Improving Kids Literacy With Educational Toys and Games

As a parent it can be easy to think that the only way we can help our kids with literacy is to read to them or have them practice their reading. But supporting literacy in the home encompasses much more than that. Educational Toys and Games are a great way to make the focus on literacy fun.

The well regarded PBS Parents website has a great article on "How To Create A Literate Home" for your children and lists these essentials for homes that have kids who have begun reading and writing:

• Books
• Writing Materials
• Computer
• Videos
• Games
• Reading and Writing Materials for Parents

And it suggests you do the following with your child:

• Help your child pick independent reading books.
• Foster your child's independent reading. Reading a lot at this stage is important.
• Read aloud to your child.
• Listen to your child read often.
• Help your child to correct her own reading errors.
• Talk about things that interest your child.
• Play games with your child. Playing games contributes to your child's literacy development.
• When he begins getting homework, help your child to create a homework routine.
• Help your child with her homework, but don't do it for her.
• Communicate with your child's teacher regularly.

ickle kids have a new range of Educational Toys and Games that can help you create the literate home environment like:



Word Magic Mixer is a fun educational game for children to play by themselves or to play in groups. Roll the mixer and see what letters show up, what words can you make from the letters on the dice? Each letter in the mixer can only be used once to make up a word, each letter earns a point ... how many points can you score? A fantastic game that will keep challenging students over and over again! For ages 8+.



Link 26 is a fun educational game that the whole family can play. It will challenge everyone to think quickly and link together words that fit into the challenge category. The starting letter of each word must be the last letter of the previous word!

For example, spread the 26 letter tiles on the table and draw a category card. Say the category is “a type of jungle animal” – player one says picks up the "E" tile and says “elephant”, player two picks up the “T” tile and says “tiger” and so on. Make sure you pick up the tile on the table to ensure you score points! For ages 10+.


What other educational games have you played with the kids that helps support and develop their literacy?