Create Ghostly Word Families
Our ghostly word game is a great activity for the weekend, after school, or for a class Halloween party idea.
Materials
Before You Play
Explain to your child that word families are a base group of letters, usually two. You create different words by adding different letters to the beginning of them. Think hop, pop, top, bop, etc. Recognizing common word families helps your child begin to chunk sounds, which helps her develop her reading skills. Some common word families include: -ad, -ug, -ig, -ed, -at, -og. You can find more about word families on Reading Rockets.
Directions
Cut small ghosts out of tissue paper. You can layer several pieces of paper together to make this step go faster.
Write a single letter or common blends (sm, sh, br, etc) on tissue paper ghosts.
Blow up your balloons. Draw a ghost face on one side. Write a word family on the other.
Now that the game pieces are ready, it’s time to play. The idea here is that you use big ghosts and little ghosts to create ghost word families. Cute, right?
To play, start by scattering small tissue paper ghosts on the floor. Next, “activate” the large balloon ghosts by giving them a charge. Rub them on the rug, your hair, or a sweater to create static electricity. Once the balloons are charged, pick up a small ghost to create a word.
Have your child create as many words as possible. If you’d like to add another visual element, write a list of all the words your child could create. Leave a couple tissue paper ghosts blank as wild cards for your child to choose her own words.
Jennifer Cooper is the blogger behind Classic-Play.com, an online resource for creative families. Her favorite past times include: dancing around her living room, watching the Pink Panther with her kids and daydreaming. She lives in Baltimore, MD with her husband, photographer Dave Cooper, and two children.
Literacy