Ages 5–7: Language & Storytelling Games

Games in this collection:

Silly Sentences by DK
Players: 1–4 • Play time: ~15–20 minutes

Campfire Stories Deck—For Kids!: Storytelling Games to Ignite Imagination by Ilyssa Kyu & Dave Kyu, published by Mountaineers Books
Players: Flexible individual, family, or group play • Play time: ~10–20 minutes

Charades for Kids by Petit Collage
Players: 2+ • Play time: ~10–15 minutes

This collection moves from building silly sentences into inventing original stories and expressing ideas through movement, helping children strengthen language, imagination, communication, and confidence through play.

Who this collection is for:
This collection is designed for boys and girls ages 5–7 who are beginning to use language in bigger and more creative ways. It’s an excellent fit for children who enjoy silly words, imaginative stories, pretend play, and opportunities to express themselves without the pressure of getting every answer “right.”

If your child enjoys building words with My First Bananagrams by Bananagrams, this collection offers a natural next step—moving from individual words into complete sentences, original stories, and playful communication.

Because the three games approach language differently, children who may be hesitant in one area have several ways to participate. They can arrange words and pictures, invent a story from a prompt, or communicate an idea without using words at all.

What’s inside:
Silly Sentences makes early grammar concrete and funny. Children connect color-coded puzzle pieces representing nouns, verbs, adjectives, and other parts of a sentence, with the shapes helping guide them toward grammatically correct combinations. The results can be wonderfully ridiculous, giving young learners a reason to experiment with sentence structure, vocabulary, and language while laughing at what they create.

Campfire Stories Deck—For Kids! takes children from arranging language to inventing it themselves. Players combine illustrated character and action cards—such as an animal hero with an unexpected adventure—and use those prompts to create their own stories. Families can use the cards for individual storytelling or build a story collaboratively, encouraging imagination, sequencing, descriptive language, and the confidence to tell an idea from beginning to end.

Charades for Kids adds a completely different kind of communication. Children act out familiar animals, objects, foods, jobs, and activities while other players guess. Large illustrated prompts allow children who are still developing reading skills to participate independently, while the no-words format encourages them to think about how ideas can be communicated through movement, expression, and context.

Together, these games explore language from three directions—building it, creating with it, and communicating without it—giving young children a playful foundation for stronger speaking, storytelling, vocabulary, and self-expression.

Why this collection works:

• Builds vocabulary and early sentence structure
• Strengthens oral language and storytelling skills
• Encourages imagination and creative thinking
• Develops sequencing and narrative skills
• Builds confidence with speaking and self-expression
• Supports communication through both words and movement
• Gives emerging readers meaningful ways to participate
• Ideal for kindergarten through early second grade

These are the kinds of games that help children discover that language isn’t only something they learn—it’s something they can play with.

Why A Thoughtful Choice picked these:
These games were chosen because strong language skills grow through much more than worksheets or reading practice. Children also need opportunities to play with words, explain ideas, tell stories, listen to others, and discover that communication can be joyful.

We especially like the variety in this collection. Silly Sentences provides structure, Campfire Stories Deck—For Kids! opens the door to imagination, and Charades for Kids gives even hesitant speakers and emerging readers a lively way to join in.

Together, they create a low-pressure space for children to become more confident storytellers, communicators, and lovers of language.