That's exactly what happened to me a year ago when I wrote the following, but failed to publish it.
So, better one year and most of the day late than never. We're just sitting down to play this again, and, maybe, you can enjoy it this afternoon, too.
Despite Luke and Nina being on their third day with a belly bug yesterday, we did not take a "sick day" from play and learning. In fact, while the children were immersed in various activities from our Skill and Study shelves, I decided to whip up a game that would encourage both learning and play at the same time.
What inspired the game?
Jack is still learning letter sounds. Nina is moving her way slowly but surely through reading and writing basic phonics. And, Luke needs extra practice reading specific blends and digraphs. Plus, we were celebrating the Epiphany.
With all this in mind, as well as inspiration from the wonderful Everyday Games that the children have enjoyed from SchoolhouseTeachers.com (which are generously offered by Teresa from Fun Games 4 Learning, who makes fabulous games!), I created a phonics game based on the Epiphany-themed words "king" and "star".
Once created and printed, we found this game easy, effective and entertaining.
All three children were able to play the game with no problem (although Jack, of course, needed a little help from me or one of his siblings.) Rounds went quickly and lots of practice with single consonant sounds, blends, digraphs, onsets and rimes was had. We also took the game up a learning notch by practicing sentence-building with the words that we created on our turns. Thus, this easy game was a win-win-win for us!
Perhaps your young learners would like to play it, too. Feel free to download your own free copy of Three in a Row: Complete the -ar and -ing Words! And, as always, if you have a request for something you'd like me to put together or write about, please leave it in the comments on this post or over at our Facebook page anytime.
Enjoy!
