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Free Printable Hangman Game Templates
Hangman is a classic game for 2 or more players. It requires wits, logic and reasoning. The more your kids practice with our printable hangman game, the more they can develop these core skills. It’s much more fun when the kids already have some knowledge of reading and vocabulary.
When playing against kids, it’s only fair to give them a few easier rounds (depending on their abilities of course). But, did you know jazz is one of the hardest words to guess? There are only 3 correct letters and 2 of those are the least likely to be guessed. So it’s far more likely that the little stick figure will win.
(P.S If you decide to play this game with teens/adults, here are a few other tricky words: quiz, zinc, rhythm, lynx.)
The printable hangman game can be downloaded and printed as many times as you like. It’s perfect for keeping in a folder for long car journeys or trips out to a restaurant.
What's included in the printable hangman package?
The pack includes 2 colour game sheets (on 1 page); 2 black and white game sheets (on 1 page); and 6 mini black and white game sheets (on 1 page).
Why Play The Printable Hangman Game?
As with many of the classic word games, kids can learn all sorts just by playing.
- Improved vocabulary: word recall improves with practice.
- Improved concentration: players must guess – one letter at a time – with the pressure of a slowly appearing stick man. They better focus if they want to win!
- Problem-solving skills: players must use the process of elimination, choose a strategy, and narrow down their letter choices. All within a limited number of guesses!
Getting Ready To Play
Download your free printable hangman game here.
Cut the pages into game sheets and provide one for each player.
Make sure you have a pen ready!
How To Play hangman
- Make the house rules known. How many guesses?
- Player one chooses their word, telling no one.
- They jot down a small dash for each letter in the word (_ _ _ _)
- Player 2 then guesses a letter. If it is in the word, Player 1 writes it down each time it occurs. If it isn’t in the word, Player 1 draws a small circle as the head on the stickman.
(Tip: Use the alphabet box provided on the printable to keep track of letters that have already been guessed.)
- If there are more players, each takes a turn guessing a letter. Correct guesses are written on their dash, wrong guesses result in the body/legs/arms being drawn.
- The game ends when either the word has been discovered, or the stickman is complete.
- Repeat this for each of the players.
Hopefully, you’ve had a blast playing hangman. Sometimes the simplest of words can cause chaos! And it’s a great way to get kids to engage in their learning.
Variants
Traditionally, the word must be guessed in 6 or fewer tries. There are 6 pieces of the hangman to be drawn. These are the head, body, 2 legs and 2 arms.
You can choose to make this game easier or harder. It really depends on the abilities of the players. There are so many different ways to play. Any variations on the classic setup are your choice. Remember to make sure everyone knows the rules they’re playing by before starting
To make the game a little easier for younger kids, you could choose to add extra details to the stick figure. Add eyes and smile for 2 more guesses. The more features there are, the more opportunity each player has to guess the word correctly.
To make the game harder, you can agree to limit the number of vowels (a,e,i,o,u) the opponent can guess.
The printable hangman game is a fun, engaging way to teach second language words to kids. If your child is already learning another language, Play this game with vocab words they already know. It’s way more fun and satisfying than learning it all by rote!
Other Free Printable Activities
The free printable hangman game resource will allow you to help your child improve their literacy skills. It’s a fun, educational game that’ll give you a mental workout!