Games - Overview

Most of the games that I have posted can be used with anything you want to teach - letters, sounds, words, colors, shapes etc. I have also listed where I received the game idea from. Most of the books that I got ideas from are out of print, but I'm sure you want still find them on ebay or the library. There are over 35 different games listed under Games - Explanations, so make sure that you click "older posts" when you get to the bottom of a page, so you don't miss any games.

Review of Games

Click on the link above for a quick review of most of the games that I played with my boys. Any new games that I played with Hannah are covered on the blog.

Here are some notes from when I was teaching my son to read:

• I would never criticize Takeshi. If he got one wrong I would simply say the correct answer. He would or wouldn’t repeat it, either way I would say “great job” or “very good”.

• Sometimes he would say a word/letter/sound that I didn’t think he knew and I would say, “How did you know that ____?” Takeshi would just smile, he thought it was so fun to trick me :)
  
  
• A lot of times Takeshi would say, “I’m the mama.” And you’re “Kakeshi”. I would still get him to write or say it himself by saying “Mama, can you show me how…” or “Mama, what is this?” Takeshi would be more than happy to help me.
  

Games - Don't Change My Letters!!!

Get a paper, chalkboard, dry erase board and make a row of "n's". Say "Don't change my "n's" to "h's" (in a joking voice). Turn away for a couple of seconds. When you turn around say "OH NO!!!! Where did my "n's" go??? You changed my "n's"!!! OH NO!!!"

Sounds silly, but it works :)

You can also do:

n-h

n-u

a-d

c-d

c-o

c-q

etc.

Games - ABC's

Magnetic ABC's

We would put these letters on our Dry Erase Board and match the lower case with the upper case. We also spelled simple words with these. It's great to put "at" on the board and get out the letters "b, c, f, h, m, p, r, s". Then your child can change the word "at" to "bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat & sat". You can also play it like the "Don't Change My Letters" game and say "Don't change my bat to cat!!!" Turn away for a minute and then be shocked when your bat is now cat!

Games - Matching Alphabets

This is one of the few games that game ready made. I am sorry I cannot give you the file for this one, but the book that I got the game from is "Letters for Little Learners" bought from Lakeshore Learning. It's such a cute game and Hannah loved this. We copied the pages onto magnetic paper so we could use it on our magnetic board.

Here are the letters... A-Z

Here are the lowercase pieces

You match the lowercase letter to the uppercase letter

Like so!

This is also great to take to church or anywhere your child needs to be quiet :) Here is a little book we make to take with us. The lowercase letters have Velcro circles on the back so they don't fall off.

Games - Alphabet Stop & Go!

I made 2 "Posters" with the upper case alphabet on one, and the lower case alphabet on the other. The poster is 4 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 colored papers taped together. Final measurements are 17 x 22. The white sheet is 8 1/2 x 11 with a hole cut out of the middle so that ONE letter can show through, like this..

Papers are covered with contact paper so it doesn't get ripped up.

Here is how to play. Your child says "GO!" and you start moving the white paper (with the hole in it) around the poster very fast. Your child says "STOP!" and you stop at a letter. Either YOU say the letter/sound, or if your child already knows the letter then let him say it.

Let me just say that this game is rigged. You only stop at the letters you want to stop at. This way you can teach the letters you need to, or review the letters that you want to. When my kids learned a letter and knew it they got to put a star on that letter! This is the way that all 3 of my children learned their letters.

Here is a video I made to explain the game better. I played this game with Hannah before she turned 2 (in the video she is 3 1/2). It's just a fun Stop & Go game!

Games - Make a Sundae!

This art was from a Primary Church lesson that I gave (a LONG time ago). I converted the scoops of ice cream into a reading game, by putting letters on each scoop. I made an upper and a lower case set. I glued magnets on the back so they could stick on our metal board, but you could just use them on the floor, like so...
All you do is build a Sundae with the scoops of ice creams by saying the letters. If your child doesn't know the letters yet, just say the letter names (or sounds) and build a Sundae together.