Word Play Practice for Home
Switch a Letter: Use magnetic letters or letter cards to make a simple three-letter word such as can and place it on the table. Ask your child to read the word. Next, ask your child to switch one of the letters to make a new word. For example s/he could switch the n in can to a t to make cat. Ask your child to read the new word to make sure it is a real word. Repeat the process, switching the letters as many times as possible. If time allows, play again with another three-letter word.
Using magnetic letters or letter cards, play Changing Vowels: Make a simple three-letter or four-letter word such as bed. Ask your child to change the vowel (e) to make as many new words as s/he can, such as bad, bid, or bud. Repeat with other words like dig, pot, and rug.
Play Crossword Letters: Using magnetic letters or letter cards(you could also just write the words on paper) make a three-letter word such as cat. Ask your child to add a word that begins with one of the letters in cat. For example s/he could make cup off the c in cat. Then you add a word off his/her word, such as pig off the p in cup. Words can go across or down. Continue taking turns adding as many words as you can to the crossword.
Suffix Fun: Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make an action word such as jump. Ask your child to add different endings like -ing, -er, -s, and -ed to make new words like jumping, jumper, jumps, jumped. Repeat with other action words.
Make a Word Ladder: Have your child write a word s/he knows like cat. Tell him to change one or two letters to make a new word like cab. Tell your child s/he can also choose to remove or add a letter(s) to make a new word. See how long your child can make this word ladder!
*Some game ideas have been modified from Fountas and Pinnell