Fun Way to Teach Kids Grammar Skills

Most kids find that learning grammar is very boring and hard to grasp. Typically, kids find it very difficult to differentiate between adjectives and adverbs. Endless grammar exercises and diagramming sentences can make trying to learn grammar almost unbearable to some kids. Madlibs and Wacky Web Tales are great resources to help struggling elementary and even middle school kids learn basic grammar (parts of speech) and have fun at the same time.

Madlibs can be found at bookstores such as Books-a-Million or Barnes and Noble. Madlibs is a word game where players come up with a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story. One player will ask other players to name a specific part of speech to fill in the blanks. At the end, that player will read the Madlibs story with the substituted words. The story will have a humorous effect when it is read aloud.

The on-line version of Madlibs is called Wacky Web Tales. In this version, a player will type in the necessary parts of speech, click enter and then the computer will show the completed wacky tale. Wacky Web Tales can be found at www.eduplace.com/tales.

Madlibs and Wacky Web Tales not only help to motivate kids to learn grammar, but they also give kids more confidence in themselves. The kids know the Madlibs story won't work if they use the wrong part of speech, so kids will actually start trying to learn the difference between a noun, adjective or adverb so they can participate in the Madlibs story. The kids will also start trying to be more creative with their adjectives and adverbs to make the Madlibs story even funnier. After doing several of these "silly tales," the kids will soon realize they are beginning to learn grammar. This will give them more confidence that they can actually grasp grammar skills, and they will be more inclined to pay attention and work harder. These Madlibs tales will help kids learn the importance of knowing grammar and how it can apply to the real world.

Kids have so much fun creating these Madlibs stories that they don't even realize they are learning grammar at the same time. Grammar teachers can use Madlibs as a "fun" activity at the end of a hard working week and the kids will love it. The kids will think of it more as fun time than learning time, but it will actually help them learn. Those kids who stress out about not being able to differentiate between adverbs and adjectives will be in a more relaxed atmosphere where it will be easier for them to learn these necessary grammar skills.

Madlibs and Wacky Web Tales are great resources for teachers and parents to help kids learn grammar. These silly tales can become so addictive that you will finish the whole book before you know it. Everyone will be laughing so hard. Learning grammar has never been so much fun!