Rhode Island

Department of
Education
 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Welcome to our guide to

building early literacy
skills while having lots of
family fun!
A GUIDE FOR FAMILIES

The Rhode Island Department of Education

(RIDE) has assembled this resource of games
and activities that can be played at home to
help boost early reading skills. There are
games for pre-readers, early readers, and
older students to develop skills to improve
reading and comprehension.
Reading to young children has many
Many separate skills must be developed for a positive benefits including
child to become a skilled reader. In this understanding text structure, and
resource, you will find games to build each of developing their vocabulary. However,
these skills! These games can be adapted and reading to children alone is not enough
for them to become skilled readers
changed as a child’s ability grows. Be
themselves.
creative! Most importantly, have fun!

At the end of this resource, there is a section

with word banks and optional resources for
families who wish to learn more about
reading.

Here’s to spending time with family and

friends while building important pre-reading
and reading skills!

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

HOW WE LEARN TO READ

Reading is not a natural

process.

To read, we must build the new

neural routes to connect areas of our
brain used to see, speak, and
understand the meaning of words.

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The best way to build these

pathways
is to develop skills in:

Reading the words on the page

or
Decoding

Knowing what those words mean

or
Language Comprehension

Children must develop skills in both of

these areas in order to become skilled readers
(Gough and Tunmer, 1986).

In this resource, you will find games

and activities to do with your child that
will set them up for success in both
decoding and language comprehension.

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READING THE WORDS ON THE PAGE

(DECODING)

Kids will love spending time playing these quick games, and you will be
amazed to see the positive impact they will have on their early reading
abilities.

● Section 1: Games to Understand that Words are Made of Sounds

● Section 2: Games to Attach Sounds to Letters

UNDERSTANDING THE WORDS BEING READ

(LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION)

These games can be enjoyed by younger children as well as their older

siblings. Even adult family members will love getting involved in the fun
improvisation games!

● Section 3: Games to Build Vocabulary

● Section 4: Games to Build Background Knowledge

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Here are some words that may be

helpful to know:

Decoding - The process of reading words on a page. Decoding

develops best when a child practices breaking down words into
single speech sounds, then practices attaching them to letters one
letter-sound at a time.

Phoneme: One sound within a word. The word teach has three
phonemes: /t/ /ē/ and /ch/.

Phonological Awareness: Being aware that words are made of

sounds.

Phonemic Awareness: Under the “umbrella” of phonological

awareness, phonemic awareness is being aware of the single
sounds in words that blend together to create the word.

Phonics: Attaching single speech-sounds to letters or groups of

letters that make one sound.

Phonogram: A letter or group of letters that together makes one

sound unit. Ex: <a> is a phonogram that can say long /ā/ as in
acorn or short /ă/ as in cat, <ai>, <ay> <ei> and <eigh> are all
phonograms that can say long /ā/. See Resource H for more.

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Levels:
On the bottom of each page is a shape. The shape indicates if the game is
intended for the following levels of readers:

Early
Pre Readers
Readers

Later
All Ages
Readers
Please note that games intended for pre-readers will still be beneficial for
children who are beginning to read, or who are not yet decoding grade
level texts.

Additionally, pages with an oval on the bottom are games that can be
tailored to readers of all ages, or are well-suited for readers of all ages.

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Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Name That
Sound

For this game, it is helpful to have a device such as a toy, computer, or

smartphone that can play sounds.

How to Play:

Play a sound for your child on the computer or phone. The sound can be
anything from an animal sound like a pig going “oink,” to a crowd cheering, to
the sound of an ice cream truck. Your child will have to guess what the sound
is.

Examples of other sounds:

• Bell ringing
• Car horn
• Horse galloping
• Dog barking
•
Rationale: This game helps develop a connection between sounds and their
connected meanings.
Source: Sight Words

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Where is
the sound?

For this game, it is helpful to have objects that make noise (e.g., spoon and glass,
coins in a plastic cup, a bell).

How to Play:

Use an object or a toy to play a sound. While the sound is being played, give
your child a brief “thumbs up,” during one part of the sound, then put your
hand down. After, ask your child if you held up your thumb during the
beginning, middle, or end of the sound.

Rationale: This game helps students understand that like a word, many sounds
have a beginning, middle, and end. This will help develop the terminology that
you will be using when students are ready to move on to identifying specific
speech sounds within a word.

Source: Sight Word.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

For this game, it is helpful to have sets of words that begin with the same letter
and sets that begin with different letters

How to Play:

You will tell your child two words or show them two objects. If the two words
start with the same sound, your child will put their thumb up. If the words do not
start with the same sound, they will put their thumb down.
Examples:
Thumbs UP Thumbs DOWN
Turtle and Top Turtle and Dog
Ball and Box Ball and Pail
Cat and Kitten Cat and Mouse
Chair and Chin Chair and Car
Apple and Alligator Apple and Ape
Thumb and Thirty Thumb and Hand

Rationale: This helps your child develop the awareness of sounds within a word,
an important pre-reading skill.
Source: Scholastic Phonological Awareness Activities

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

For this game, it is helpful to have objects around your house.

How to Play:

Player One asks Player Two to find something in the house that begins with a
specific letter sound. For example, they can say “Find something in the house
that begins with the sound /sh/,” and player two may bring them a shoe.

Next, Player Two asks Player One to bring them an object that begins with the
sound ___.

Rationale: This is a fun and active way to develop your child’s understanding of
beginning sounds in a word.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

I Spy
How to Play:

This game can be played in the house, in the car, while you are shopping, or
anywhere!

Play the classic “I Spy” game with letter names or letter sounds. First, pick an
object that you will have the player guess. Think of the beginning sound of that
word. Next, say “I spy with my little eye, something that begins with a /_/ (insert
the sound of the first letter). The player will then look around and guess until
they discover the correct answer. Then, players will switch roles.

Once a child gets good with the beginning sound you can play “I Spy” with
middle or ending sounds, or with rhyming words.

Rationale: This game helps children separate sounds within a word, an

important precursor to phonics and reading.

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Syllable
Counting
Treasure Chest

For this game, it is helpful to have a “Treasure Chest” (a box) with everyday
household items or toys inside

How to Play:

An adult fills a “treasure chest” full of household items or toys. They say to the
child, “Inside this treasure chest are lots of things with names that you know.
When it’s your turn, reach in and take something out. Then clap the syllables as
you say the word.”

The child takes an object out and says the name of it while clapping each
syllable. For example, if it is a toy dinosaur, they would say di (clap) no (clap)
saur (clap).

Examples of other objects with multisyllabic names: balloon, sharpener, stapler,

calculator, candlestick, eraser, napkin, lollipop, frisbee, tablecloth

Rationale: This game helps children separate syllables in words, an important

pre-reading skill!

Source: Speech to Print, 3rd Edition by Dr. Louisa Moats

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Rhyme
Challenge
For this game, it is helpful to have a timer.

How to Play:

The first person says, “I challenge you to think of as many words that you can
that rhyme with the word _____.” The other player has one minute to think of
as many words. Once you tally the words that correctly rhyme with the word, it
is now that other player's turn to pick a word to challenge.

Examples of words that are easy to rhyme: bag, ball, day, bat, fly, nose, bike,
mop, cup, box, rake, pan, car, train, pink, goat, sit, pig, night, flash, and bee.

Rationale: Rhyming is an important way to understand onsets and rimes to hear

similar vowel sounds in groups of words.
Source: Scholastic Rhyme Game For Kids.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Silly
Caesar

How to Play:

An adult says words very slowly, syllable by syllable, and the child must listen
closely to put the word together. The adult says “Silly Caesar speaks very slowly.
What word is Silly Caesar saying?”

Example words to use:

Ta-ble
Hos-pit-al
Tan-ger-ine
Fire-truck
Play-ground
Wat-er-fall
Tel-e-vis-ion
Re-frig-er-a-tor

Rationale: This game asks children to attend to the sound of a word and blend
sounds to create real words.
Source: Speech to Print, 3rd Edition by Dr. Louisa Moats

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Blending
Sounds...
For this game, it is helpful to have a list of single-syllable words, and tokens,
block, coins, or other objects to keep track of speech sounds.

How to Play:

Begin with a closed-syllable word (Resource A). Give your child the three
sounds in the word. Use a finger, block, small toy, chip, coin, or other such
token to keep track of the sounds as you produce them one at a time. Have
your child repeat the sounds and blend the sounds together until they hear the
word it represents. As your child gets better at this, you may remove the
tokens and allow them to blend the sounds on their own. You may also move on
from closed-syllable words. No matter what the word, however, it is important
to think in terms of sounds and not letters. For example, the word <knight> only
has three sounds: /n/ /ī/ /t/ despite it being spelled with six letters, and the
word <box> has four sounds: /b/ /ŏ/ /k/ /s/ despite it being spelled with three
letters.

Example: What word do you get when you put the following sounds
together? /d/ (point to first block) /ŏ/ (point to second block) /g/ (point to third
block). The child then repeats the sounds while pointing to the blocks and
blends until they hear the word <dog>.

To see an example of this game being played, click here.

Rationale: Being able to manipulate single sounds of words is an important

building block for reading!

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Segmenting
Sounds...
For this game, it is helpful to have a list of single- syllable words, tokens, block,
coins, or other objects to keep track of speech sounds.

How to Play:

Begin with a closed-syllable word (Resource A). This process is the opposite of
the blending sounds activity. For this activity, say the word aloud for your child
and ask them to say each sound in a word one at a time while pointing to a
block, chip, small toy, or other token. If you are in the car, the child can even
use their fingers to keep track! At first, let them know how many sounds the
word has so they can keep track. Just as with the blending activity, as the child
progresses beyond closed-syllables words, continue to keep in mind that you
are tracking sounds and not letters.

Example: What are the sounds in the word <dog>? Child points to the first
token (or puts out first finger) and says /d/, child points to the second token and
says /ŏ/, child points to the third token and says /g/.

To see an example of this game being played, click here.

Rationale: Being able to manipulate single sounds of words is an important

building block for reading!

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Deleting
Sounds...
For this game, it is helpful to have words in which you can take one sound out and
it still remains a word your child will know. A sample list is in Appendix D.

Before playing this game: Students should show an understanding of blending

and segmenting sounds without the use of tokens or manipulatives before
moving on to deleting sounds.

How to Play:

Use a list of words from Appendix D or a book of Phonemic Awareness

activities. Say the word aloud, then have your child repeat the word. Then, ask
them to repeat the word without the phoneme (single speech sound) listed in
the directions. All of the choices provided within Appendix D are real words
before and after the phoneme is deleted. Children can keep track of the sounds
on their fingers if it is helpful, but they should not be looking at the letters or
words. Example: Say spoon, now say spoon, but do not say /p/ (The answer is
soon).

To see an example of this game being played, click here.

Rationale: Being able to manipulate single sounds of words is an important

building block for reading!

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Substituting
Sounds...
For this game, it is helpful to have a list of words in which you can change one
sound and it still remains a word your child will know.
A sample list is in Appendix E.

Before playing this game: Students should show an understanding of blending,

segmenting, and deleting sounds without tokens or manipulatives before
moving on to substituting sounds.
How to Play:

Use a list of words from Appendix E or a book of Phonemic Awareness

activities. Say the word aloud, then have your child repeat the word. Then, ask
them to repeat the word, but instead of one of the phonemes (single speech
sound) in the word, you will ask them to replace it with a different phoneme.

All of the choices provided within Appendix E are real words before and after
the phoneme is changed. Children can keep track of the sounds on their fingers
or with tokens, but they should not be looking at the letters or
words. Example: Say crib, now say crib, but instead of /ĭ/, say /ă/ (The answer
is crab).

To see an example of this game being played, click here.

Rationale: Phoneme (single-sound) substitution is a complicated process in

which students must segment, isolate, delete, substitute, then re-blend
words. Being able to manipulate sounds in such a complex manner is a great
workout for those important reading routes in the brain!

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Pig Latin
This game is for children who are able to successfully manipulate phonemes. Pig
Latin can be a tricky (but fun!) skill to master.

How to Play:

First, practice single words by “translating” them into Pig Latin. To do so, take a
word like “Hello” and remove the first consonant, H. Next, put the consonant at
the end of the word and add the vowel <ay> afterwards. The result is ello-Hay.
If the word does not begin with a consonant, you can simply add <ay> to the
end of the word. After you practice with individual words, move on to
challenging yourself to speak entire sentences of Pig Latin!

Examples of translated sentences:

Hello, my name is Kareem.

ello-Hay, y-may ame-nay is-ay areem-Kay.

I am in third grade.
I-ay am-ay in-ay ird-thay ade-gray.

My favorite food is macaroni and cheese.

y-May avorite-fay ood-fay is-ay acaroni-may and-ay eese-chay.

Rationale: Being able to manipulate single sounds of words is an important

building block for reading!

Source: Speech to Print, 3rd Edition by Dr. Louisa Moats

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Games to Practice
Attaching Sounds to
Letters
Once children develop some understanding
that words are made of sounds, it’s time to
practice attaching those sounds to
letters! This skill is referred to as phonics, and
is a very important steppingstone to reading.
Children should start off with the simplest
words that are spelled with a consonant-
vowel-consonant pattern in which the vowel
sound is short (Resource A), then move on to
words with a silent <e> at the end that makes
the vowel sound long (Resource B), then
continue to more complicated sound-letter
patterns including those where the vowel
sound changes because it is followed by an <r>
(Resource C). Students should practice reading
words with these spelling patterns in
controlled, decodable texts.

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Hopscotch

For this game, it is helpful to have sidewalk chalk.

How to Play:

Everyone loves to play hopscotch. Draw a Hopscotch board outside and choose
one of the activities below!
• Instead of numbers, write letters in each square. As the child
jumps, they should name the sound that each letter makes.
• Write words in each box. The child can read the word or tell you a
rhyming word as they jump.

Rationale: Seeing visual boxes that represent that individual sounds or letters
are separate units helps develop their phonemic awareness and letter-name
knowledge. Using rhyming words helps develop children’s phonological
awareness.

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Chaining...

For this game, it is helpful to have chalk and chalkboard, a dry-erase board, letter
tiles, letter magnets, paint sample sheets, paper and pencil, letter blocks, or letter
stickers.

How to Play:

The adult begins by writing a closed syllable word (Resource A) on a piece of

paper, dry erase board, or uses letter magnets, blocks, or stickers. The child
then changes one letter at a time to create a new word until you cannot make a
word any more. When your chain is complete, start a new one!

Example: dog -> dig -> big -> bit -> sit -> sat and on and on!

Additionally, you can do this activity without the presence of letters to practice
phonemic (sound) awareness.

Rationale: This activity builds on phonemic awareness activities. Since children

now know that words are made of sounds, they can see how they attach to
letters, and how words can change by simply changing one letter in the word!

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Sparkle
For this game, it is helpful to have an empty can or container, popsicle sticks, and
a marker.

How to Play:

Write words that your child is able to decode on fifteen popsicle sticks.

On the remaining five sticks, write the word SPARKLE (you can replace the word
sparkle for a simpler word such as bam or pop for early readers).

The first player picks a popsicle stick out of the can without looking.

The child then looks at the stick and reads the word.

If the player reads the word correctly, they keep the popsicle stick. If the player
gets the word SPARKLE, all of the other players must put their popsicles sticks
back in the can, or in a pile on the side for a shorter game.

The player with the most popsicle sticks at the end wins.

For more advanced readers, a child can respond with a rhyming word.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Sand Tray

For this game, it is helpful to have index cards and a tray of sand, shaving cream,
or whipped cream.

How to Play:

Write a letter or group of letters that a child has recently learned on a flash
card. (Consider using this checklist to keep track of learned sound-spelling
patterns to keep track of your child’s progress). The child writes the phonogram
in the tray of sand, or in shaving cream, whipped cream, or on sand paper.
While the child is writing each letter with their finger, they should say the sound
the letter(s) make at the same time.

Rationale: Types of exercises in which students use many senses at once are
called multisensory. Using multiple senses to learn letter names and sounds is
great for developing reading routes in the brain! In this activity, they are using
touch while simultaneously speaking and hearing the sound.

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Concentration

For this game, it is helpful to have index cards, a pen, and a list of words.

How to Play:

First, create two piles of 10 index cards with closed syllable words (Resource A)
written on them. They should be the same 10 words in each pile. Next, shuffle
the decks together and place them face down on the table into two rows.

One person at a time flips over two cards. The player reads the words. If the
two index cards have the same word, it's a match! The player keeps the cards
and gets another turn. If the player turns over two cards that do not match,
they read the words and then turn them back over and it is the next person's
turn.

The person with the most cards wins!

When a student masters the closed-syllable deck, they can move on to more
challenging words found in Resources B and C.

Rationale: This game asks students to read the word, while also holding the
location of the word in their mind. Doing multiple processes while reading
helps build executive functioning skills.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Twister
For this game, it is helpful to have the game of Twister, tape, and index cards.

How to Play:

To play, write words at the child’s independent reading level on index cards and
tape them to each color circle on the mat. Then, spin the arrow. When the
player spins a color, they must spell and read the word. Begin with closed-
syllable words, then progress forward to more challenging VCe and R-controlled
words.

Variation: For beginning readers, attach a letter card to each circle. Ask students
to read the letter name, or provide the letter’s sound. For more advanced
students, you can attach a more challenging sound-symbol association found in
Resource J.

Rationale: This is a great way to stay active while reading and is particularly
beneficial for high-energy kids who may struggle to sit and read for longer
periods of time.
Source and Picture: momto2poshlildivas.blogspot.com

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Race to
the top
For this game, it is helpful to have a game template (Resource F), a die and two
different colored pencils, pens, markers, or crayons.

How to Play:

First, print out the “Race to the Top” game board from Resource F, or create a
similar board on a piece of paper. On the bottom row, write the six words that
you want your child to practice decoding.

Player 1 rolls the die. Player one then reads the word in the column that
corresponds with the number rolled.

In the empty row above, Player 1 writes the word they dictated in the same
column. Ask the child to say the sounds of each letter as they write the word.

Player 2 rolls and repeats the process.

The person with the most words on the top row is the winner.

Rationale: This game not only is a fun way for students to decode and spell
words of your choosing, but it also is a great way to practice counting and turn-
taking.

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Magnetic
Letters
For this game, it is helpful to have magnetic letters, a magnetic board
(refrigerators and cookie trays work well too!), and index cards.

How to Play:

An adult writes several words on index cards or pieces of paper. The child then
uses the magnetic letters to spell the words. As the child is spelling the word,
have them say the sounds of the letters they are using to build the words.

Words can be real, or you can be silly by making up new words! If the word is a
closed syllable word, be sure they are saying a short vowel sound. If the vowel
is at the end of the word, be sure the student is reading it as a long vowel. You
can follow these and other rules by reading the Resources section at the end of
this document.

Rationale: By including nonsense-words, you are ensuring that your child

knows the rules of decoding and is not memorizing words by sight. Knowing
and applying rules of the six syllable types helps children become proficient
readers!

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Rainbow
Writing
For this game, it is helpful to have three different-colored pens, markers, or
pencils and lined paper.

How to Play:

An adult dictates a word for the child to spell. The child starts off by writing the
words you choose in pencil. While they are writing the letters, they should say
the letter sounds.

The child then writes over the words that they wrote in pencil with three
different color pencils. Each time they are tracing over the letters they are
saying the letter sounds as they write.

Rationale: Incorporating color and art is a great way to engage children to apply
their phonics skills! This is also another example of using multiple modalities
(writing and speaking) to reinforce phonics skills in a multisensory way!

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Foam-Pellet
Gun Sound
Wall

For this game, it is helpful to have papers or index cards with letters or advanced
phonograms that your child knows (Resource G) written on them, tape, and a toy
gun with foam pellets (Nerf® or similar).

How to Play:

First, write letters that your child knows the sounds for on squares of paper or
index cards. Next, assemble the papers on the wall and affix them with tape.

Children aim and hit the phonograms with a pellet and say the sound of the
letter or phonogram that the pellet lands on.

Rationale: Sound walls are a powerful resource that have been most often used
by speech and language pathologists. Many teachers are now incorporating
them into their classrooms so students can strengthen their phonics and
spelling skills! For more information on sound walls, please visit Pam Kastner’s
Sound Wall Padlet.

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Snakes and
Ladders
For this game, it is helpful to have a printable game template (Resource G) and a
die.

How to Play:

First, print out a copy of the board template and write words that you would
like your child to practice reading in each of the boxes.

This game is played just like the game board version except you are adding
words! Player one rolls the die and moves that many spaces. The player reads
the word that they land on. Then it is the next player's turn.

If the player lands on a ladder, they move their piece up to the top of the
ladder. If they land on a slide, the player moves their piece to the bottom of the
slide.

The first one that gets to the last spot first wins!

Rationale: This is an educational twist on a classic game. Parents can control

the words on the board. This may be a good time to introduce high frequency
words with irregular spelling patterns such as the, of, said, and love. Be sure to
teach students to look at the sound-letter patterns they do know, and do not
guide them to recognize letters by sight. Really Great Reading’s Heart Word
approach is an excellent way to teach these words.

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Games to Build
Vocabulary
Research shows that the depth of
students’ vocabulary knowledge is an
important indicator of their future
reading success. It’s fun to learn and
practice new words with family and
friends, and the benefits of learning new
words will pay off exponentially as
students learn to read! The best way to
learn vocabulary is reading to your
children, or allowing them access to
audiobooks where they see and hear the
text simultaneously, but you can
supplement this with the following games
to practice words you’ve learned!

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What's in
the bag?
For this game, it is helpful to have a bag and objects around the house.

How to Play:

First, a player places a mystery object inside a bag and stands in front of the
other players. They give the other players three hints to guess what is inside the
bag. For example, if there is an orange inside the bag they may say, “It is a fruit,
it grows on a tree, and you have to peel it to eat it.”

The other players try to guess the contents of the bag. Other clues may be
given as needed.

The first person to guess what is inside the bag gets a turn to put a mystery
object inside the bag and give clues!

To see an example of how this game is played, click here.

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Vocabulary
Concentration

For this game, it is helpful to have Index cards and something to write with.

How to Play:

On one index card, write a vocabulary word. On a separate index card, have the
child draw a picture (or tell you what to draw if they are too young for this) of
what the word represents.

Next, shuffle the cards and in neat rows, set up your cards with the pictures and
words face down.

When it is your turn, turn two cards over. If the two cards you get are a match
(one card has the vocabulary word and the other card has the picture of the
meaning), put the match in a pile and allow the other player to go. If they are
not a match, turn them back over, and the other player takes a turn. The person
that has the most cards at the end is the winner.

To see an example of this game being played, click here.

Variation: Instead of a picture, players can also write a sentence in which the
vocabulary word is missing. For example, if the word was curious, you could
write: The __________ boy could not help but sneak an early peek at his
birthday present.

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Synonym or
Antonym
Concentration
For this game, it is helpful to have index cards and a list of synonyms or antonyms.

How to Play:

First, write a pair of synonyms (words that mean the same) or antonyms (words
that are the opposite) on index cards. The level of difficulty of vocabulary can
vary with age.

Next, shuffle the cards and place them upside down in two piles.

Finally, when it is your turn, turn two cards over. If the two cards you get are a
match, put the matched pair in a pile and allow the other player to go. If they
are not a match, turn them back over and the other player takes a turn. The
person that has the most cards at the end is the winner.

Example Synonym Pairs Example Antonym Pairs

Big / Large Large / Small

Scared / Frightened Scared / Brave

Small / Tiny Miniscule / Gigantic

Cold / Frigid Cold / Hot

Happy / Cheerful Happy / Sad

Fast / Speedy Fast / Slow

Short / Miniscule Tall / Short

Hungry / Ravenous Hungry / Full

Mad / Angry Up / Down

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Around
the table
For this game, it is helpful to have a list of vocabulary words you want your child
working on and chairs around the house.

How to Play:

First, set up five to six different chairs in your house. They could be all in one
room or you can have your child move to different chairs in the house.

Next, tell your child a word. You can ask your child to either tell you the
definition of the word, antonym, or synonym.

If your child is correct, they should move onto the next chair. If they are not,
they stay in that chair.

Your child's goal is to make it to the last chair with the fewest errors.

You can play this game with one child or a few to make it a competition!

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Hink
Pinks
For this game, it is helpful to have a list of Hink Pinks. Some can be found in
Resource H. Many other Hink Pinks can be found online!

How to Play:

This fun word puzzle game can be challenging even for the grown-ups in the
house! One player has a list of the “Hink Pinks,” or phrases that can be
expressed using synonyms that rhyme.

For example, one person would give the clue: “A clean road”

The participant(s) then challenge themselves to come up with a synonym for

clean and a synonym for road that rhyme with one another. For this Hink Pink,
the answer is “neat street.” The first player to come up with the answer gets a
point!

This is a great way to challenge any word-loving kids, and an excellent way to
develop vocabulary and practice with synonyms!

List of Hink Pinks available in Resource H.

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How Many
Words Can
You Make?

For this game, it is helpful to have several morpheme matrices, paper, and a pen

How to Play:

The English Language is morpho-phonemic, meaning words are made up of

sounds, but also smaller units of words that carry meaning. These words are
called morphemes. A great way to develop your child’s vocabulary is by
studying these morphemes and seeing how they can be put together to create
words.

In a morpheme matrix, the base word is in the middle column, prefixes are
listed in the first column, and suffixes are listed in the final column. Players
should each receive a copy of the word matrix and compete to see how many
real words they can make from the matrix!
For example, in the matrix to the right, players can create
many words including: abruptly, bankrupted, corrupt,
disruption, erupting, erupts, interrupted, and irruption.

Examples of matrices available in Resource K.

More word matrices can be found on Pinterest, or make your own with the
Mini-Matrix Maker.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Games to Build
Background
Knowledge
The BEST way to build background
knowledge is to read non-fiction
books and magazines that cover
topics including science, history,
current events, and
biographies. Read books or
magazines on a topic together or
listen to audiobooks or podcasts to
develop content-area
knowledge. Once you know about
a subject, you can tailor these
games to the topic of your choice.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

The ABC
Game
For this game it, is helpful to have knowledge in a particular topic such as animals,
countries, or foods.

How to Play:

During a car ride, dinner table conversation, or another period of down-time,

challenge your family to come up with as many examples of a given topic as
they can. The catch is, they must go in alphabetical order. For example, if the
topic were animals, players may say: Ape, Boar, Chimp, Dog, and so on.

Variations: You can also play this game with names of countries, historical
figures, foods, or other topics to build students’ background knowledge.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

I'm thinking
of a...

For this game, it is helpful to have background knowledge in a subject.

How to Play:

After you read about a subject as a group, play a game that tests your skill.

First, the questioner should have a person, place, or thing in their mind that
they must get the participants to guess. For example, if you have just read
about several presidents, you could give clues such as “I’m thinking of a
president who gave the Gettysburg Address,” or “I’m thinking of a state that is
known as The Ocean State.”

The first person to guess correctly wins!

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Yes, and...

For this game, it is helpful to have a creative imagination!

How to Play:

In this classic improv game, children create a story by building off of each
other’s ideas.

One person begins the story that could include historical figures and/or other
factual content that you have learned about. The next player takes a turn that
MUST begin with “Yes, and ______” in order to continue the idea that the
person before them presented.

Participants can NOT say “No” or “But” to someone’s ideas, only “Yes, and…”

Be silly and have fun!

To see an example of this game being played, please click here.

Rationale: This game also has social-emotional benefits as it will help children
create a frame of mind to help listen to one another’s ideas and collaborate to
create a story!

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Zip, Zap,
Zop
For this game, it is helpful to have at least four players.

How to Play:

In the classic game of Zip-Zap-Zop, players stand in a circle. One player begins
the game by clapping, pointing to someone around the circle, and saying
“Zip.” The player who was pointed to must immediately clap, point to someone
new, and say “Zap,” and the player pointed to claps, points to a new person,
and says “Zop.” The game continues as players Zip, Zap, and Zop as quickly as
possible until one person hesitates.

This game can be amended to be used for letter names, letter sounds, or to
solidify background knowledge. For example, the first person can name a state
and the next person must name a capital, or players can rapidly name
continents, states of matter, phases of the moon in order, or, parts of the water
cycle in order. Have fun putting your own creative twists on this game!

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Guess who is
coming to
Dinner?

For this game, it is helpful to have at least four players.

How to Play:

In this game, there is a “host” of a party who welcomes guests into their “party”
one at a time.

Before the game begins, each character is assigned an historical figure to be at

the party.

The guests enter one at a time. Each of the guests must try to strike up a
conversation with the host in which they do not say their name, but they give
clues to allow the host to guess who they are! When the host figures it out,
they guess by saying “Welcome to the party, _______.” The player lets them
know if they are correct or not.

The host wins when they are able to guess all three guests. Silliness and
creativity are welcome!

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Professor
Know-It-All

For this game, it is helpful to have at least four players.

How to Play:

Two groups of at least three players research a person, historical event,

scientific concept, or other non-fiction subject. They then generate a fact for
each person to present (they can come up with several sets of three for multiple
rounds). Two of the facts are true, and one is false.

Players come back to the group and put on their presentation of ‘facts.” The
other group listens in and decides who is telling the truth and who is “Professor
Know-it-All” trying to trick them!

The team with the most correct guesses wins.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Alien
Actors
For this game, it is helpful to have a group of at least two players and an
audience.

How to Play:

After you have learned about a subject, choose one person to be the alien news
anchor, and another to be an interpreter.

The alien will speak gibberish and act out a story that relates to the content
you’ve just learned about, and the news anchor has to interpret the story!

This is even more fun with a group of friends. There can be two actors doing
the scene and an interpreter for each actor.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Silly
Sentences
For this game, it is helpful to have small pieces of paper and a pen.

How to Play:

Before the game begins, on small pieces of paper, write several “person” or
“thing” nouns with the article “The” before to create the subject of the silly
sentence (e.g., The horse, The child, The banana, The foot, The car, The worm,
The teacher, The teapot, The kangaroo, The duck). Place these in Pile 1. Next,
write several past tense “action” verbs on small pieces of paper. (e.g., ran,
carried, tripped, slept, drove, skipped, jumped, danced, sang, sneezed) and
place these in a pile. Create a third pile of papers with prepositions written on
them (e.g., around, on, above, under, in). Finally, create a fourth pile of papers
that have the article “a” written in front of another noun, and explain that these
will be the object of the sentence (e.g., a boat, a bathtub, a bed, a swimming
pool, a rubber duck, a tree).

Ready to play! Player One takes one piece of paper from each pile to create a
silly sentence. They read the sentence to themselves and act the sentence out!
As they bring these silly sentences to life, player two gets three chances to
guess the sentence. This game can be played with two people, or in teams.

Challenge: Add adverbs to show how they act out the verb (e.g., slowly,
bravely, cheerfully, elegantly, angrily, awkwardly), and adjectives to describe
the noun of player one’s choice (e.g., silly, smelly, shy, delicious) to make the
sentence extra silly!
Rationale: Understanding sentence structured is directly related to being able
to understand what you are reading. It is important for older students to be
able to speak and write in full sentences so when they come across more
complicated sentence structures when they read, it will make sense to them!

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Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Resource A:
List of closed syllable words:

Bat Fib Jab Rat

Bit Fin Kin Rib
Bun Fun Lit Sob
Bop Gas Mat Sat
Cat Gum Met Sun
Cup Hip Nut Tap
Cut Hop Net Vet
Dot Hat Pup Wat
Dim Hex Pod Yes
Dad Hut Rat Zip

Pro Tip:
These words are often called “closed syllables” as there is a vowel,
followed by a consonant that “closes” off the vowel sound. In these
words, the vowel sound is short. Students will need to know the short
vowel sounds first: /ă/ as in cat, /ĕ/ as in bed, /ĭ/ as in kid, /ŏ/ as in dog,
and /ŭ/ as in cut.

Error correction:
If students try to read the words with long vowels, ask them to read it
with the short vowel sound instead without giving them the answer
yourself. If they know this language, it will help them understand that
there are two sounds for each vowel, and will help them apply this
knowledge as decoding gets trickier.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Resource B:
List of Vowel-Consonant-e (VCe) words:

Bike Hide Nose Tile

Base Home Prize Tribe
Bake Joke Pete Throne
Chase June Rose Tune
Code Kite Race Vane
Cute Lone Rule Vase
Duke Mile Shine Vote
Drive Mope Sole Wipe
Froze Mule Spoke Wade
Gape Nice Tune Woke

Pro Tip:
In Vowel-Consonant-e words, the silent <e> at the end of the word
makes the vowel long. Many resources call this a magic e, in that it
makes the vowel say its name.

Error correction:
It is important for students to be able to see the silent <e> at the end of
the word, and know that its job is to make the vowel say its name. Call
attention to the <e>, make up stories about the importance of its job,
talk about the long vowel sounds it makes. Instead of reading the
misread word for them, ask students to correct the vowel sound and
re-read the word themselves to make sure they are practicing the rules
of VCe words themselves!

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Resource C:
List of r-controlled syllable words:

Barn Farm Sharp Verb

Birth Fern Shark Worn
Born Fork Shirt Yard
Burn Germ Skirt Yarn
Car Hard Sport
Corn Herd Storm
Curl Horn Thorn
Corn Hurt Tarp
Dark Nerve Turn
Dirt Pork Torn
Dorm Park Third

Pro Tip:
R-controlled syllables contain a “Bossy R.” When this R is AFTER the
vowel, it makes the vowel say a new sound. Most commonly, <ar> says
/ar/ as in car, <or> says /or/ as in horn, and <er> <ir> and <ur> say /er/
as in her, bird, and burn. If choosing words that are not this list, be sure
they follow these regular patterns.

Error Correction:
It may be helpful to have phonogram cards available for your child to
refer to. There could be one card for the sound /or/ with the spelling,
sound, and a key word, one for the sound /ar/, and one for the sound
/er/ that shows all three spellings of that sound with a key word for
each. That way, your child can have this as a reference if they have not
yet automatized each of their sounds.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Resource D:
Words for phoneme (sound) deletion:

Say spoon, now say spoon without the /p/

Say clap, now say clap without the /l/
Say trip, now say trip without the /r/
Say sting, now say sting without the /t/
Say plan, now say plan without the /l/
Say frog, now say frog without the /r/
Say stunk, now say stunk without the /t/
Now say stunk without the /n/
Say went, now say went without the /n/
Say chimp, now say chimp without the /m/
Say best, now say best without the /s/
Say rung, now say rung without the /n/
For more deletion activities:
• Heggerty (K-2) English and Spanish
• David Kilpatrick “Equipped for Reading Success” (2 grade and
nd

up)
• Sounds and Letters for Readers and Spellers: PA Drills (Book)
• Literacy Leaders 10 Minute Drills (Book)
• Free Resources from Florida Center for Reading (FCRR)
• Road to the Code (Book)
• The Intensive Phonological Awareness Program

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Resource E:
Words for phoneme (sound) substitution:
Initial (first) sounds:
Say sat, now say sat, but instead of /s/ say /b/
Say car, now say car, but instead of /c/ say /f/
Say bank, now say bank, but instead of /b/ say /t/
Say song, now say song, but instead of /s/ say /l/
Say try, now say try, but instead of /t/ say /c/
Medial (middle) sounds:
Say bat, now say bat, but instead of /ă/ say /ĭ/
Say red, now say red, but instead of /ĕ/ say /ŏ/
Say trick, now say trick, but instead of /ĭ/ say /ǔ/
Say slip, now say slip, but instead of /l/ say /k/
Say score, now say score, but instead of /c/ say /n/
Final sounds:
Say cat, now say cat, but instead of /t/ say /b/
Say map, now say map, but instead of /p/ say /t/
Say heat, now say heat, but instead of /t/ say /l/
Say harp, now say harp, but instead of /p/ say /d/
Say bark, now say bark, but instead of /k/ say /n/

For more deletion activities:

• Heggerty (K-2) English and Spanish
• David Kilpatrick “Equipped for Reading Success” (2 grade and nd

up)
• Sounds and Letters for Readers and Spellers: PA Drills (Book)
• Literacy Leaders 10 Minute Drills (Book)
• Free Resources from Florida Center for Reading (FCRR)
• Road to the Code (Book)
• The Intensive Phonological Awareness Program

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Resource F

Example: Label columns 1-6 and puts in words that are

decodable for the child. The child rolled a “3,” so they went to
column three, read the word, then spelled it in the column
above sound by sound. If they roll another “3,” they will write
cat again. If they roll a 5, they will write “fox” in the box above
the bottom row.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Resource G:
Source: Snakes and Ladders Board Game: Free and Printable
Worksheet

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Resource H
Hink Pinks
Hink Pink Description Answer
Move, Female Deer Go, doe
24 hours with toys Day play
50% giggle Half laugh
A cap that got sat on Flat hat
A sleeping device made out of toast Bread bed
A sport with fire Flame game
A washed legume Clean bean
Rodent home Mouse house
What the frozen water costs Ice price
A library thief Book crook
A run for the money Cash dash
A flying fear Flight fright
Footwear adhesive Shoe glue
Happy father Glad dad
Final explosion Last blast
Goofy flower Silly Lily
Household hair tool Home comb
Impoverished shop Poor store
Pastel red kitchen basin Pink sink
Just-purchased loafers New shoe
How come tears? Why cry?
Colorless escargot Pail snail
Professional enemy Pro foe

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Resources
Optional
Additional Resources
The next section
contains information to
further understand the
structure of the English
language. This is
optional for parents
wanting to learn more
aboutResource
prompting
G:
their
early readers when they
come across more
complex words.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Resource I
There are six Syllable Types that words are composed of. You may be interested
in using this resource to understand when vowels sounds will be long, short, or
controlled by another letter. It is beneficial to teach students to read one syllable-
type at a time.

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Resource J
This is a list of advanced phonograms (a letter or group of letters that represent
one sound) that represent the long vowel sounds. When students come across a
word containing them while reading and are unsure how to decode the word, it
may be helpful to know these. When they get to a word containing <igh>, for
example, they should be able to answer your eliciting question “What does <igh>
say?” The answer would be long /ī/.

RIDE has a checklist of these phonograms that can be accessed by clicking here.

Vowels
“Talkers”

Phonograms that say /ā/ a, a-e, ai (at the beginning or middle of a word), ay (at
the end of a word, ea, eigh, ei, ey (at the end of a few single syllable words)

Phonograms that say /ē/ e, e-e, ee, ea, ie (when these two vowels go walking the
first one does NOT do the talking!), ei (after a soft c and some exception words), y
(at the end of a word), ey (only after about 40 nouns that must be memorized)

Phonograms that say /ī/ i, i-e, igh, y (at the end of some single syllable words), y-
e (words that are Greek in origin)

Phonograms that say /ō/ o, o-e, oa, oe (at the end of a word - very rare, must
memorize), ow (at the end of a word)

Phonograms that say /ū/ u, u-e, eu (at the beginning or middle of a word), ew (at
the end of a word)

Phonograms that say /oo/ u, u-e, ou, ue (usually at the end of a word)
Part II -“Whiners”
Phonograms that say /oy/ oi (at the beginning or middle of a word), oy (at the end
of a word)

Phonograms that say /au/ au (at the beginning or middle of a word), aw (at the end
of a word or before n, l or k)

Phonograms that say /ow/ ou (at the beginning or middle of a word), ow (at the end
of a word or before l, el, er, n or d)

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Others:
Phonograms that say /ĕ/ e, ea

Phonograms that say /er/ er, ir, ur, or (at the end of a word or after a w), ar (at the
end of a word, often after an l)

Consonants:
Phonograms that say /k/ k, c

Phonograms that say /f/ f, ph (these words are Greek in origin)

Phonograms that say /j/ j, g (before e, i or y), _ge (at the end of a word), _dge (at
the end of a word before a short vowel)

Phonograms that say /s/ s, c (before e, i or y)

Phonograms that say /z/ z, s (only when between two vowels or sometimes when
used as a suffix)

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Resource K:
Morpheme Matrices:

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 Games to Boost Early Literacy Skills

Additional Games from Other Sources:

Dog on a Log Books

Florida Center for Reading Research

National Center on Improving Literacy

Regional Educational Laboratory at Florida State University

Resources to Learn More about the

Science of Reading and Structured
Literacy:
RIDE – Structured Literacy

International Dyslexia Association – Structured Literacy

Reading Rockets -The Science of Reading

IDA Ontario – The Simple View of Reading and Scarborough’s Rope

Nancy Young’s Ladder of Reading

Dr. Stanislaus Dehaene – How the Brain Learns to Read

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