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PSPKK12318 Comments

Card game for short a, ai & ay words

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Print this free card game for practice with ai and ay words!

war card game for short a ai and ay

My Five and I have been playing a lot of games to help him learn the common phonics patterns. So far we’ve played games for short vowels, bossy r, silent e, oo, and ee words.  

Today we’re starting games that teach ai and ay.

I decided to keep ai and ay together because they both make the long a sound; the only difference is where they appear in the word.  “Ay” appears at the end of the word, as in clay or say.  “Ai appears in the middle of the word, as in rain or train.

I also included short a words because it’s important for kids to have to distinguish between short and long vowel words.

war card game for ai and ay words1

This game is played like the traditional card game “War.”  Simply print the cards on carstock and divide them evenly among the players.  Put them face down. (I laminated our cards before we played so they’d be nice and sturdy.)

war card game for ai and ay words2

Each of us flipped over the top card from our stack.  We read the words aloud.  Make sure you insist on reading the words out loud, or this is no longer a reading game. 🙂

war card game for ai and ay words3

The player whose card had the higher numerical value got to keep both cards.

In this game, the card value is (from lowest to highest) 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K.

war card game for ai and ay words4

If two players tie for the highest card value, they play “war.”  Each player takes the top three cards from his stack and places them face down as shown.  When I was growing up we would say “I DE-CLARE” as we placed the cards down.  Then we’d say “WAR!” as we added the final card, this time face up.

Whoever has the highest card of the final two cards gets to keep all of them.

When the players have used up the cards in their stacks, they take their winning piles, shuffle them, and play again, until one player has all the cards.

Feel free to quit early if you’re not up for a long game. 😉

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Filed Under: Reading, Vowel teams Tagged With: first grade, second grade, kindergarten

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Reader Interactions

18 Comments

  1. Mary

    February 15, 2020 at 11:00 pm

    Awesome resource! I’m soo thankful that I was able to find ready to print resources for teaching ai/ay from your website! Thank you!!!

    Reply to this comment
  2. Kath Riley

    May 20, 2019 at 3:48 am

    I teach one to one in a prison, on a volunteer basis. These are not kids. However, many are only at the primary school reading level so need the games etc that you provide. Thank you so much for all the free printable stuff.

    Reply to this comment
  3. Pam Saenz

    May 17, 2019 at 7:31 am

    It says Short A but I believe it is Long A 🙂

    Reply to this comment
    • Wendy

      May 19, 2019 at 10:18 pm

      Ai and ay are long a but it looks like the other words are all short a.

      Reply to this comment
      • Anna G

        June 15, 2019 at 9:45 pm

        Yes, as stated in the post: I also included short a words because it’s important for kids to have to distinguish between short and long vowel words.

        Reply to this comment
  4. MandiLou

    May 16, 2019 at 8:26 pm

    Thank you!!! I have enjoyed many of your games. They make learning fun.

    Reply to this comment
  5. Allyson

    July 18, 2018 at 8:49 pm

    My students loved this today!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      July 26, 2018 at 6:55 am

      I’m so glad, Allyson!

      Reply to this comment
  6. Tania

    October 6, 2017 at 12:25 am

    Thank you for such a good game! children like to play it. And reading is not borring for them, it is cool.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      October 7, 2017 at 6:07 pm

      You’re very welcome, Tania! I hope you find many helpful resources on my site.

      Reply to this comment
  7. Eyoel

    April 11, 2017 at 9:55 am

    you are amazing anna! I love it! can you please recommend some printables for learners as a second language?

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      April 13, 2017 at 5:23 am

      Hi Eyoel!

      Unfortunately, I don’t have experiences teaching English as a second language.

      Reply to this comment
  8. RuthHenderson

    February 3, 2017 at 8:21 am

    Can You make this game editable. I would love to use it with other words or vowel teams.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      February 3, 2017 at 8:35 am

      Right now I do not offer editable files. However, the last game in the pack has a blank game you can write on. If you look on my Free Printables page you will find MANY more four-in-a-row games I’ve created for other vowel teams.

      Reply to this comment
  9. Cara

    May 18, 2016 at 9:23 pm

    Do you have more war phonics games? or editable ones? Love it!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      May 21, 2016 at 4:12 pm

      Hi, Cara!
      This is my first War card game, and I don’t have editable printables yet. I’d like to figure out how to offer those one of these days, but I’m not sure when that will be. 🙂 I do have many free phonics games in other formats on my Free Printables page, so be sure to check that out!

      Reply to this comment

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  2. Worksheets for ai & ay words - The Measured Mom says:
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