If your beginning reader needs help with those tricky beginning blends, try this game!
My Five reads CVC (cat, pit, etc.) words pretty easily now, but those beginning blends still trip him up. He can read “fish,” but if sees “swish” he’s easily confused. When faced with a blend (sw, tr, fl, etc.) he does one of three things:
- a. reads the word correctly (yay!)
- b. reads the blend correctly but changes the middle vowel sound
- c. makes up a new word entirely
Time for a new game!
We’ve done a lot of work on hearing beginning sounds. He’s done my beginning blends clip cards, my Roll a Blend board games, and my Beginning Blend bingo. Hearing the blends isn’t the issue. The challenge is reading them when they’re part of a word.
This is a simple game to print and play. After you print it, get playing pieces and a die. Move around the board and read each pair of words that you land on. Whoever gets to Finish first, wins. Simple!
Except… it’s not that simple for a beginning reader. Blends can be tough! As my son rolled his way around the snail, he read each pair of words.
I made each pair a rhyming pair to give extra support. One word of each pair begins with a blend; the other doesn’t. This will really make your child focus on those letters.
For example:
- clam ham
- still hill
- flat cat
You get the idea.
Even after I won the first game, my son requested to play it again. (After I won the second round, though, he’d had enough!)
How’d he do?
I’d guess that he read at least half his word pairs correctly on the first try. Playing this game with him helped me see how much he still needs work on beginning blends. While I’d love to focus more on other phonics patterns, it’s clear that we need to back and up and master these. So stay tuned for more beginning blends games!
P.S. In the download you’ll find the game in both color and black and white.
Get your free beginning blends game!
MEMBERS GET MORE!
Members of The Measured Mom Plus get even more printables, plus video trainings and no-print resources!
Free Reading Printables for Pre-K-3rd Grade
Join our email list and get this sample pack of time-saving resources from our membership site! You'll get phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading comprehension resources ... all free!
