Fun Activity Ideas to Stimulate a Dyslexic Child Aged 3 to 12

Understanding the Power of Playful Learning for Dyslexic Children

If you're reading this, you’re likely a parent who’s doing everything possible to support a child with dyslexia. And if you’re feeling tired, discouraged, or unsure where to begin—know that you’re not alone. Dyslexia affects how the brain processes words, but it doesn’t define your child’s ability to learn or thrive. In fact, many children with dyslexia unlock strengths in creativity, problem-solving, and storytelling when given the right tools—and one of those tools is play.

Play is not a break from learning. For children with dyslexia, structured and creative activities can be a lifeline—offering a safe space to develop skills that traditional schoolwork might challenge. From a young age through pre-teens, playful learning helps strengthen language pathways, boost confidence, and create joyful associations with reading and learning.

Why Playful Activities Make a Difference

Dyslexia isn’t simply reversed letters or slow reading—it can affect memory, sequencing, phonological awareness, and a child's sense of self-worth in an academic setting. That's why everyday experiences that feel like play but nurture key learning skills are so powerful.

Imagine this: instead of battling over homework each afternoon, your child engages in a scavenger hunt with rhyming clues, or builds a story through drawing and voice recording. These activities aren't distractions; they’re precisely the kind of multisensory, low-pressure experiences that support dyslexic learners.

Creative Ways to Stimulate a Dyslexic Child Through Play

Let’s walk through a few types of playful activities that are developmentally appropriate for dyslexic children from preschool through early adolescence. Each one supports reading, listening, sequencing, or confidence-building in subtle yet significant ways.

1. Storytelling Without the Pressure of Writing

Many dyslexic children have vivid imaginations but struggle to put their ideas down on paper. Try using drawing, puppets, or even voice notes to help your child tell their story. Encourage them to describe a funny day in reverse order, or a magical creature in their bedroom closet. This strengthens sequencing and expressive language in a no-judgement context.

For older children, apps like iOS and Android offer immersive listening alternatives to reading on a page. The LISN Kids App, for example, delivers original audiobooks and audio series specially designed for ages 3 to 12. With diverse characters and sounds, it fuels imagination while supporting listening skills—without any reading requirement.

2. Word Games Made Personal and Physical

Games like ‘I Spy’ with phonemes (“I spy something starting with ‘sh’”) or hopping between letters chalked on the driveway add movement to learning. Try creating a treasure hunt using words that your child struggles with—letting the game determine when each clue is “read” aloud. These high-engagement moments support phonological awareness while keeping stress low.

Want even more ideas? Browse our deeper dive on which games can help dyslexic children read more easily.

3. Musical and Rhythmic Sensory Play

Rhythm and repetition are key to learning in early years, and that doesn’t stop with age. Try music games using simple instruments or clapping patterns. Sing simple versions of word families (“-at words” like cat, hat, sat) and let your child create silly rhymes as lyrics. These rhythms help embed sound patterns more deeply than worksheets ever could.

4. Reverse Roles: You Be the Student

Give your child the satisfying job of “teaching” you one concept they’ve learned—whether it’s the alphabet, a math trick, or a new word. You can get silly and start making mistakes, which gives your child an opportunity to correct and explain. This empowers them, reduces anxiety, and reinforces memory consolidation. It also sidesteps the fear of failure that academic tasks can trigger.

5. Visual Story Maps and Collaborative Creativity

Try a story-building activity where you draw a simple path or map on paper, and your child adds symbols or words along it to build a narrative. These visual frameworks help children—especially those who struggle with linear text—organize thoughts in a nonlinear, supportive way. For older children, collaborative storyboarding for comic strips or scene planning can have the same stimulating effect.

Let Growth Happen Off the Page

Because so much of school is built around reading, it can start to feel like your child is failing—or worse, that you’re not doing enough as their parent. But it’s important to step back and remember: learning happens in the kitchen, on the swingset, during pillow forts, and in countless spaces far beyond the page.

If you’re ever unsure where to begin—or feel the pressure building—take a breath. You don’t have to do this perfectly. Instead, start small: one game, one story, one activity at a time. And if you haven’t yet already, you might appreciate this gentle guide on how to explain dyslexia to a 7-year-old, to build empathy from the inside out.

Every Moment Counts—Even the Quiet Ones

Even if your child resists reading, even if they grow frustrated during learning time, don’t underestimate the progress being made beneath the surface. With time, patience, and a few playful tools in your pocket, you’re helping wire a future of confidence, curiosity, and joy around learning.

For daily encouragement and strategies, here’s a collection of daily strategies that truly help dyslexic children in primary school. Above all, trust the process. You’re doing better than you think—and your child is growing every day.