Learning English Grammar the Fun Way

Grammar is an integral part of every component of language, from reading to writing to speaking. Grammar is important for making good impressions in every aspect of life, from job interviews to college application essays. It is an indication of education and often is associated with qualities such as intelligence and competence.

It is highly important that young children learn the basics of grammar early on to build foundations for proper language and speech. However, grammar is difficult and complex, and often children cannot fully grasp the grammatical concepts taught in school.

To help young students learn the most challenging aspects of grammar, we have compiled a list of the 10 best online games to help young kids learn English grammar:

Balloon Pronoun Game: It is often difficult for young students to identify pronouns, so this game is a very helpful educational tool for learning the concepts of pronouns. As balloons float into the sky, the player has to click every balloon that has a pronoun in it. Sentences appear to provide clues and exemplify different types of pronouns. The game is fast-paced, and thus helps students become adept at quickly identifying pronouns as well as work on hand-eye coordination.

The Grammar Gorillas: This game helps young students identify correct parts of speech by instructing them to click on a specific part of speech in a sentence. If they are correct, an animated gorilla gets a banana; if they are incorrect, the gorilla does not get a banana. A great feature of this game is that when the student chooses the wrong answer, an explanation appears describing why the answer is wrong. Another helpful aspect of this game is that the parts of speech are described below the game with numerous examples for additional grammar education.

Irregular Plurals: Who Wants to be a Millionaire?!: By imitating the format of a popular television show, this game is sure to catch the attention of young students. The game teaches the challenging concept of irregular plurals by asking the player to select the correct plural form of a word from the four options presented. The more questions the player answers correctly, the more “money” the player earns. There are also three helpful hints just in case a question is too tricky.

Maggie's Earth Adventures: This game is a really fun and engaging educational tool for young students who are just learning the difference between nouns and verbs. Players have to recycle pieces of garbage on a beach labeled with either a noun or a verb. The words have to be placed into recycling cans that are labeled ‘Noun’ or ‘Verb.’ Thus this game teaches environmentally conscious ideas as well as grammatical concepts to young children.

Noun Attack!: This game teaches specific types of nouns by “hiding” a skull in either an abstract noun or a collective noun. The player needs to identify the correct noun in a certain amount of time or the skull will attack! The definitions of the nouns remain on the screen during the game to really help the player learn and memorize the differences between the types of nouns.

Noun Dunk: Noun Dunk is a basketball grammar game to help young students learn what common and proper nouns are. Each basketball has a noun on it and the player has to identify which type of noun it is to make a basket. This game is a perfect way to engage sports-minded children who are beginner grammar students.

Sentence Speedway: To teach the challenging concept of sentence structure, this game has players drag sentences clauses attached to animated cars to different “lanes.” The lanes are labeled as phrase, dependent clause, and independent clause, and once the clause has been dragged to the correct lane, it speeds down a fun rollercoaster with great sound effects!

Verbs in Space: This game has players whack robots holding verbs. Before the game starts, the website provides definitions and examples of verbs to help players understand the concepts. Verbs in Space is perfect for learning more difficult types of verbs because the verbs tested during the game are in various forms and tenses to help teach more challenging grammatical ideas.

Verb Power: In this game, the player has to identify the type of verb underlined in a sentence in order to light up a theme park. Playing this game is a great way to learn the differences between specific types of verbs. Main verbs are frequently taught in school, but other types of verbs are not usually taught in detail. The graphics in this game are high quality and if the player is having trouble understanding the concepts, there are links to glossary definitions for the different types of verbs.

Word Confusion: This is a fantastic game to teach children tricky words that sound alike but have different spellings and definitions. A sentence is presented and the player has to choose which word fits in the context of the sentence. There are two levels, both of which are challenging and fun!

Laurel Sarfan is a guest blogger for My Dog Ate My Blog and a writer on obtaining an online degree for Guide to Online Schools.

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