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.

You may also like one of these reading activities:

The -at Hat Word Family Game

Word Family Four Square

Word Family Sort at Creative Family Fun

Stomp It Out Phonics Game for Kids at School Time Snippets

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

You may also like one of these posts:

Easy Ways to Encourage Reading Comprehension at Home

Word Family Four Square

Stacking Rhyming Words

Word Family Sort at Creative Family Fun

Word Family Snowball Toss at I Can Teach My Child