Word Families: Match-Up Mats

I'm sure we didn't get taught "Word Families" at school, and after doing some research it's amazing how much you learn all over again! I have found that getting the kids to do a combined game is a great way for us all to have fun together, which in turn, makes it a great positive experience that they will want to do over and over again.

We have found these Word Family games from "The Measured Mom" website which has some fantastic resources that you can print off and use.

I have printed and laminated the Word Family mats that helps you identify the word by looking at the picture, then finding the word, and placing it over the top. It was a great hit, and even Blake (4) became very good at getting the right answers too!

To download the Word Family mats, click here

Outside Vowel Games

Learning should be fun, right??? Well, often the kids are just plain bored with sitting at the table, so I will try to make a point of making some games out of the stuff we've recently learnt.  This week we've done 'vowels', so everywhere we went we tried to do some 'work' but make it fun too!

Swimming Time:

At the Tepid Baths Freya and I decided to have a competition to see who could find words around the pool and see whether they were short or long vowels.  We started off by using a 'little kneeboard' to throw back and forth, and as we threw it to the other person, we would have to say a word that we could see.  Some examples were: 'cap', 'swim', 'flag', 'board', 'roof', 'plant', 'lane', 'spa', 'Ben' (who happened to be the lifeguard on duty), 'togs', 'water', 'splash' etc etc

After we threw the board and said our word, we would have to decide what vowels were in the word, and whether they were short or long vowels.  This is a good game for keeping the board moving!


Speed Vowel Boxes:
 I basically thought of this game up quickly as we were walking to a flat area of paved concrete with chalk in my hand!

I drew 5 boxes, and put a large vowel in each.  We then tried to think of some words and jump to the boxes.  This wasn't exciting enough, so I then made all 3 of us stand about 2 metres away from the boxes and we made it a 'race' to try and guess the vowel and then first to run to the correct box wins.  It ended up VERY successful and even Freya and Blake got some vowels correct even before I had said them!

Blake attempting to make his 'own' vowel box!