Sentence Building Games for Kids: Sentence Builder
Sentence Builder is a free grammar game where children put word tiles in order to make a sentence that matches a picture. When the sentence is right, the picture comes to life: the dog runs, the frog jumps and the dinosaur roars.
Sentence Builder
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- Ages
- 5–11
- School years
- Senior Infants–5th Class
- Skills
- Word order and building simple sentences, Word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, determiners and conjunctions, Capital letters and full stops
- Time
- 2–5 minutes a round
- Cost
- Free, no sign-up
- Updated
How to play Sentence Builder
- Choose a level. Easy has three or four words, Medium adds describing words, a capital letter and a full stop (period), and Hard has joining words, commas and questions.
- Look at the picture, then tap or drag the word tiles into the sentence strip in the right order. Each type of word has its own colour, shown in the key.
- Press Check. If something is not right, you get a tip, such as where the capital letter goes or which end mark to use. Press Read it to hear your sentence aloud.
- Stuck? The Hint button shows the first word, then highlights the verb. In Silly sentences mode, build any sentence you like and the picture draws it, such as a purple elephant that dances.
What your child learns
- Word order and building simple sentences
- Word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, determiners and conjunctions
- Capital letters and full stops
- Questions, statements and exclamations
- Joining clauses with and, but, so, because and when
- Using commas to separate parts of a sentence
- Choosing a or an
About Sentence Builder
Knowing that a sentence needs someone or something (a noun) and something they do (a verb) is the foundation of writing. Sentence Builder makes that idea visible: every tile is coloured by its word type, so children can see that the blue naming word usually comes before the red doing word, and that green describing words sit just in front of the noun. Matching each sentence to a picture checks that it makes sense, not just that the words are in some order.
Easy, for Senior Infants to 1st Class, uses three or four words, with the full stop (period) already in place. Medium, for Classes 2–3, adds adjectives and adverbs, a tile with and without a capital letter to choose from, and the full stop to place. Hard, for Classes 4–5, has compound and complex sentences joined with conjunctions, commas, and a choice of full stop, question mark or exclamation mark. Where a sentence can correctly be written more than one way, such as "The frog hops slowly" and "The frog slowly hops", every correct order is accepted. Silly sentences mode lets children build their own sentences from a tile bank, with gentle checks for word order and for a and an, and the picture draws any combination of character, describing words and action.
Which level should my child play?
| School year | Suggested level |
|---|---|
| Senior Infants | Easy |
| 1st Class | Easy |
| 2nd Class | Medium |
| 3rd Class | Medium |
| 4th Class | Hard |
| 5th Class | Hard |
Move up a level after getting three stars two or three times in a row.
🏆 Leaderboard
Full leaderboard →Play a round to get on the board! Create a free account to save your scores.
Frequently asked questions
What do the tile colours mean?
Each colour is a type of word: nouns (naming words) are blue, verbs (doing or being words) are red, adjectives (describing words) are green, adverbs are purple, conjunctions (joining words) are orange, determiners such as the, a and my are yellow, prepositions are teal, pronouns are pink and punctuation is slate. The key under the tiles shows which types are in each sentence.
Can I play with a keyboard?
Yes. Press Tab to move between tiles and Enter to put a tile into the sentence. In the sentence, the left and right arrow keys move a tile and Delete sends it back. Screen readers hear each tile’s word type and the sentence so far.
Is there more than one right answer?
Sometimes. Adverbs can often move, so "The robot spins quickly" and "The robot quickly spins" are both accepted, and so are both orders of two joined sentences where the meaning stays the same.
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Help your child shine in English
Practice at home is a great start. Success Tutoring offers personalised tutoring to build skills and confidence.