Today I’m sharing a set of four-in-a-row games for teaching short i words.
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My Five is getting better and better at reading short vowel words automatically. Hurray! One of his favorite ways to practice is with our 4-in-a-row games.
You should know something about my Five. He’s cute, but he’s grumpy. While he’d listen to me read books all day long, he’s often resistant when it comes to structured learning time.
Today when I told him it was time to play a reading game, he asked, “Is it a four in a row game?” When I answered yes, he literally jumped in air with his fists raised. “Yay! I love those!!”
High praise from my grumpy guy. 🙂
(Sorry for the dark, blurry pictures today! We don’t have time to do all our activities on the one day we’re expecting sunshine over the next week and a half!)
I’ll keep this quick because you’ve probably seen our four-in-a-row games before. Simply print the game of your choice and grab some Do-a-dot markers, regular markers, or small counters.
Take turns reading words and dotting the words you read.
The first to get four in a row, wins!
We did a big stack of these before we moved on to something else. Here are all the games you’ll get in the download:
- Game 1 – ip words
- Game 2 – ip words with blends and digraphs
- Game 3 – it words
- Game 4 – it words with blends and digraphs
- Game 5 – ick words
- Game 6 – ick words with blends and digraphs
- Game 7 – in words
- Game 8 – in words with blends and digraphs
- Game 9 – id words
- Game 10 – ig words
- Game 11 – ip, it, ick words
- Game 12 – it, id, ig words
- Game 13 – All short i word family words
P.S. Looking for more engaging phonics resources?
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Get your free reading games!
YOU AND YOUR STUDENTS WILL LOVE THESE NO-PRINT ACTIVITIES!

Early Reading No-Print Bundle
$12.00
Your students can complete these activities in Google Slides on a computer or tablet. The activities give them practice with sight words, beginning blends, CVC words, and CVCE words.