MadLibs

The kids have really been enjoying MadLibs lately. They keep a book of them in the van and when I stop for an errand they stay there doing a MadLib or two.

If you aren't familiar with these, they're a sort of activity book that uses grammatical terminology and printing skills and free-association-type creativity to create silly stories. It works best with 2 or more players. Initially the book instructs you to write down words of your choice, eg.

1. occupation
2. plural noun
3. verb ending in -ing
4. adjective
5. exclamation
6. adjective etc.

A scribe collects contributions for these from the audience. Then the scribe takes the list of words and inserts them in a story in the book according to the numerical list. The results are often very funny:
"One day a doctor was on his way to work when he came across some boots crying in the sun. They were very annoying boots. 'Ouch!' cried the doctor, 'these boots are fat.'"

Sophie is learning the main parts of speech, and I think Erin and Noah are gaining more of an understanding of them through explaining them to Sophie and experimenting with various words in these unusual contexts. You can buy books of MadLibs in the activity book section of bookstores.