Printable Mad Libs | Unleash Your Students’ Creativity With These Incredibly Fun Mad Lib Stories
Do you want to teach kids about parts of speech, grammar, and vocabulary while having lots of fun at the same time? Then try Mad Libs! Below, you’ll find a collection of printable Mad Libs that you can download for free and use in class. We’ll also share some useful information on how you can easily make your own printable Mad Libs for your lessons. But first, for those of you not familiar with Mad Libs, let’s look at what they are and how you can use these in class.
What Are Mad Libs?
Mad Libs is a word game that involves creating a story or paragraph by filling in missing words. The game follows a simple template where certain words, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, are left blank. Players take turns suggesting words to fill in these blanks, without knowing the context of the story. Once all the words are filled in, the completed story is read aloud, often resulting in humorous and nonsensical combinations.
How To Play Mad Libs In Class
Playing Mad Libs in the classroom is a fun and effective way to teach students about the different parts of speech. There are several ways you can play Mad Libs in class, but here’s the one that we find works best when using printable Mad Libs.
1: Choose Or Create Your Mad Lib Story
The first step to playing Mad Libs in class is to decide which Mad Lib to use. You can choose one of the free printable Mad Libs below, or create your own Mad Lib Story (more on that below!)
2: List The Required Words On The Board
Next, write a list of the words that are needed to complete the Mad Lib. For example, if you look at one of the printable Mad Libs below, you’ll see that to complete the story you’ll need words like ‘Child’s name‘, ‘a verb ending in -ing’, ‘adjective‘, etc.
3: Elicit The Words From Students
Next, it’s time to elicit these words from the students. Work down the list of words that are needed to complete the story and ask students to come up with a word for each one. For example, for ‘adjective‘, students might say ‘scary‘, ‘blue‘, ‘exciting‘, etc.
4: Read The Story Aloud
Now comes the fun part! Reading the completed story! Print out the Mad Lib story and provide one to each student or pair of students. Or, if you want to save paper, you can simply display the PDF file on the screen.
Read the story together as a class, replacing the words in brackets with the words you elicited from students earlier. The story is likely to be very silly and nonsensical, which is what makes Mad Libs so much fun!
5: Choose New Words For The Story
We find that when playing Mad Libs in class, using the same story a second time with different words is a lot of fun! Now that students know the story, they can be even more creative and come up with a real wacky and entertaining story. You can do this together as a class, or split the class into pairs or small teams to create a fun Mad Lib Story.
Free Printable Mad Libs
Here are some free printable Mad Libs. Each worksheet has a fun Mad Lib story with words missing. Students must come up with words to go in the blank spaces to complete the story.
A Crazy Day At The Zoo
This first Mad Lib worksheet asks students to create a fun story about a trip to the zoo.
An Unforgettable Space Adventure
This next Mad Lib is about space. Students will create a funny story about going on a space adventure.
A Mysterious Underwater Adventure
This next Mad Lib story is about an underwater adventure. Students must imagine what life is like under the sea!
A Fairy Tale To Remember
Next is a fun fairy tale story. Students must come up with fairytale creatures and kingdoms to make a wacky story.
The Wackiest School Day Ever
This Mad Lib worksheet asks students to create a story about a wacky day at school.
The Jolly Pirate’s Voyage
This Mad Lib story is about pirates and a fun adventure to find the treasure.
The Secret Life Of A Superhero
This next Mad Lib asks students to imagine they are a superhero with superpowers.
The Great Bake Off
This next Mad Lib worksheet is about baking. Students must imagine they are on an episode of ‘The Great Bake Off’.
A Mysterious Visitor From Space
This last printable Mad Lib is a story about an Alien visitor from space.
How To Make Your Own Printable Mad Lib
Making your own printable Mad Lib is not as difficult as you might think, especially with the advent of AI tools like ChatGPT. Here is a super easy method for making your own Mad Libs:
Step 1: Decide On A Theme
The first step is to decide on what you want your Mad Lib to be about. Your theme could be anything from a trip to the zoo to a mission to Mars. You can even make the theme related to your current lesson topics.
Step 2: Type Prompt In To ChatGPT
Next, open ChatGPT on your computer and type in a prompt instructing Chatgpt to create a Mad Lib story for you. Be sure to include things like the theme or situation, the number of blanks you want, and the target audience (i.e., kids, teenagers, adults, etc) in your prompt. For example, “Create a Mad Lib for kids about a trip to Mars with 10 blanks.“
Step 3: Copy And Paste The Mad Lib Into A Word Processor
Next, take the Mad Lib story and copy and paste it into a word processor. If you want to design your Mad Lib further and use images and various fonts and colors, then we recommend using Canva.
Step 4: Save As PDF And Print
The final step is to save the document as a PDF and print. If you’re using Canva, you can do this by clicking on the ‘Share’ button in the top right corner and choosing ‘Download’ and then choosing ‘PDF Print’.
More Fun Resources
Thanks for reading! I hope your students have lots of fun making hilarious stories with these Mad Libs. Before you go, be sure to check out these related resources:
Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Funny Would You Rather Questions
Fun Ice Breaker Questions
5 Cool Ways To Use ChatGPT In The Classroom