Word Games {Mad Libs DIY}

Goodnight Moon In the great green room there was a telephone And a red balloon And a picture of– The cow jumping over the moon and there were three little bears sitting on chairs and two little kittens and a pair of mittens and a little toy house and a young mouse and a comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush and a quiet old lady who was whispering “hush” Goodnight room goodnight moon goodnight cow jumping over the moon goodnight light and the red balloon goodnight bears goodnight chairs goodnight kittens goodnight mittens goodnight clocks and goodnight socks goodnight little house and goodnight mouse goodnight comb and goodnight brush goodnight nobody goodnight mush and goodnight to the old lady whispering hush goodnight stars, goodnight air goodnight noises everywhere. Now, although toddlers and pre-schoolers may not yet have a good grasp of parts of speech, there is no reason why they can't participate in this activity.   My six year old nephew had a better understanding than my 3 ½ year old, but we were able to explain it to him well enough that he could answer.     We told him that a noun was a person, place, or thing, then revised it to be something he could see or touch.   We also tried to skip around to give him the easier ones like color or animal.   They did not know which story they were working with, and did not know what to expect when it was done. Here's the result: Goodnight Diaper In the great red plumbing store there was a fork And a multicolored lollipop And a picture of– The elephant jumping over   Michael Jackson and there [was] 1 little tiger sitting on David Bowie and infinity little lions and a pair of bikes and a little toy plunger and a young puma and a straw and a light bulb and bowl full of Spaghettios and a quiet old surfer who was whispering Brrrrmmmmm Goodnight plumbing store goodnight diaper goodnight elephant jumping over Michael Jackson goodnight ice cream and the multicolored lollipop goodnight tiger goodnight David Bowie goodnight lions goodnight bikes goodnight window and goodnight shovel goodnight little plunger and goodnight puma goodnight straw and goodnight light bulb goodnight nobody goodnight Spaghettios and goodnight to the old surfer whispering Brrrrmmmmm goodnight seagulls, goodnight dump trucks goodnight beaches everywhere. This story proved to be slightly more complicated because of the repeated words and phrases, hence the reason I numbered the blanks.   That way, I knew where to insert the word the second time it appeared.   Normally in Mad Libs, the story is more of a narrative and there is no repetition.   Next time I do this activity, I ™ll choose to use something like Cinderella or end up with a story like Snow Purple and the Seven Lizards.   Still, this is now one of our favorite word games and it brought about lots of laughs.   And, of course, we now have to tell this version of the story every night before bed. If you want to play word games like this at home (which I highly recommend), you have a few different options.   You can take one of your child's favorite books and use the text provided or, if it's a long story such as a fairy tale, you can write your own summary.   There's also nothing stopping you from writing an original tale such as Our Summer Vacation or My First Day of School.  After all, kids love hearing stories about themselves! One thing to remember is that not every word needs to be left out either.   You need to have the story make sense, so only leave out a key word here and there “ sometimes nouns, sometimes verbs and don't forget about adjectives and adverbs!   This is a great introduction to parts of speech, so take the opportunity for a teachable moment.   But, overall, just have a great time and lots of giggles. Don't forget to come back here and post a comment “ share your favorite sentence or two from your creations! For more word games and kids activities about reading, you might be interested in some of these ideas:

• Word Games for Kids: Bananagrams
• DIY Spelling Word Games
• Phonics and Word Games