Paint Chip Phonics Learning Game

How do you teach phonics to kids without it being boring?  This was my question when I was teaching my oldest daughter.  She had a hard time learning to read and I got really frustrated.  Then I read a blog that had this game posted.  

 

What you need:

• 13 Long cards with 4 colors on it
• 34 short cards with a hole cut out (or 12 if they have 3 colors)
• Hole punch 
• Laminator
• Laminating Pouches
• Metal Binder Rings
• Phonogram Page

I got my paint chips from when we painted three rooms in our house.  They are in the paint section of any hardware or big box store.  I was short some of the cards with the hole in them so I asked the manager if I could buy them.  He told me to just take them.

Once I got home with my colorful paint chips I printed out the Phonogram Page and got to work.  On the 12 long cards I wrote the following letters going down.  Try to center the letters on all boxes in order to make word making easier.

Consonants:

• b
• c
• d
• f
• g
• h
• j
• k
• l
• m
• n
• p
• q
• r
• s
• t
• v
• w
• x
• y
• z

Blends:

• bl
• cl
• fl
• gl
• pl
• sl
• br
• cr
• dr
• fr
• gr
• pr
• tr
• sc
• sk
• sp
• st
• sm
• sn
• sw
• spl
• spr
• str
• squ

Diagraphs:

• ch
• wh
• th
• sh
• ph
• thr
• shr

On the 34 cards with the hole cut out I put the word family letter combinations.  If you cannot find the cards with the square cut out you can make them yourself.  Get the cards and use an x acto knife to cut each square.

• ag
• ab
  
• ail
• ain
• ack
• ake
• am
• an
• ank
• ap
• all
• at
• ay
• eed
• ell
• est
• ew
• ick
• ight
• ill
• ine
• ing
• ink
• ip
• ob
• og
• ore
• ot
• out
• ow
• uck
• um
• unk
• y

 

  You can skip any of these steps if you would like and just put them all in a baggie. I have three kids and I knew these cards would get lost and ripped unless I made them more durable.  If you would like to make them more durable then laminate them, hole punch the corner and put a ring on it.  I put all the long cards together and all the short cards together. 

Now that your game is done it is time to play!  To play have your child sit down and try to create words with the cards.  They will place the card with the hole on it over the long card.  My children sometimes play and go in a circle creating words.  They get a point for correctly identifying a real word or fake word.  Other times they play on their own and write down real words and fake words on a chart.  My son (below) LOVES this game and asks to play daily.