Recommended Games and Tools for Building Reading Skills
At Colorado Reading Center, we believe that building strong reading skills starts at home. The following games and tools are ones we regularly recommend to families because they support phonemic awareness, memory, sequencing, vocabulary, and cognitive flexibility in fun and engaging ways. These are great, fun ways to develop early literacy skills.
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Games for Building Literacy and Brain Power
- Blink – A fast-paced card game that strengthens pattern recognition and visual processing.
- Tenzie – A dice game great for speed, coordination, and number recognition.
- Rory’s Story Cubes – Encourages storytelling, sequencing, and creativity.
- Bananagrams – A word-building game perfect for spelling and vocabulary.
- My First Bananagrams – Early learner version with color-coded letters.
- Boggle Jr – Phonics-based matching game for emerging readers.
- Word Race Cube – A simple and fun way to practice quick word recognition.
Books That Boost Early Literacy
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom – A rhythmic alphabet book that builds letter knowledge.
- Ranger in Time – A time-travel adventure series ideal for ages 7–9.
- Treasure Hunters by James Patterson – High-interest chapter book for readers ages 8–12.
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