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!
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Nancy
I want to do this for my 1st grade class but I have one question , where it says +4 or -3 what does that mean?
Heather Groth, Customer Support
Hi Nancy! When a student lands on those, he or she should move forward or backward that number of spaces. For instance, if someone lands on -3, they would move their piece backward three spaces. If they land on +2, they get to move ahead two spaces.
Kevra
I loved this beginning blends game!
Heather Groth, Customer Support
Yay! So glad it worked well for you, Kevra!
Ashwini
Mam I have started my YouTube channel named winning boat to teach kids activities can I use ur free printables to show in my video. I will mention ur name and link in the video and in description. Can I use? Thank you
Anna G
Yes, that’s fine! Please link only to the blog post and not to individual files. 🙂
Cequoia
Anna, thank you so much for these amazing resources! I am a teacher/reading specialist and I have found the printable games to be an incredible addition with my kids who are struggling with reading. They are engaging and leave the kids begging for another round! HA! Again, thank you so much.
Anna Geiger
I’m so glad to hear that these games are working for your students, Cequoia!
Elizabeth M
You’re amazing! Thank you for providing these free! My daughter’s not quite ready to learn to read yet, but I’m collecting resources in advance. (She destroys cards, water paints, practically everything right now.) I’m excited about using the Would You Rather cards with my English learners too.
Anna Geiger
You’re very welcome, Elizabeth! Lord willing, it wil all be here waiting for your daughter when she’s ready. 🙂
ANNET MINAYO
woh! that was grate it has really helped me a lot for my children and having now more experience
Katie @ Gift of Curiosity
This comes at just the right time for me! Printing a copy now to use with my kids, who have also pretty much mastered CVC words and are ready to move on. Thanks!
Anna Geiger
Yay! So glad you can use it, Katie. 🙂
Carolyn
I’m dying to use these games for my grade 1 class but none of the PDF’s will open for me!!! Any advice?? Would love to use them!
Thanks
Carolyn
Anna Geiger
Did you click on the link under the download: “having trouble downloading or printing?” 99% of the time, it has a solution.