As a teacher, you’re always on the lookout for short and effective activities. Your pupils just want to have fun. So, let’s combine the two, shall we? We love discovering inventive ideas that fellow teachers use to reach their pupils’ young minds. Below, we’ve rounded up some of our favourite literacy games for you to try with your pupils’ as they are getting familiar with letters, words and sentences.
When fidget spinners found their way into classrooms across the country, you could almost hear a collective groan from teachers facing another fad amongst pupils. At least one creative teacher, however, has found a way to put them to good use. This fidget spinner and paper plate contraption form the basis for many literacy games supporting letter recognition, noun knowledge, vocabulary and social skills. Check them out here.
Such a fun DIY resource that is easily adapted across age groups. Using alphabet ping pong balls and letter tubes, your class can learn to recognise, name and match graphemes to their corresponding phonemes. They can also segment and blend small CVC words to read and spell them. See how it’s done.
Easy to make and simple to play, this photo name puzzle is great for supporting the children to learn the letters in their names. Take a photo of each child, write their name underneath and then cut it into strips. Simple, but effective. Read more here.
This fun card game is great for practising sight words and identifying letters. This would be perfect for small groups or simple to adapt for a whole class game. The cards are dealt, and players take it in turns to read theirs and see who has the following. Once they’ve found it, the card is put in a pile. The game concludes when all the cards have been found. Find out more here. (There are some great free printable cards to download here too).
Show me a child (or an adult for that matter) that doesn’t like a lucky dip! There’s heaps of potential for a lucky dip bucket in the classroom. Fill it with keyword cards, spellings, phonics or even an assortment of objects from around the classroom so the kids can identify the first letter of the item. Either way, the kids will love it and, best of all, they’re learning those essential literacy skills at the same time! Make your own.