Teaching children how to read is one of the most enriching experiences both for educators and students. One of the foundational elements of reading is phonics, which involves the relationship between sounds and their spellings. To make this learning process enjoyable and effective, phonics games that focus on blends and digraphs serve as excellent resources.
In this first part of our series on phonics games, we’ll explore some exciting activities that target blends and digraphs to help young readers consolidate their skills.
Blend Bingo
A twist on the classic game of bingo can be a delightful way to reinforce blending skills. In Blend Bingo, instead of numbers, each card is printed with consonant blends such as ‘bl’, ‘st’, ‘ng’. Call out words that contain these blends, like “black” or “string”, and let students cover them if they appear on their card. Not only does it teach recognition of common blends, but it also provides listening practice for blend identification.
Pirate’s Gold Digraph Hunt
Ahoy mateys! Create a treasure hunt game where children search for coins with digraphs on them – combinations of two letters that make a single sound like “sh”, “ch”, or “th”. Scatter these coins around a designated area and equip your little pirates with a map. As they find each coin, encourage them to say words that include the digraph collected to build their treasure chest of knowledge.
Feed the Monster
This interactive game involves feeding a friendly monster “food” labeled with blend or digraph words. Cut out pictures or have word cards printed with blend or digraph words like “swim” or “phone”. Students can ‘feed’ these items into a box decorated like a monster’s mouth by sounding out the blend or digraph as they do so. It’s a playful way to practice decoding skills.
Blends and Digraphs Board Game
Create or print a board game where paths are littered with blend or digraph words. Have students roll dice and move their tokens along the path, but they can only advance if they successfully read aloud the word they land on. Incorporate fun twists like miss-a-turns or move-ahead bonuses tied to correctly identifying particularly tricky words.
Digital Phonics Adventures
There are numerous apps and online games designed for phonics practice. These digital games take advantage of multimedia elements such as voice narration, interactive animations, and engaging storylines. Kids can often progress through different levels that steadily increase in difficulty, allowing for scaffolded learning at their own pace.
Through these entertaining phonics games focusing on blends and digraphs, not only is learning optimized but students also gain confidence in their reading abilities. Stay tuned for Part 2 where we will dive deeper into creative ways to reinforce long vowel sounds through engaging educational gameplay.
