16 Clever Ways to Repurpose Old Games & Toys

Do you have a closet full of games that the kids don’t play with anymore?  Are there toys all over the floor that are collecting dust?  Or, do you have a bag of loose playing pieces you have found the couch cushions?  Let’s repurpose them into literacy activities.

Ways to Repurpose Toys and Games

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Duplo and Lego

There are oodles and oodles of way to use Duplo and Lego for literacy learning.  In fact, I wrote a whole post about Lego Literacy Ideas.

Magna-Tiles

My kids haven’t outgrown Magna-Tiles yet.  In fact, they play with them daily.  They are one of the best purchases we have made right after Lego.  But, you can use the Magna-Tiles for lots of literacy learning.

Build Vocabulary with Balls and Magna-Tiles

Magna-Tiles Alphabet Cards

Cars and Trucks

Use those toy cars and trucks for lots of literacy learning.  Check out these 19 Car and Truck Literacy Play Ideas.

Connect Four

I can’t count the number of rounds of Connect Four I played with my brother when were kids. Now, you can use it for a little spelling practice.

Or, try this sight word version of Connect Four.

Dominoes

Adventures of Adam shows us how to turn a set of dominoes into alphabet dominoes.

Candy Land

Practice sight words with this clever version of Candy Land from 123 Homeschool 4 Me.

Or, try this CVC word version with printable cards.

And, for an alphabet version, check out this ABC Candy Land game.

Twister

Twist yourself into some spelling fun with this idea from Teach Beside Me.  It’s Spelling Twister. You can also adapt it for sight words.

Nerf Guns

Yes, you can even use a nerf gun for literacy learning.  Play Based Parenting shows us how to use one for working on sight word recognition.

Checkers

Practice reading words while playing checkers in this idea from Meaningful Mama.

Cariboo

Life With Moore Babies turns an outgrown game of Cariboo into a blending game for beginning readers.

Guess Who

Work on speech and language skills with this Wh Questions Guess Who Game from And Next Comes L.

So before you get rid of those unused toys and games, try some of these literacy activities first. Repurposing old toys is a great way to breathe new life into discarded toys and games.

How have you repurposed a toy or game into a literacy activity?  I’d love to hear your ideas.

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