become distorted for a dyslexic, causing visual disturbances. Use cream or a soft pastel, and keep to matt as glossy can also be difficult to read.
Many children’s books use ‘fun’ fonts. However italic or swirly fonts are also difficult to read, try books that use either the Arial or Calibri font, as these are the easiest fonts to read.
About Dyslexia First
Dyslexia First provides first-class dyslexia assessments for children and adults across the North West.
Owner Michala Morton has worked in the field of Special Needs for over 20 years, across a wide range of educational settings, and works closely with The British Dyslexia Association and The Dyslexia Association assessing children and adults.
Based in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, Dyslexia First is conveniently accessible by train, linking to Central Liverpool, Manchester and cities within an hour’s commute.
By helping you to get the right support, a world of possibilities will open, that might not have seemed possible before.
Contact us to discuss your assessment needs on michala@dyslexia-first.co.uk or call 07711 904 589.
