Fun Kids' Workbooks

Are you looking for some fun, engaging and educational kids’ workbooks to help your child practice literacy skills such as reading, writing, vocabulary and spelling? Keep reading to find out which workbooks are the best at keeping my children learning.

The trick is to find workbooks which practice literacy skills in a fun and appealing way so that your child is motivated to do them without too much fuss. Generally my children would rather play than complete written exercises (surprise, surprise) so I am always on the look out for engaging workbooks which help to disguise the work as play.

Below are some of our favorites. From comics to crosswords, silly stories to interesting comprehension exercises, you should find something here to engage your child. These are all kids’ workbooks which my children are happy to do without too much persuasion (or bribery!). They are easy to dip into, so if you only have 10 minutes available, your child should be able to complete an exercise in any one of these books. Perfect for sneaking in a bit of extra learning now and then!

Daily Word Ladders

are a fun way of building reading and spelling skills and of strengthening vocabulary. Starting with the word at the bottom of the ladder, your child reads the first clue and then changes and rearranges letters to create a new word which they then write on the first rung of the ladder. Then they read the next clue which helps them to create another word which they write on the second rung and so on until they reach the top of the ladder. Your child feels a sense of achievement when they work out the final word at the top of the ladder, and discover the connection it makes with the first word at the bottom of the ladder. Different workbooks are available depending on your child’s level: Grades K-1

(5 to 7 years), Grades 1-2

(6 to 8 years), Grades 2-3

(7 to 9 years), Grades 4-6

(9 to 12 years).

Word Play! Write Your Own Crazy Comics

are perfect for encouraging reluctant writers to write more and practice their storytelling skills at the same time. There are two books available, Book 1

and Book 2

. Each book contains more than 60 funny cartoons, with each one spanning one or two pages. The cartoons are set in a whole variety of different scenes from the moon to a spooky house. The speech balloons have been drawn but left empty for your child to invent their own dialogue. The pictures have also been left in black and white for your child to colour in.

Mad Libs

Each page of a Mad Libs

kids’ workbook contains a different short story with blanks for your child to fill in. First, without looking at the story, your child thinks up a list of words using the directions given, eg noun, adjective, celebrity (male), adjective, adverb, colour, plural noun etc. Then, using the words they have selected, they fill in the blank spaces in the story. Finally they read through the complete story containing all their added words and have a good laugh at how ridiculous it sounds. There are many Mad Libs books available, but our favorites are 50 Years of Mad Libs

, containing a selection of 125 of the best Mad Libs stories published in the last fifty years, and Mad Libs Junior

, with a simpler format suitable for younger children aged around 5 to 8 years old.

The Kids’ Book of Crosswords

contains over 150 crosswords for your child to puzzle over. The puzzles are divided into four levels, with the easiest suitable for a 6 or 7 year old and containing only five or six questions per puzzle. The puzzles get progressively harder, with the hardest crosswords ideal for children aged around 10 or 11 years old. The small size of this book makes it ideal for travelling.

Kumon Kids’ Workbooks

Kumon produce a series of reading and writing workbooks which are ideal for practicing a range of skills.

The Kumon Reading

series introduces relevant vocabulary and reading comprehension exercises to your child, covering topics such as synonyms and antonyms, prefixes and suffixes, sequencing and story elements. One workbook is available for each grade level from Grade 1 (6 to 7 years) to Grade 6 (11 to 12 years).

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The Kumon Writing

series concentrates on vocabulary and writing skills, providing practice on topics such as parts of speech, punctuation, sentence structure and descriptive writing. As with the Reading series, one workbook is available for each grade level from Grade 1 (6 to 7 years) to Grade 6 (11 to 12 years).

Brain Quest

The Brain Quest

kids’ workbooks do not just cover literacy skills, but also maths, social studies and science. The literacy section is full of fun exercises covering phonics, language arts, spelling and vocabulary, reading and writing. Different types of exercises are used to practice specific learning points, including crosswords, word ladders and word searches. Brain Quest workbooks are available from Pre-K (4 to 5 years) to Grade 6 (11 to 12 years).

You could also try playing some of these commercially available early reading games which help to practice skills such as sight-word recognition and phonics and also help to introduce new vocabulary. Or, for older children, try these spelling word games which will help to reinforce correct spellings and extend your child’s word knowledge.