Word play: Language lessons for creative learners

"With his usual good humor, Robert E. Myers has offered well-thought-out suggestions for use with children in grades 4 through 8. Myers has been challenging children to be creative in the language arts with word play for many years, and his skill increases with each book." Dr. E. Paul Torrance

Infuse educational Word Play into the language arts classroom reinforcing parts of speech, figures of speech, vocabulary, expository writing and creative writing. Myers blends instruction, humor, and creative thinking into the 54 lessons that range from the function of adjectives . . . to sentence variety . . . to composing limericks and riddles.

Word Play calls for all Torrance's 18 creative thinking skills as well as 8 of Gardner's multiple intelligences. Activities consistently call for higher level thinking. At the same time, the word "play" in the title should be taken literally by both teacher and student!

Students learn language in a DIFFERENT way by

looking at how language works - grammar, syntax, diction, and structure
using a variety of language devices - such as figures of speech
engaging in word play - using creative thinking
having fun with words - limericks, malapropisms, paradoxes, and riddles
enlarging vocabulary - synonyms, antonyms, homonyms