This game will allow kindergarten students to run and search while still thinking critically about phonics. To prepare, gather two stacks of index cards, each a different color. With one stack, write a word on each card that your students have studied in class, underlining the letter or letters in the word that you want the students to focus on. On the second stack, write a single letter of the alphabet, ensuring that every card in one stack has a phonetic match in the other stack. For example, if your stacks are blue and yellow, a blue card may feature the word “Grapes” with the “a” underlined, and its yellow match would feature the letter “A.” For more advanced students, indicate on the letter cards whether the vowels have a long or short sound, and whether the consonants have a hard or soft sound. Scatter the cards around your classroom or outside in secure places and turn your kindergarten students loose to hunt for matches, encouraging them to cooperate and help one another find letters that match the words they find. Afterward, each student must read his cards to the rest of the class, allowing them to demonstrate their verbal skills as well as their reading skills.
Encouraging students to jump in the classroom is part of the fun of this hopping phonics game. Prepare a set of index cards, giving each one of the following letters: B, C, F, H, M, P, R, S or D. Collect five large, thick pieces of construction paper or poster board. On each, write the ending of a word you have studied in class, such as “-it,” “-an” or “-at.” Spread these large pieces of paper on the floor, line your students up and give each an index card with a different letter. Their job is to hop like a kangaroo onto only those mats featuring an ending that creates a word with the letter on their card. For example, if a child has an index card with an “H,” he can hop onto the papers with the endings “-at” and “-it” to create the words “hat” and “hit.” However, if he hopped onto a paper with the ending “-an,” he would be out of the game. Give each student a turn, and have them swap index cards to try forming new words. This activity encourages children to use their knowledge of phonics to create their own words, a stepping stone into spelling and writing new words.
This game will remind students of carnival games, such as ring toss. Collect five sturdy plastic cups and use a marker to write one of the following word beginnings on the top inside rim of each cup: BL, TW, QU, CH and SH. Tape the cups to the floor or to the top of a short table in a cluster or line, ensuring that the letters are visible for the students. Give each student a handful of tossing objects, such as coins, chips or small beanbags, and have them take turns trying to toss their objects into the cups. Each time a student successfully throws their object into a cup, she must come up with a word that begins with those letters. For example, if a student successfully tosses her coin into the “TW” cup, she can say “two” or “twine.” Record all of the words your student create on the board as they play. This activity helps students practice their powers of recall and learn new words from their classmates, and improves their hand-eye coordination.
Allow your kindergartners to don caps and magnifying glasses and become real phonics detectives with this physical game. Create a set of index cards with letter combinations you have been working on in class, such as BL or CH. Hand each child a few cards and instruct them to use their detective skills to hunt down objects in the classroom that contain one of their letter combinations. For example, a child with an SH card might find the pencil sharpener, while another with a KS card may go to a stack of books. This activity helps children use critical thinking as they consider each object in the classroom and hone their powers of deduction.