I was emailed a very creative and fun idea to teach letters, vowel recognition, spelling, words and sight words. I think this is great idea and had to share! I will have to make this come the weekend. I cannot wait to share this with my children. What I love especially is that it is the kind of activity that grows with the child. You can begin to use it to teach the alphabet. Try using it to teach your child how to spell her name. Once that is mastered you can move on to blending phonics to make to words. Continue to use it for sight words. You can keep using it for weekly spelling lists.
Making a Word
SUPPLIES:
Empty wood or plastic thread spools
Permanent markers
Dowel rod or unsharpened pencil
DIRECTIONS:
1. Using a blue marker, write the letters s, r, l, g, and f around the first spool
2. Around the second spool, write the letters a, e, i, o, and u in red.
3. Around the third spool, write the letters n, t, d, p, and b in blue.
4. Put the spools, in order, on the dowel rod or unsharpened pencil.
5. Turn the spools to form a word.
Another fun idea is to use paint sample strips you get at the home improvement store. Try to find the ones that have a square cut out to compare your wall color to the color on the strip. Get one of those and a few of the ones without it. On the one with the squares cut out write words leaving the empty square open for instance write “C” then empty space and then write “T”. On the other strips write vowels. You then slide the vowel strip under the other one to reveal the vowel in between the “C” and “T” or your desired letters and have your child sound it out.
Such fun ways to teach about making words!