This is an easy reading game using letter sounds to spell three letter words. My son is constantly asking me how words are spelled so this was a fun way to harness his interest and sneak in a bit of phonics learning.
Materials:
- I used a box of alphabet learning cards* and pulled out a few pictures of three letter words (e.g. cat, cup, hat) If you don’t have these cards, you could easily make them yourself with photos cut out from magazines. Paste the photo on one side side of an index card and write the word in lower case letters on the other.
- Sandpaper letters* We use these for so many activities they are worth buying, but you can also simply write individual letters on index cards.
How to:
I lined up three pictures and then said “I spy, with my little eye something spelled huh-ah-ttt”. Kiddo then found the corresponding letters our of his sandpaper letter deck, he spelled the word and checked his work by turning the picture over to reveal the correctly spelled word.
We continued with as many sets of three letter words I could pull out from the deck. We could only use words that didn’t repeat letters, but if you have more than one letter set, that wouldn’t be a problem.
He thought it was great fun and it was easy for me since I could putz around doing household tasks (or sip my tea) while he found the letters and put together the word.
I think in the future I am going to try this activity without the pictures. Kiddo is a highly visual learner. After he heard me spell I could tell he relied on the photo to get the job done. (Update: kids who need a slightly more advanced spelling game will enjoy “sift ‘n’ spell.”)
* Our alphabet cards and sandpaper letters were a great investment. We use them all the time. At my affiliate link you can find similar items (or you can make your own):
I also love these phonics easy readers from The Measured Mom:
As it’s hard for me to send you away without a few book suggestions, you may find my list of easy readers that won’t make you want to poke your eyes out useful.
So Smrt says
I’m a visual learner too…good idea to remove the pics. Bet he won’t like the game as much, though!
Kim Baise says
Great Activity! Thanks for sharing and I love the montessori- mom blog link too. Very helpful 🙂
Holly@MotherIsNotConcerned says
Thank you for this idea! I’m going to try it with my son…
Momma Snail says
I am going to play this game with my kids. This is great! Hmmm…wonder if we can do it in the car…
Steph says
I love how you had Kiddo spell the words himself after you gave him the sounds. I’ll keep that in mind for the future. Thanks!