Games to play:
Try a little magic! – Have your child write words on white construction paper with a white crayon. Then have him/her paint over the paper with watered down tempera paint. Words appear like magic!
Have your child search for letters in a newspaper or magazine. When he/she finds the letters that make up the words, glue them onto construction paper.
Use alphabet stamps to stamp out the words.
Have your child decorate a paper plate. Cut a slice out of the paper plate so it looks like a slice of pie cut out of the plate. Brad a round piece of paper to the back. Then write some words in the window. Your child can turn the wheel and practice saying the words.
Play CRASH! – Cards are in shape of cars (like a VW Beetle). Put words on about ¾ of cars and the other ¼ have the word CRASH on them in wiggly letters. (Make the crash cars look banged up. Make sure they all look the same face down.) Have your child draw a card and get to keep it if they know it. They get to keep drawing on their turn until they either don’t know a word or they get a CRASH car.
Play BANG! – Index cards with words and some cards with BANG on it. (If 20 words, only 1 or 2 bangs.) Your child gets to pick a card and if they can read it, they get to keep it. If they can’t read it, tell them it and place it back in the bag. If they get the BANG card, they have to place all of the words back in the bag. (The idea is to read all of them before you get the BANG card.)
Word Ball – Buy a basketball hoop w/suction cups and balls. If your child gets a word correct, they get to make a basket. Play with them – One on One!
Beat Mom or dad – (We will play beat the teacher.) Begin to write letters of a word on a piece of paper or a chalkboard. Your child has to guess it before you finish writing. If he/she guesses it, your child gets the point. If you finish the word before they guess it, you get the point.
Baseball – Designate one team as home, and the other as visitors. Mix up the cards. Your child goes to the home plate. Draw out a card. Match the color to the type of hit he/she is trying for. If he/she can read the card correctly, he/she may move according to the type of hit. (A single – move 1 base, a double – move 2, etc.) Make sure that you have some strike out cards in the word cards also. If your child is unable to read the word, it is considered an out. After three outs, it’s your turn or another child’s turn if your son/daughter has a friend over.
Secret message – Students write down the letter they hear in the beginning of each word I say, and don’t erase. (for example – clown, apple, teacher) the students would write the secret word cat!
Clues- Your child has a list of words. You secretly choose one word and give a clue. Something like, my word has a pair of vowels in it that make one sound, or it describes something, or whatever skill we are working on in class – maybe it has a family chunk in it. Have your student take a guess. Continue to give clues until the word is found.
Blast Off – Your child starts spelling the word while squatting. With each successive letter they stand higher and higher. When the word is said in its entirety, your child jumps in the air and yells “Blast Off”!
Write the words in shaving cream on a cookie sheet.
Write the words on a sidewalk with chalk.
Play “Create –a-Man” (hangman) but just draw a person with a smiley face.
Type words on a computer, cut them up and respell them.
Flashlight tag (Need another friend)– Place words around the room and parent says a word. The children see who could spot it with their flashlight first.
“Swat” – Same thing as flashlight, but you’re using a fly swatter.
Memory – make two of every word and place them upside-down. Whoever turns over two of the same word and can read it, keeps it.
“Snap” –You will need the cards from the memory game and at least 2 players. Deal the cards out equally between all the players. Each person takes a turn to put a card on a central pile face up so it can be seen. When a card is laid directly on top of a matching card, the first person to put their hand on top of the pile and yell “snap” gets to add the pile to the cards in their hand. The aim of the game is to have all the cards.
* Keep a special box or container for these words to practice.