Syllable Mancala

Activity Overview

Pre-reading skills, like counting and identifying syllables, push students to begin decoding words. Syllable division gives students the ability to “chunk out” words. That is, they can begin to identify groups of letters that they recognize. Recognizing patterns is a key part of early literacy. Understanding how syllable division works helps students read with more fluidity and with more accuracy. This activity helps students reinforce some of the syllable and poetry work they have touched on in these last few weeks with a fun, hands-on exploration.

*Please be aware of harmful or dangerous plant life during your nature walk and item collection task.*

What You Need

• Syllable Pictures Template

• A bag or container to collect items from nature (optional: multiples to keep items organized in)

• Scissors

• Muffin tin or egg carton

• Optional: drawing utensils or a collection of printed images cut in circles

• Optional: Manipulatives

Steps

1. Take a nature walk in your favorite place. Collect up to five of each item shown on the Syllable Pictures page of the template. If preferred, use a sheet protector and a dry erase marker to keep track of the items like a scavenger hunt.

2. Cut out the syllable picture circles and place each of the images at the bottom of a muffin tin. Organize the collected items into like categories.

3. Say the name of an item. Think about how many syllables are in the word. Remember, syllables are like beats in a word that count vowel sounds.

4. Drop the corresponding number of items in the cup of the muffin tin with the matching picture to represent the number of syllables in the word. For example, if the next cup in the muffin tin had a picture of seeds, say “seed,” identify that it has one syllable in it, and then drop one seed into the seed muffin cup. Be sure to emphasize each syllable as you drop the items into the cup.

5. Repeat and enjoy!

Guiding Questions

• What is a syllable? How do we count out syllables?

• How do you know when there is a new syllable?

• What other words do you know with two syllables? Three syllables? Four syllables?

Extensions

• Use the blank circles to create your own images. If you do not have a collection of physical objects to represent the number of syllables for each image, simply use counting cubes, rocks, beads, or any other small manipulatives.