Adult Literacy Games PDF
Adult Literacy Games PDF
Adult Literacy Games PDF
A variety of literacy
games for adults, and
supporting materials
Bingo!
4. Write each word on the board or a flipchart. At the same time, ask
each participant to write the word in any of the boxes.
5. Call out the words at random. The first participant to get a straight
line and call out Bingo! is the winner.
Card
Group Bingo
1. Divide participants into groups of 4 or 5.
2. Give each group a piece of flipchart paper and ask them to fold
their sheet into 16 boxes.
5. Write one word at a time on the board. At the same time, ask
groups to write the word in any box on their sheet of paper.
Make sure everyone gets a chance to write. When all 16 boxes
are filled, each group will have a different Bingo card.
6. For the first game, the participants circle the word on their sheet
when they hear it. Call out the words randomly and put a circle
beside each one that you call out. When a group has a whole
line, they win.
8. For the second game, they mark the words with an X. When a
group has a straight line, they win.
9. Exchange the papers again, and continue to play like this until all
the words have been called.
10. You can also play this game using French or an Aboriginal
language.
Scrabble!
2. Each member of the group donates the first and last letter of their
first and last names. For example, Bill Smith donates b, l, s
and h.
4. Together, the group writes down as many words as they can, using
these letters.
5. When the facilitator calls Time!, the groups must stop writing.
6. Each group reads out their words. The one with the most words
wins.
2. They must use all 26 letters of the alphabet for the scavenger hunt.
4. The first group to find things for all 26 letters reads out their
words. If the words are all OK, this group is the winner. If any are
not OK, the game continues until another group finishes.
2. Give each group a paper bag filled with a variety of objects, such
as a wooden spoon, a hammer, a toy car, a ball, etc.
3. Each group makes up a skit (or short play) using all of the props in
the bag. The props may be used as they are used in everyday life,
or they may be used imaginatively.
4. When all the skits have been planned and rehearsed, each group
performs theirs for the other groups.
People Poems
3. When they have finished the poems, ask them to share their poem
with the other participants.
Carefree
Athletic
Tall
Humorous
Energetic
Red-haired
Intelligent
Nervous
Envious
Scattergories
5. When the facilitator says Go!, all the groups have to try to write
down an example for each category beginning with that letter.
For example:
River Mackenzie
Food mushrooms
Cars Mercedes Benz
Girls name Mary
Animal marten
Country Mexico
2. Each participant has to say their name and also a food they like
that begins with the same first letter as their first name. For
example, My name is Jeanie and I like jerky.
3. The next participant does the same, but also repeats the previous
one. For example, My name is Frank and I like french fries.
Shes Jeanie and she likes jerky.
Fishbowl Sentences
4. When the music stops the two people opposite each other pair up
and have to finish a sentence that the facilitator begins. If they
have time left, they can discuss their answers.
5. Then start the music again. The next time the music stops, each
participant should have a new partner, and complete another
sentence.
Sentence Starters
3. Id like to have . . .
5. I hate it when . . .
6. My favourite music is . . .
7. Last night, I . . .
10. I wish . . .
3. Ask them to write down the words or phrases, and where they are
located.
4. Then they have to find out what the words or phrases mean. They
may know themselves, find out from the English translation, or ask
someone who can speak the language.
5. When they have twenty words or phrases, they should return to the
starting place.
Deninu Ke
3. The first participant says any word to the time of the rhythm.
4. The next participant must then say a word that begins with the last
letter of the previous word.
For example:
Mystery Boxes
(This game takes longer to complete and may be more suitable for a
classroom setting.)
3. Now put a clue inside the box. They may write it on a piece of
paper or put an object into the box, like a hammer, a letter, etc.
(Do not put anything of value into the box.)
4. When the boxes are complete, participants exchange their box with
someone else.
Twenty Questions
1. Choose any item that people might be familiar with. For example,
you might choose Stephen Kakfwi, or snowmobile, or banana, or
lynx.
2. Participants then have to try to guess the item, but can ask only
questions with Yes or No or I dont know answers. For
example, Is it a person? Is the person male or female? Does
he live in Canada? Does he live in the Northwest Territories?
Is he a politician? Is he Stephen Kakfwi? Etc.
3. The game is over if twenty questions have been asked and no one
has guessed the right answer.
4. If someone guesses the right answer, that person can choose the
next item and answer the questions.
Charades
5. The team gets one point if they guess the complete sentence within
the time limit.
Carousel
1. Divide the participants into groups of 4 or 5.
4. At the end of the time period, the group exchanges their paper with
another group, and continues writing things for their new room.
They cannot write anything that is already written on their paper.
7. Each group shares its last paper with all the groups.
8. You can play this game with a variety of topics. All you need is a
topic that lends itself to a variety of situations. For example:
Baggage Claim
3. Participants now have to pretend they are getting off a flight and
they are going to the baggage area to get their bag. Only they
accidentally pick up someone elses bag. (In other words, they
get someone elses card.)
For example:
3. The person who guesses correctly gets to write the next fact on the
board.
3. The idea is to look at the date and try to think of a story that
happened to them in the year that is on the penny. For example, if
the date on the penny is 1984, the person has to try to think of
something that they did or that happened to them that year.
4. It will be important to make sure that the dates are relevant to the
participants. For example, if everyone is under 20, then a coin
with 1967 will have little meaning for them.
Lie Detector
For example:
2. They have to find out whatever they can about the history of the
item, and be prepared to share the information with the other
participants.
Running dictation
3. Stick the texts up around the room at some distance from where
the participants are sitting.
4. One person in each pair sits on a chair with a pencil and paper.
Their partner has to stand up and run to where the text is. They
read it (probably chunk by chunk), memorize it and run back to
their partner. They have to dictate it to their partner, helping in
any way they can without writing it. For example, Actually,
community has two ms, and so on.
5. The winners are the first pair with the first absolutely correct
version of the text.
Survivor!
Brainstorm Rummy
5. When the time is up, all the teams must stop writing.
7. Ask each team to read out a word and write it under that team.
Once a word has been written on the board, another team may
not use it.