Search Results for: word family sort

Word Family Sort Game

March 8, 2019 By Terri Thompson

Learning to read is a bit part of the early elementary years. My kids tackled sight words, phonics, reading comprehension and word families.

I like to help support this learning at home, so I made a simple word family sort game to help us review at home.

This fun word family sort game takes just a few minutes to make and it's a fun way to help your kids practice word families.

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How to make your Word Family Sort game

My first grader and her class have been reviewing the short “a” and long “a” vowel sounds, so I set up our game using a few short “a” word families; -ad, -an, and -at.

(I found a comprehensive list of word families at Enchanted Learning. I plan to reference this again and again.)

Next, I drew three large circles on a sheet of construction paper and wrote a separate word family at the top of each.

Then, I used my circle punch to create many smaller circles. Using the lists at Enchanted Learning, I wrote about 10 examples for each word family on the circles.

How to Play Word Family Sort

Start by reviewing your word families. Practice the sounds and read the word families on your game board.

When it’s time to play, mix up your piles of circles with words. Set them next to your game board.

Now it’s your child’s turn. My daughter’s task was simple. She needed to say the word out loud and place it in the correct circle.

This game was not too difficult for her, but since my goal was to increase her comfort level with the short “a” sound, it worked perfectly.

You can make many variations on this game. If you plan on using it over and over, laminate the game board before you write your word families in the circle. Once laminated, you can write and erase many word families as you go along.

Other ways to play Word Family Sort

Use blank circles and have your child write their own words on them to increase the difficulty of this game.

Use beginning sounds instead of word families for a child that needs a different level of review

Make it more challenging by leaving the word families off the game board. Have your child sort the words then determine their word family.

Must Have Reading Resources

In addition to this DIY game, there are some other great reading games you may want to have one hand for practice at home. Here are some I recommend:

Do you want to do more activities with your kids?

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Easy Word Family Match Game

May 2, 2019 By Terri Thompson

Word families are one of the building blocks for learning to read.

If you have a good grasp on word families, you’ll be well on your way to decoding words. And, the more words you can decode, the better you can read.

Word families are that important.

This simple word family match game is easy to make and a fun way for your child to practice recognizing and reading word families.

Practice reading and rhyming with this simple word family match game for kids. It's easy to make and can be used for any set of word families.

Word Families, sometimes known as phonograms, are the one syllable endings of a group of words. For example, the -at family would contain the words hat, cat, chat, that, sat, etc.

This game supports any group of word families. Select the ones that your child is working on in class or any that you see your child struggling with. I do like this list to use for reference. You can find the most common word families and many examples of each at this link.

Supplies Needed

2 different colors of construction paper
Ruler
Scissors
Black marker

How to make your word family match game

Begin by cutting off enough extra paper from each sheet of construction paper to turn it into a large square. My squares were 9 inches by 9 inches. Divide each large square into 16 equal-sized smaller squares (2-1/4 inches each). You’ll have 32 total squares. (I know, that’s a lot!)

Next, choose your words. You will need eight different sets of word families, each set will have four words. Use two squares of one color and two squares of your second color for each set.

For example, in the above picture, I used the -en family: den, men, when, then.

Put words on each of your squares.

How to play this word family match game

Mix up all your word family and spread them out.

Challenge your child to create eight different four squares of words by sorting the squares into word families.

This words best as a single-player game. But, two kids can play together. Just have them take turns putting together their four squares.

When you’re done, you’ll have eight different larger squares for each word family. If you put them all together, you’ll have a larger word quilt.

Extend the fun with some more versions of this game

Practice reading the words out loud after you create a four square.

Can you name even more words for each word family? After your child makes a four square, challenge them to name two more words for each word family.

Choose one of the word family squares and see if you can find more examples in a favorite book.

How would you add to the fun?

If you liked this word family match game, you may also like one of these reading games:

Stacking Rhyming Words

AD Word Family Activity: Highlighter Words

Word Family Slam

Sight Word Tallies

LEGO Word Family Sorting at This Reading Mama

Do you want to do more activities with your kids?

AD Word Family Activity: Highlighter Words

April 19, 2017 By Terri Thompson

Teaching a child to read seems like the most daunting task in the world, doesn’t it?

You just start at the very beginning and practice, practice, practice.

One of the areas to practice is word families. This -ad word family activity is east to pull together and is a simple way to fit in a little reading practice after school.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Set-up is easy

First, you’ll need your set of word family cards. You can get the -ad word family at this link. Or, if you’re working on a different word family, you can access all my word family cards here.

Print out your word family cards, cut them out, and gather several highlighters.

Gather them together in a small container, or pack everything in a bag for a little reading practice on the go.

Download your AD word family cards here.

Practice is fun with this -ad word family activity

The more you practice reading, the better you become. We all how important it is for our kids to practice, but the last thing we want to do is overwhelm them.

That’s why I love super-simple ideas and this idea is about as easy as it gets.

Invite your child to pick their favorite color of highlighter and trace each of the words. That’s it. They’ll practice reading, writing, and becoming comfortable with the -ad word family.

Extend the fun with one of these ideas

Find as my colors of highlighter as you can. Make each letter a different color for a colorful rainbow word family activity.

Use this method for any set of words you child needs to learn. Pick a different word family, sight words, or even spelling words.

Decorate the words. Add polka dots, flowers, or stripes. Let your child have a little fun with the highlighters (because we all know kids love highlighters) and make their words family cards pretty. They’ll still be gaining familiarity with the words while they’re getting creative.

If you enjoyed this -ad word family activity, the picture above is perfect for sharing on Facebook or you can share the photo below on Pinterest.

The -at Hat: Word Family Game

March 22, 2017 By Terri Thompson

What is a word family?

It’s a group of words that have a common sound (i.e. a group of rhyming words) like “at” or “in”.

Knowing how to see this pattern and decode it is one of the many skills your child will have to work on when learning to read.

Today, we’re going to break it down and start with the -at family with this fun word family game.

Practice your -at words with this fun word family game, The -AT Hat

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

Grab your -at hat!

Um, -at hat, you say… what is that?

Well, it’s a hat full of words from the -at word family.

Practice your -at words with this fun word family game, The -AT Hat

Let’s start with the -at word family. What are some words that fit in?

Just start rhyming: at, bat, cat, sat, that, hat. Can you think of more?

Think of your own, or you can download and print this set of -at Word Family Cards.

Practice your -at words with this fun word family game, The -AT Hat

How to set up your word family game

Print out your word list, cut them out, then grab a hat. Why a hat? It rhymes, of course!

Fold up all the words and then put them into your hat.

You’re ready to play and there are so many fun variations of this game.

Practice your -at words with this fun word family game, The -AT Hat

Ways to play with your -at hat

The simplest way to play is to just add all your folded up words to your hat. Have your child a word out of the hat one at a time. Have them say the word and move on to another word.

Do they need to practice writing? Have them pick a word and then write it down on a sheet of paper.

Print out two copies of the -at word family. Leave one of the copies whole. Have your child draw a word, say it, and then match it to the uncut list.

Practice identifying -at family words. Print out cards for one or more additional word families. You can find other examples at this page of Reading and Writing Printable Resources. Mix all the cards together. Your child will need to pull one word at a time. Is the word part of the -at family? Add it to the hat. If it’s not, add it to a discard pile.

Add your own words to the hat. Provide scraps of paper or sticky notes. Have your child brainstorm and write down words from the -at word family to add to the hat.

How would you use the -at hat?

Practice your -at words with this fun word family game, The -AT Hat

If you enjoyed this post, the above photo is perfect for sharing on Facebook. Or, you can pin the photo below on Pinterest.

Practice your -at words with this fun word family game, The -AT Hat

Valentine Word Family Game

January 23, 2017 By Terri Thompson

I love to add a holiday twist to learning games.

It adds to the fun and can help make a reluctant kid eager to learn.

Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, I’m going to share some fun ways to incorporate the holiday into learning. We’ll start with a simple Valentine word family game that makes use of heart doilies.

Get out paper doilies to help practice word families with a fun Valentine Word Family Game. It's a fun Valentine reading game.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.

I usually like to stick with supplies that I usually have at home to make a learning game. But, this time I made an exception. I spent a little bit of money on some heart doilies to make a fun activity even more special.

Supplies Needed:

Heart doilies
Red or pink construction paper
Circle punch
Black Marker

Get out paper doilies to help practice word families with a fun Valentine Word Family Game. It's a fun Valentine reading game.

Make your Valentine Word Family Game:

Decide on the word families you want to work on. Choose the ones that your child is working on in class or select something you see they are struggling a bit with. If you’re not sure where to start, here is a great list of word families I refer to quite often.

Use your heart doilies for your word family base. Use the black marker to write a word family on each doily. Don’t do too many, 3 or 4 word families should be plenty.

Next, make your game pieces. I have a circle punch, so I just cut out four circles from my construction paper for each word family. If you don’t have a circle punch, you can cut out small squares or even small hearts.

Write a word on each circle from each word family. I had four circles, so four words for each word family.

An example would be: -est family, nest, rest, test, best.

Get out paper doilies to help practice word families with a fun Valentine Word Family Game. It's a fun Valentine reading game.

Play the game:

Give your child the word family doilies. Turn the paper circles upside down and mix them all up.

Choose a paper circle and read the word. Put the circle on the correct word family doily.

Keep playing until all the paper circles are on the correct doily.

Extend the fun:

Use just the word family doilies and see how many words you can write down for each word family.

Play the game with more than one kid. Have each child take turns turning over a paper circle.

How would you use this Valentine Word Family Game?

Get out paper doilies to help practice word families with a fun Valentine Word Family Game. It's a fun Valentine reading game.

If you enjoyed this post, you are welcome to share the above photo on Facebook, or the photo below is perfect for Pinning.

Get out paper doilies to help practice word families with a fun Valentine Word Family Game. It's a fun Valentine reading game. #Literacy #ReadingGame #ValentinesDay #BetterThanHomework

Search Results for: word family sort

Word Family Sort Game

How to make your Word Family Sort game

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