Grooming your dog is one of the best ways to improve all aspects of training. By grooming you and your dog you will build: communication (be sure to use commands during) , you will build respect (because you're teaching your dog to go through something they might not like), and you will build relationship (because reward/praise can be give the whole time).
Playing games +/-
Playing games is ok .... as long as you are not teaching your dog bad behavior at the same time. Tug games should always be accompanied with a release command like 'drop' or 'give'. Games that motivate bad behavior sometimes build relationship. Make sure you understand the effect of games you play. And make sure you have a command telling your dog the game is over, 'all done' works well.