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Games for Teaching Word Endings

Teaching children about word endings through teaching rhyming skills and word groups can help prepare them for learning how to read and how to spell. Even preschoolers can start to learn how to rhyme words. Children typically have an easier time telling you what the beginning sound in a word is rather than the end, according to an article by Edwin S. Ellis on the Reading Rockets website. Playing games with children up to age 8 who are learning how to read and write can help motivate them to learn and make learning word endings more fun. Rhyming games are often used to help teach word endings and word groups, since words that rhyme have the same word endings. For example, bring and thing both end with "ing."
  1. Which Word is Different

    • Show children three pictures or tell them three words, two of which should rhyme and one that doesn't. Ask children which word in a group of three words is different, or doesn't rhyme with the others. Make this more enjoyable by using a game board and allowing them to move forward one space for each correct answer. You can either make a board yourself or use one from a store-bought game. In a classroom setting, you can split the class into teams and give points for correct answers with the winning team getting a small prize at the end, such as getting to choose which book you read during story time or getting to lead the class to lunch.

    Find the Rhyming Words

    • Read stories that contain a lot of rhymes to young children, and see how many rhyming word pairs they can find while listening to you read. You can also do this with favorite songs or poems. Give older children who can read a paper with a poem or story and have a contest to see who can circle the most rhymes in the story.

    Everybody Rhyme

    • Start off the game by giving children a word, then have everyone take turns saying a word that rhymes with that word until you come to a point where nobody can come up with another rhyming word, then let someone else start another round with a new word. Children can have fun seeing just how many rhymes they can come up with. This helps teach children about groups of words that have the same word endings, which helps when they are trying to learn how to spell.

    Electronic Options

    • If your child likes to play on the computer, you can easily find a variety of free games online that teach rhyming and word endings. These games let kids move through different levels based on how well they complete the tasks given them, such as choosing which two words rhyme, and can really motivate kids to practice rhyming. This helps them learn word endings. The games are so fun for the kids they want to keep playing, so they learn more than if they are just given a list of words to study.

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