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101 Ways to Use Word Cards….
1.
Play ‘Battleships’ with words on a grid with a partner or as a class.
2. Play coin toss - words on floor - children take turns to toss a coin onto
a word and say that word.
3. Have a box of small blank mini cards or paper you can purchase great
sized post it notes these days (approx 10cm x 2 cm) on hand at all
times so that children can write down words from word walls, charts
etc and then take the card back to their writing. It is also handy to
write words on when doing writing conferences.
4. Play who am I? Eg. I am yellow, I have 5 letters, and I end in ‘t’.
5. Make a letter twister chart with chalk on a concrete floor, children
place their feet and hands on the letters to spell words.
6. Children make their own word wall/dictionary using photocopied small
words and scrapbooks labeled with a letter of alphabet on each page...
can be added to throughout the year.
7. Play Hangman using the word card words.
8. How quickly can you find a certain word in individual reading books
during small group reading.
9. Play dominoes using same end letter/ beginning letter.
10. Circle letters within words using whiteboard marker on laminated
word cards.
11. Play Chinese Whispers - say a word - pass it around.
12. Circle letter blends within words using whiteboard marker on
laminated word cards.
13. Circle smaller words within words using whiteboard marker on
laminated word cards.
14. Children go outside and practice writing their words with chalk on the
concrete.
15. Practice handwriting by tracing over words using whiteboard marker
on laminated word cards.
16. Place word cards in alphabetical order.
17. Flashlight words – turn off lights – flash a torch on words on display
for look and say.
18. Around the World Words – flash a word – first player to say word
out of that pair moves on to the next person to make a pair and
another word is flashed, etc, etc.
19. Play ‘tic tac toe, here I go, where I stop I do not know’ - children say
the word that you stop on...
20. Play stepping stones - place words on the floor and children walk over
them saying the word as they go to get to the other side of the
stream.
21. Play musical words - children pass words around in a circle until music
stops - that child says the word - can be played with 1 or more words.
22. Go on a word walk - find words around the environment - signs etc.
23. Make words using playdough.
24. Make words using string gluing.
25. Make words using letter tiles -scrabble pieces.
26. Make words using stencils.
27. Make words using alphabet stamps.
28. Make words using magnetic letters.
29. Cloze on blackboard - children find the missing word within a
sentence.
30. Beat the clock - how many times can a word be written in 1 minute
etc.
31. Beat the clock – how many words can be read in 1 minute etc.
32. Children write their words in list form and then write over the words
2 or more times using different colours to create rainbow words.
33. Words of the week.
34. Pass out a word to each child, when you call out their word, they may
line up or move to a new activity.
35. Word wall - place words under alphabet along wall.
36. Play ‘Snap’ with 2 word packs.
37. Play ‘Snap’ by words with the same initial letter.
38. Play ‘Snap’ by words with the same letter blends.
39. Play ‘Snap’ by words with the same end letters.
40. Play ‘Snap’ by words with the same number of letters.
41. Class / Individual bingo, children fold an A4 page into 8 then unfold,
place the words you want to use in view of the children (about 20 is
good). Children chose 8 of those words to copy into their 8 sections.
Start calling the 20 words out slowly as children mark off their
sheets.
42. Unravel mixed up words eg. het (the).
43. Place photocopied individual mini words in small container for each
child to take home to practice words for homework.
44. Find and cut out words from newspapers and magazines - make a
collage.
45. Find letters in magazines and newspapers to cut out and make a
‘ransom’ word.
46. Look, cover, write, check.
47. Hide and seek words - hide the words around the room children find
them.
48. Classify/group words by rhyme.
49. Classify/group words by initial letters.
50. Classify/group words by number of letters.
51. Classify/group words by words within words.
52. Classify/group words by double letters.
53. Classify/group words by letter blends.
54. Count how many times a certain word appears in reading books.
55. Play fishing game - make a fishing rod with a magnet on the end and
put paper clips on each word.
56. Word of the day.
57. Mini sight words are a great idea (made from smaller copies). I
used to ask each child to bring in a small plastic container to keep
their mini words in. We would gradually add words as they were
introduced. Children would write their names on the back of each
word. Each new term we would check our containers and would renew
them again with fresh words because we used them so much.
58. Play 20 questions - I am thinking of a word..- children ask
questions to find out what word it is..
59. Play name a word - children clap, stamp, etc when selected word card
appears.
60. Maths - estimate and prove how many cards fit inside a chosen area.
61. Find and match words in reading books.
62. Find and match words in children’s own writing.
63. Find and match words in shared books.
64. Find and match words in charts / signs/ poems/ songs etc.
65. Place high frequency words on your computer screen saver.
66. Teacher says first few letters - children guess the word.
67. Guess the covered word.
68. Add endings to words.
69. Add different beginnings to words.
70. Make a sentence with the words.
71. Play concentration by turning over 2 cards with same initial letter.
72. Play concentration by turning over 2 cards with same ending letter.
73. Play concentration by using 2 identical word packs (eg 2 chn use their
mini words).
74. Create words that rhyme with word cards.
75. Word Explosions - create new words from letters in word cards.
76. Older children can make a wordsearch for their partner using the
words from the cards.
77. Write a word on your partner’s back using your finger- what word is
it?
78. Make a word train - class, or individual - write weekly words or
chosen words from end to end to make a train.
79. Make a word mobile using a coat hanger for certain groups of words.
80. Look and Say words in different ways - eg. yelling, whispering, slow,
fast, high voices, low voices etc..
81. Play Postman – children lay heads on desk, put out one hand, a
selected ‘postman’ places a word card in each letterbox hand, children
read their words.
82. On individual mini words, colour in certain letter blends, letters etc
using specific colours.
83. Lots of partner work can be done using individual mini word cards, eg
bingo.
84. Writing race - children have a race to see who can write chosen
words on board the fastest.
85. Word Relay - similar to no. 84 - except children actually form relay
teams to write words on the board - each child comes forward, writes
a word and moves to the back of their team, while the next one comes
forward.
86. Paint words in different ways during art lessons – using different
media.
87. Make a word chain by writing words on paper strips or streamers and
glue them together to make a paper chain.
88. Children say words into a microphone - record and play back.
89. Select a word and write 3 versions of it on the board, spelling it
correctly only once - children must pick the correct spelling – it is a
lot of fun to spell one of the versions ridiculously incorrectly.. eg.
peeeple , people, people.
90. Select a word from the list and write it on the board, leaving out one
letter- children guess the missing letter – can be played in teams or
individually.
91. Brainstorm and write extended word families for some of the words
eg. run– walk – skip – jump – jog.
92. Draw a large picture illustrating 5 or 6 of the words.
93. Make up a class code and write the words in code.
94. Memory Game - played in pairs - group words face up, one player
takes a good look at the words then the partner takes one away first player writes down the missing word.
95. Write down one word, then create new words by changing one letter –
continue until 10 new words have been created - eg. lost - most –
mist – mint.
96. Display words in a way that is related to a theme – eg. words written
on flowers for garden theme. Children can do this individually as well
as a class project.
97. Place words on floor, and call out clues such as – a word beginning with
s, a word with 5 letters, a word that ends in ed - children use the
clues to guess the word.
98. One child leaves the room, the rest of the class choose a word, child
returns and guesses which word was chosen.
99. On blackboard with 2 teams play noughts and crosses - when a word is
named correctly that team draws a cross or nought in a space.
100.Play drop the hanky using a word card instead of a hanky.
101.Make alphabetic word banks from a set of mini cards– similar to word
wall but in smaller containers - these can make it easier for children
to take to their desk to copy words