Declarative Sentence Bingo enforces the concept of declarative sentences. In this game, a group of children each receive a sheet of paper divided into 25 squares, with five rows and five columns. In each square, place a simple descriptor that could apply to kids in the group. For instance, you could write, "has a pet" or "was born in March." The children have a limited amount of time to mingle with one another, trying to find the names of those who fit the descriptions and adding to the statements if possible. The boxes should contain full declarative sentences, such as "Johnny has a pet dog named Fido." The winner is the first child to get five sentences in a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally, as in traditional Bingo.
In this group game, children act out a scene but they can only speak in interrogative sentences. You will need a short period of time to play because kids will struggle to keep the dialogue going for more than five to 10 minutes. Keep the scenarios simple with situations that are familiar to them, such as "studying for a test," or "preparing for your birthday party." The adult can start the game with the first question. If someone waits too long to continue the dialogue or answers in a different type of sentence, the student has to sit down. The children who are still standing at the end of the time limit are the winners.
For this game, children must decode mixed-up sentences by switching two words at a time. They are given a set number of moves to attempt to get the sentence in the correct order. For instance, if you write a 10-word sentence, you will give the children six or seven moves to get it right. Each move allows them to swap the places of two words. If they struggle, you can show them the original sentence, then see if they can make the moves to get the jumbled sentence right. This can be done in groups or with an individual child.
For this game, write various words on slips of paper and place them in envelopes marked with their part of speech. Children choose an article, noun, verb, adverb and adjective from each envelope and place them on a piece of paper to create a sentence. The sentences may be a little goofy, such as "The blue dog swims smoothly" but children will see that sentences follow certain patterns. The kids will enjoy the goofy sentences while they are learning about basic sentence structure.