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PSPKK12335 Comments

Memory games for short a word families

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matching games for short a

Now that she knows all her letters and sounds and has other important pre-reading skills, I’ve been teaching my daughter (4 years, 9 months) to read short vowel words.

I’m not going to tell you she’s been jumping up and down about it.

In fact, until recently, she didn’t want to learn at all.

What made the difference was teaching her to blend sounds using successive blending (I have a video here all about it if you want to try it.)

Once she figured that out, reading words has been much more fun for her. To take it a step further, I created a simple matching game featuring CVC words with short a (the only short vowel we’ve practiced so far).

matching games

I don’t know what it is about matching games, but they’ve always been a big hit with my kids. My Six, who was also reluctant to learn to read, actually begged for more matching games. It’s how I helped him learn his sight words.

 

Watch the quick video above to see the activity in action.

 

child playing matching game

The great thing about memory games is that they’re very simple to make. Just cut index cards in half and write a match on each half.

Since I decided to create a game using pictures, writing on index cards wasn’t going to work for me. (Drawing is just not one of my gifts.) So I created this simple game on my computer.

The download has 16 different matching games. The corner of each card tells you the set that it belongs to so you don’t mix them up.

child playing matching game

I recommend printing each set on a different color of cardstock. This way you can easily sort them.

Here are the word families featured in each game:

  • Game 1 – at
  • Game 2 – at, ap
  • Game 3 – ap, ag
  • Game 4 – at, ag
  • Game 5 – ad, ag
  • Game 6 – ap, ad
  • Game 7 – at, ap, ad
  • game 8 – ap, ab
  • Game 9 – ag, ab, at
  • Game 10 – an, ab
  • Game 11 – an, ag, ab
  • Game 12 – am, an
  • Game 13 – am, an, ag
  • game 14 – at, ab, am
  • Game 15 – at, an, am
  • Game 16 – at, ab, am, an, ag, ap

I hope your learners love this game as much as my preschooler does!

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Filed Under: CVC Words, Reading Tagged With: short a, CVC words, first grade, kindergarten

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Reader Interactions

35 Comments

  1. Iris

    March 24, 2022 at 5:51 pm

    Do you have the matching CVC word game for the other word families?
    Thank you

    Reply to this comment
    • Heather Groth, Customer Support

      March 24, 2022 at 9:05 pm

      Yes, we do! You can find them in the Subscriber Freebies section located here, https://www.themeasuredmom.com/subscriber-freebies/.

      Reply to this comment
      • Iris

        March 30, 2022 at 7:05 pm

        Do you have it for the other vowels? My kids love playing this game.

        Reply to this comment
        • Heather Groth, Customer Support

          April 1, 2022 at 1:40 pm

          Hello Iris! You can find the other vowel CVC matching games in our Subscriber Freebies section here, https://www.themeasuredmom.com/subscriber-freebies/. You’ll find them under the “Reading Games” heading. Thanks!

          Reply to this comment
  2. Cate

    May 2, 2021 at 2:16 pm

    Hello! I would love to try this resource, but it will not let me download it. Is this link still available? Thank you.

    Reply to this comment
    • Heather Groth, Customer Support

      May 3, 2021 at 3:41 pm

      Hello Cate! The link is still active, and when you click the yellow “Click to Download” button, the pdf of the matching game should pop right up. You may want to try disabling your ad-blocker, or accessing the post from a different web browser or device. If you try this and are still having difficulty, please email us at hello@themeasuredmom.com so we make sure you can get access to this resource! Thank you!

      Reply to this comment
  3. Laura

    July 14, 2019 at 12:32 am

    Hi! I just noticed that page 39 has exactly the same words as 38. 🙂

    Reply to this comment
  4. Cesia

    March 6, 2019 at 6:06 am

    Hi Anna,
    Would it be possible to have a set of memory games but for vowel teams? And thanks again for being so generous in sharing all these great resources with us!! Have a good one.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      March 9, 2019 at 12:31 pm

      Thanks for that request, Cesia – I’ll see what I can do! 🙂

      Reply to this comment
  5. Amber

    December 13, 2018 at 12:29 pm

    Trying to print the short vowel phonics games but it just holds and nothing ever happens! Is there something else that I need to do?

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      December 14, 2018 at 6:21 am

      I’m sorry, I don’t know what the issue would be. 🙁

      Reply to this comment
  6. Susan

    November 5, 2018 at 6:27 pm

    Thanks so much for these great games! I”ve printed them ALL out and can’t wait to start using them with my little learners.

    I did notice one mistake – Game 10 for “i” is exactly the same as Game 9 for “i”.

    Reply to this comment
    • Susan

      November 5, 2018 at 6:28 pm

      and Game 10 for “i” is listed as Game 5 on the actual cards:) I was scratching my head a bit trying to figure this one out:)

      Reply to this comment
      • Anna G

        November 5, 2018 at 7:09 pm

        oops! I will get to that edit when I can. It may be a while, though!

        Reply to this comment
  7. Mary Westerlind

    November 4, 2018 at 11:41 am

    Thank you for sharing your amazing work and ideas, I’m so appreciative! Excellent resources to use with my class, can’t wait to get them printed out and put them into use. Mary

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      November 5, 2018 at 7:24 am

      You’re welcome, Mary!

      Reply to this comment
  8. Clare

    November 4, 2018 at 4:35 am

    This is great, we love memory games 🙂

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      November 5, 2018 at 7:24 am

      I’m glad you like them, Clare!

      Reply to this comment
  9. senthilkumar

    November 2, 2018 at 12:58 am

    very useful for children to learn by their own.. Thankyou mam..

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      November 3, 2018 at 7:42 am

      You’re very welcome, Senthilkumar!

      Reply to this comment
  10. Ayesha sana Sohel

    October 31, 2018 at 4:12 pm

    Very good resource… Waiting for other word families.. Thanks a lot!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      October 31, 2018 at 8:53 pm

      You’re welcome, Ayesha!

      Reply to this comment
  11. amy aldridge

    October 31, 2018 at 2:15 pm

    Perfect resource! Thank you for sharing.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      October 31, 2018 at 8:53 pm

      You’re welcome, Amy!

      Reply to this comment
  12. Cesia K.

    October 31, 2018 at 12:25 pm

    Thank you, Anna! DD and I we will be waiting for the word families for the rest of the vowels! Keep them coming. -Cesia

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      October 31, 2018 at 8:53 pm

      I’m working on it! 🙂

      Reply to this comment
  13. Priscilla Hammond

    October 31, 2018 at 10:42 am

    Thank you for this wonderful resource! It’s just what I need for my class.

    Priscilla Hammond

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      October 31, 2018 at 8:53 pm

      You’re welcome, Priscilla!

      Reply to this comment
  14. Sharmeen

    October 31, 2018 at 10:16 am

    Hi Anna, thank yoi for sharing short a game. Its handy and wonderful. Waiting for other short vowels game. Hope will receive them soon.
    Tc

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      October 31, 2018 at 8:52 pm

      Yes I hope so too!

      Reply to this comment
  15. Julie Carrington

    October 31, 2018 at 6:08 am

    Love this idea, waiting for the other word games hoping soon 🙂

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      October 31, 2018 at 8:52 pm

      I hope to add them to the subscriber library soon. 🙂

      Reply to this comment
  16. Akanksha

    October 30, 2018 at 9:21 pm

    I believe there is a printing mistake in the last matching game. It says “cag” where it should be “cab”
    Thank you for the wonderful freebie

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      October 31, 2018 at 8:52 pm

      Thanks – I’ll fix that soon!

      Reply to this comment

Trackbacks

  1. The Best Literacy Resources for Young Learners - a life worthy says:
    January 7, 2019 at 10:54 pm

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