Games to Teach Label Reading to Young Children

Matching Labels

Give each child a board and a pile of tiles. Each board depicts eight labels, and each tile depicts one label. Children try to match the labels on their tiles to the labels on their board. When a child finds a tile that matches one of the labels on the board, he places the tile over the matching label. The first child to fill up his board with tiles wins.

Deal each child eight cards. Each card depicts either a label for or a picture of an item. Each child tries to find the label corresponding to each picture in his hand, and the picture corresponding to each label, by asking other children if they have the corresponding cards. If the child asked has the card, he gives it to the inquirer; if the child does not have the sought after card, the inquirer picks another card from the deck. As each child finds a card corresponding to one in his hand, he puts the pair down. The first person to use up all the cards in his hand -- either by giving them away or by putting pairs down -- wins the game.

Create one deck of cards with each card depicting either a label for an item or a picture of the item. Shuffle the cards and lay them face down. Children take turns flipping pairs of cards over in an effort to find a label and a picture pertaining to the same item. When a child finds a pair, he takes the pair off the board. When all the pairs have been removed, the child with the most pairs wins.

Enlarge each label and make two copies of it. One of the copies will be a board. Cut up the other copy so the elements of the label are on different tiles. Attach a picture of the product to the back of each tile and to a card posted above the corresponding board. Shuffle the tiles, and give each child a pile of tiles. Children first find the correct board by matching the product picture on the back of a tile to those above the boards. Then they place the tile over the matching element on the located board. The first child to place all of his tiles wins.

The board contains a series of red and blue squares. The child rolls a die to determine how many squares to move. When a child lands on a square, he picks up a card in the corresponding color. Red cards contain questions about which of two products is the best value based on the size, weight, or volume of the products versus their cost. Blue cards contain questions about which of two products contain the most nutrition or the best material as indicated by their labels. The child's answer is checked against an answer sheet. If he is wrong, he has to start over. The first child to complete the board wins.