From the Files: Auto Mad Libs

August 30, 2007 @ 7:15 am | Filed under: Language Arts

I was visiting Becca’s lovely blog, And Together We Learn, and saw there a mention of a game I wrote about at Bonny Glen almost two years ago. I’d totally forgotten about the post, but the game is alive and well—it’s still one of the girls’ favorite car pastimes. Thanks, Becca! (And I sure do hope your gang is enjoying the read-aloud! Hee.)

The Purple Cow Hula-Hooped Boisterously

This
is a game we played in the car yesterday, all the way to town and back.
I assigned each of the girls a part of speech: noun, verb, adjective,
adverb (one girl had to take two parts in each round). From there it
went something like this:

Me:  Miss Noun, what is it?

Beanie: A giraffe!

Me:  Miss Adjective, what kind of giraffe?

Jane: A hungry giraffe.

Me:  Miss Verb, what did the hungry giraffe do?

Rose: It bounced!

Me:  Miss Adverb, how did the hungry giraffe bounce?

Jane: Enthusiastically!

All together:  THE HUNGRY GIRAFFE BOUNCED ENTHUSIASTICALLY!

Wonderboy:  Huh?

In Becca’s post, she shares her own car game, which sounds like fun.

While driving we played an animal classification game where they had
to tell me if something was a mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian. We
talked about the qualities of each class, and did a little with some of
the different orders—mostly primate and marsupial. The girls loved
this one. We’ll have to make this a car time staple.

 
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  1. Sarah S. Chicken says:

    Wow. That would mean I would have to think. Interesting idea. My kids are younger, but I bet we could do a modified version.

  2. Lisa G. says:

    Love your blog, lots of great info for a new hs’ing mom. We moved from VA to San Diego, CA 2 years ago and now we are back in VA :)

  3. Kay says:

    Car games….we have borrowed and modified a game from The Penderwicks using the alphabet plus memory. The Penderwicks played the game I went to the zoo and saw ….then named an animal beginning with A, next person says I went to the zoo and saw naming the A animal, and adds a B animal. Always beginning from A when it is your turn. Since we have started playing we
    I went on vacation to…..
    (name a place, city or country)
    I went to a super store and bought….
    I went to the auto auction and saw…..
    I went to the Doctor’s office …
    I went to the grocery store…
    They are always coming up with something new…

    Thanks for a new game idea, we’ll try it!

  4. Becca says:

    Holy cow! Thanks so much for the link–my stats went through the roof today, and I smiled for hours. Oh, and my girls are loving loving loving Martha!

  5. Brit says:

    Hi, I discovered you a couple weeks ago and love coming to visit. I lived in SD for 9 years, now my family and I are in VA. That game sounds wonderful, right my son’s alley. Thanks for sharing, and I love your blog.
    Brit

  6. Lydia says:

    Love it! My son learned parts of speech from mad libs too. SO painless, SO mercifully fun, SO obvious that it’s hard to believe people struggle through workbooks and whatnot, with kids of this age — when Mad Libs are so fun and you can write your own! Even if you’re 7! And even if they’re completely ridiculous and don’t work right, it’s still *hilarious*. Hehe.

  7. Theresa ♥ says:

    How fun. We usually have spelling bee’s and math games in the car but we’ll have to try this.

  8. Claire says:

    WOW! I love this! Thanks for another one of your fabulous ideas!

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Damosel: In Which the Lady of the Lake Renders a Frank & Often Startling Account of her Wondrous Life & Times
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Bend-the-Rules Sewing
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Understood Betsy
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The King's Fifth
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A Murder for Her Majesty
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Haystack Full of Needles
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The Highwaymen
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Number the Stars
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Swallows and Amazons
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A Street in Marrakesh
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Knight's Castle
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(a sequel to Half Magic)



The Creative Family
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The Losers (Vol.1): Ante Up
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Green Arrow: Year One
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Outside Lies Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places
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Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage
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Dogger
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