Learn by Playing! Recommended Games with a Kanji Theme
There are adults who aren’t good with kanji, or who feel like they know them but can’t quite recall them, right?
Once you develop even a slight aversion, the hurdle gets higher, so I’d love for people to learn in a fun way.
How about turning it into a game to learn kanji—getting hands-on with kanji while you play?
We introduce various kanji games, from free apps to board and card games.
Adults can play too, so why not try them with your children?
[Learn by Playing!] Recommended Games with a Kanji Theme (1–10)
Unko Kanji Drill Board Game
The social phenomenon “Unko Kanji Drill” has been turned into a board game! It’s like a sugoroku-style game where you roll dice and move your piece, and they say it’s the most fun way in Japan to learn kanji.
Each space you land on has a prompt, with tons of hilarious challenges like the “poop pose” and butt-writing.
On blue spaces, you draw a card; the cards feature a kanji and a poop-themed example sentence using that kanji, so you can memorize characters while laughing.
In the end, the player with the most cards wins.
Kanji mistake search
We’d like to introduce a kanji spot-the-difference game that’s perfect for kids who want to learn kanji in a fun way! In a grid filled with kanji, there’s exactly one character that’s different—your goal is to find it.
You have 30 seconds per round.
It’s great not only for kanji skills but also for developing insight and observation, making it a good brain-training activity too! Another nice point is that even children who don’t know kanji yet and older adults can enjoy it.
This video features 10 questions that gradually increase in difficulty, so try it out and test your skills.
Kanji Reversi
Introducing Kanji Reversi, a game that helps you learn kanji by adapting the classic board game Reversi! Each piece has a single kanji character on it, and you place your pieces so that your captured pieces form two-character compounds.
The set uses 36 kanji taught in the first grade of elementary school and can create over 200 compounds! By forming compounds, you can learn many kanji and boost your vocabulary.
You’ll naturally build kanji skills while playing.
It also comes with a list of compounds, so be sure to use it as a reference!
Do you know kanji?
Why not incorporate a “Can you guess the kanji?” game into your lessons using PowerPoint and a mosaic-blurring tool? You present the target kanji with a mosaic, then gradually reduce the blur to make the character clearer.
By setting levels and giving points to the team or students who guess fastest, you can make learning more fun.
I think this can be used as teaching material for class activities, so it’s highly recommended for elementary school teachers!
Fill-in-the-blank idiom quiz
How about a crossword-style fill-in-the-blank idiom quiz for your child’s kanji study? Using the same character, you’ll make four two-character compounds.
This way, you can learn four compounds at once and also explore the different readings of a single kanji! In this video, there are 10 questions featuring kanji learned in the second grade of elementary school.
The time limit is 10 seconds per question, so rev up your brain and work hard to find the right answers.
It’s a brain teaser not just for kids but for adults too, so give it a try together as a parent-child pair!
Elementary School Handwritten Kanji Drill 1026
We’d like to introduce “Elementary School Handwritten Kanji Drill,” an app that lets you review the 1,026 kanji learned over six years of elementary school! You can write directly with your finger on a tablet, and it marks your answers right away.
You can also choose the grade level and course, so it’s great for matching your child’s learning stage.
If you’re unsure, you can look at the answer and trace it to memorize the correct form.
It’s a free app, so it’s perfect not only for individualized study but also for quick practice in spare moments.
Install it on your device and it will be a big help for your child’s kanji learning.
Kanji Hunters Drill
Kanji Hunters Drill is a brand-new kind of kanji workbook where you search for and collect kanji out in the real world.
Find the 714 kanji included in the drill on street signs, product packages, and more, then trace them directly in the book with a pencil or pen to “hunt” them! You can interact with kanji like a game, and collecting them boosts motivation.
It’s also fun to set your own goals, like “find every kanji on a page” or “hunt for rare kanji.” This is a kanji drill we especially recommend for children who struggle with kanji and have a hard time memorizing them—give it a try!