- Literacy games are important to encourage a love of reading.alphabet image by Blue Moon from Fotolia.com
Literacy is the ability to read and write. Making literacy exciting is vital in primary education. Children must develop a sense that reading is fun to encourage them to be lifelong readers. By playing literacy games with children, you can quickly identify areas of mastery vs. areas which need continued practice. - Indentifying letters of the alphabet and letter sounds are the first steps to reading.magnifying glass image by Oleg Verbitsky from Fotolia.com
To prepare for this game, cut a large magnifying glass shape out of poster board or cardboard for each child. Next make sure there are many letters/words displayed around the room on walls and bulletin boards at the children's level. (These can be part of the normal room decor.) The prep work is complete, now you are ready for the game.
Distribute a magnifying glass to each child, and tell the group that they are letter-finding scientists. Explain the procedure for the game while you demonstrate it. You will call out a letter of the alphabet and the children will search the room for that letter while making the letter sound aloud. When a child finds the letter, he should place his magnifier over the letter. Allow about one minute per letter. Another letter can be called out when all children have found the previous letter. To offer a challenge for older children, play this game in the same way but with sight words or spelling words instead of the letters of the alphabet. - A beach ball is an inexpensive, exciting way to practice early phonics skills.beach ball river background, focus point on the toy image by Alexey Klementiev from Fotolia.com
This game is a treat on rainy days, but you can play it anytime you need to practice letter sounds. You need an inflatable beach ball and a permanent marker. Write the letters of the alphabet onto the ball in various positions on the surface. You may choose to write all capital letters or all lower-case letters. Once this is complete, you are ready to play the game.
The children stand in a circle. They will take turns tossing the ball to each other. When a student catches the ball, she takes a look at the letter under her right hand, then says a word that begins with that letter. If the ball drops, you can toss the it to the nearest child and game play continues. For an added challenge to the game, create a different ball that has consonant blends for beginning sounds or ending sounds of words. - Matching upper- and lower-case letters is an integral facet to reading.children silouettes image by Charlene Bayerle from Fotolia.com
This game works well as an ice-breaker, but you can play it anytime. Prepare index cards with the alphabet written on them. Write capital letters on one set of cards. Write lower-case letters on another set of cards.You also will need tape to attach the cards to the children's shirts. Now you are ready to play the game.
Attach one card to each child's shirt, making sure that another child has a match for that card. Now ask the children to group themselves into two groups--lower-case letters and capital letters. (Designate an area of the room for each group to meet.) Next ask the children to make a single line and face the other group. Now ask the children to find their letter partner (matching upper case to lower case). For an added challenge, create a third set of cards with pictures of the beginning letter sounds and divide students into three groups, asking them to match upper case, lower case and the picture with the letter sound.
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