Wishy Washy Game* (blackline master--game mat) (blackline master--dice)
Print one game board for each child. Laminate and cut apart on the middle line. The top part is the game mat for each child. Cut out the playing pieces on the bottom half. Print one die, laminate, and assemble. To play give each student a game mat and place the playing pieces face up in the middle of the table. Students read a word/letter/etc and then roll the die and follow the directions on the die (take the piece shown, choose any piece--wild), or put one piece back. If they student rolls a piece that they don't need, then they just lose that turn and play continues to the next student. The first student to collect all 4 pieces wins the game.
These aren't very fancy but my children still enjoy them (they are from my early days of game-making--I just found them on the computer). Print the game board. To avoid having children accidentally knock each other's game pieces off I like to print one game board for each child and have them each move their game piece on their own board. Provide children with game pieces (I just use math manipulatives like cubes or bears). You can use a regular die or use a blank cube (writing on wooden math cubes with a Sharpie works well) to create a custom die. If you make a custom die you can include numbers and special things like "Roll again +2". To play have children place their game piece on start. Children take turns reading a word card, rolling the die, and moving. Follow directions on the game board.
Hearts Game Board Ovals Game Board Arrow Game Board Rectangle Game Board Easter Game Board
Cinderella's Ball* (black line masters included--page1)
(black line masters included--page2)
Print one set of Cinderella cards (with words) and one set of "special cards". Cut all cards apart and place in a can. To play, pass the can or pile. Students take turns drawing a card and reading the word. If they get it right, they may keep it. Play moves to the next person even if the player gets it right. If a player gets a "glass slipper" card, he can take a Cinderella card from another player (plus keep the "glass slipper" card). Game continues until someone gets a "Midnight" card (clock). Then everyone counts his or her cards. The person with the most is the winner
*****Also see Meltdown, Rotten Bananas, and Crazy Carrots for similar games*******
Crazy Cars* (black line masters included--page1)
(black line masters included--page2)
Print one set of Cars cards (with letters) and one set of "special cards". Cut all cards apart and place in a can. To play, pass the can or pile. Students take turns drawing a card and reading the word. If they get it right, they may keep it. Play moves to the next person even if the player gets it right. If a player gets a "keys" card, he can take a Cars card from another player (plus keep the "keys" card). Game continues until someone gets a "flag" card. Then everyone counts his or her cards. The person with the most is the winner
*****Also see Meltdown, Rotten Bananas, and Crazy Carrots for similar games*******
Sight Word Uno--Cars Version* (black line master included)
(sight words)
Print one copy of the playing cards (You may want to print 2 sets of special cards). There are 4 sets (various Cars characters) with 9 word cards each plus one set of "special" cards (draw 2, wild, reverse, skip, draw 4/wild). To play, deal 5 cards to each player. Put the rest face down in the middle of the table. Turn one card up. The first player must read the card and match either the word or the character. If he puts down matching character (new word), he must also read the new word. Play continues with players matching either the words or characters. If a player does not have a match, he draws a card from the pile. Players can play a Draw 4 or Wild card at any time. Draw 4 means the next person takes 2 cards instead of playing a card (just like in traditional UNO). A Wild card lets the player select the character. Players must match the skip, reverse, or Draw 2 cards to the current character. Continue playing until some gets rid of all of his cards. This is the winner. Optional: You can have players call UNO when they have one card remaining .
*You can easily change the words used in this game by deleting these words and replacing them with your own.
Mr.Krabs Money Game* (black line included)
Print one game board for each child and laminate. You can use a regular die or use a blank cube (writing on wooden math cubes with a Sharpie works well) to create a custom die. If you make a custom die you can include numbers and special things like "Roll again +2". You will also need some type of "money" manipulatives like 2 color counters or plastic coins and word/letter cards. To play, students take turns reading a word card and rolling the die. They should put the corresponding number of coins on their gameboard. The first player to fill all of the coin circles wins!
Spongebob Puzzle Game* (black line included)
Print out one set of the puzzle cards on cardstock (be sure you can't see through them). Laminate and cut apart. Print a second set on cardstock or regular paper (you may consider printing this set in grayscale). Laminate but don't cut apart--these will be the puzzle bases. You will need a set of word/letter/number cards. To play, spread out the puzzle pieces face down. Give each child a puzzle base. Students take turns reading a word and then turning over a puzzle piece. They keep the piece if it goes to their puzzle or pass it to the player it does belong to. The first person to finish a puzzle wins.
Fairly Odd Parents Game Board* (black line included)
Print the game board. To avoid having children accidentally knock each other's game pieces off I like to print one game board for each child and have them each move their game piece on their own board. Provide children with game pieces (I just use math manipulatives like cubes or bears). You can use a regular die or use a blank cube (writing on wooden math cubes with a Sharpie works well) to create a custom die. If you make a custom die you can include numbers and special things like "Roll again +2". To play have children place their game piece on start. Children take turns reading a word card, rolling the die, and moving. Follow directions on the game board.
Scarecrow Bingo* (black line masters below)
Print all pages. Cut the snowman game board pages in half (2 game boards per page). Cut out the calling cards. For the sh/th/ch version and the beginning sounds version, a student chooses a card and if he has the beginning sound on his board he covers it with a marker (use cotton balls as snowballs for added fun). The first student to get 3 in a row calls "Bingo" and wins. For the CVC version, students take turns reading the words on the calling cards. They read the word to the group and all students who have the matching picture mark it on their cards. The first student to get 3 in a row calls "Bingo" and wins.
Let It Snow* (black line master included)
(CVCe words)
Print one copy of the snowflake picture cards and word cards (up to 6 players). Deal the picture cards out so that each player has the same number of cards. Place the word cards face down in a pile. Players take turns choosing a word card and reading the word. The player with the matching picture gets to turn in his picture card (place in discard pile). Continue until someone gets rid of all of his or her picture cards. This is the winner.
****This is played exactly like Birthday Balloons*****
Snowman Bingo* (black line masters below)
Print all pages. Cut the snowman game board pages in half (2 game boards per page). Cut out the calling cards. For the sh/th/ch version and the beginning sounds version, a student chooses a card and if he has the beginning sound on his board he covers it with a marker (use cotton balls as snowballs for added fun). The first student to get 3 in a row calls "Bingo" and wins. For the CVC version, students take turns reading the words on the calling cards. They read the word to the group and all students who have the matching picture mark it on their cards. The first student to get 3 in a row calls "Bingo" and wins.
Space Mission* (black line master included--cvc words) (black line master included--special cards)
(cvc words/-ing suffix) (black line master included--words with -ing ending)
Print one set of space shuttle cards (choose either CVC or -ing words) and one set of "special cards". Cut all cards apart and place in a can. To play, pass the can. Students take turns drawing a card and reading the word. If they get it right, they may keep it. The can moves to the next person even if the player gets it right. If a player gets an "alien" card, he can take a word card from another player (plus keep the "alien" card). If a player gets a "comet" card, he keeps the "comet" card and takes another turn. Game continues until someone gets an "Earth" card (end of the space mission). Then everyone counts his or her cards. The person with the most is the winner.
****This is played exactly like Rotten Bananas and Crazy Carrots and Meltdown and Pot of Gold*****
Pot of Gold* (black line master included--cvc words) (black line master included--special cards)
(cvc words/dipthongs) (black line master included--oo/ow/ou words)
Print one set of hat cards (choose either CVC or ou/oo/ow words) and one set of "special cards". Cut all cards apart and place in a can. To play, pass the can. Students take turns drawing a card and reading the word. If they get it right, they may keep it. The can moves to the next person even if the player gets it right. If a player gets a "leprechaun" card, he can take a word card from another player (plus keep the "leprechaun" card). If a player gets a "rainbow" card, he keeps the "rainbow" card and takes another turn. Game continues until someone gets a "pot of gold" card. Then everyone counts his or her cards. The person with the most is the winner.
****This is played exactly like Rotten Bananas and Crazy Carrots and Meltdown*****
Meltdown* (black line master included--cvc words)
(cvc words) (black line master included--special cards)
Print one set of snowman cards (with words) and one set of "special cards". Cut all cards apart and place in a can. To play, pass the can. Students take turns drawing a card and reading the word. If they get it right, they may keep it. The can moves to the next person even if the player gets it right. If a player gets a "blizzard" card, he can take a snowman card from another player (plus keep the "blizzard" card). Game continues until someone gets a "meltdown" card (melted snowman). Then everyone counts his or her cards. The person with the most is the winner.
****This is played exactly like Rotten Bananas and Crazy Carrots*****
Sight Word Memory* (black line masters below)
(sight words)
Print and cut apart 1 set of playing cards (each set includes two copies of each word). To play, lay all cards face down in the middle of the playing area in a grid fashion (rows and columns). If the 36 cards in the set are too many for your group, select the desired number of word pairs and place them face down (put the rest away). Children take turns selecting two cards and turning them over. The child reads the word and collects the cards if they match. If they don't he turns them back over and play continues with the next player. When a player makes a match, he gets to take another turn. Continue playing until all matches are made. The player with the most matches wins.
Winnie the Pooh--easy words Monsters Inc--medium words Lion King--hard words
Sight Word Go Fish--Nemo* (black line masters below)
(sight words)
Print and cut apart 2 sets of playing cards (each set includes two copies of each word--this will give you 4 copies of each word--total of 60 cards). To play, deal out 5 cards to each player. Place the rest in the middle of the table...this is the "pond". Players take turns asking another player if they have a card ("Do you have a "XXX" card?). If the player has the card, he gives it to the asking player. If not, he tells the player to "go fish" and the asking player draws a card from the pond. If a player gets the card from either another player or the pond, he gets to take another turn. As players make matches, they lay them down (I have my kids make matches of 2 but the "official" rules for Go Fish call for matches of 4). Continue playing until all matches have been made. The player with the most matches wins.
Sight Word Old Maid--101 Dalmatians* (black line masters below)
(sight words)
Print and cut apart 1 set of playing cards (each set includes two copies of each word and one Cruella De Vil card). To play, deal out all cards to players (it doesn't matter if everyone doesn't have the same number of cards). Players lay down any matches that they have. Players take turns offering their cards (face down) to the player on their left. That player selects one card from the hand and adds it to his/her own hand. If it makes a match, he can lay it down. Be sure that children read the words when they lay down their matches. Continue playing until all matches are made and someone is left holding the Cruella De Vil card (equivalent to the Old Maid). Technically this persons is the loser but I don't emphasize that with my kids.
Crocodile Snap*
Print and cut apart two sets of crocodile cards (pages 1 and 2) and one set of fish cards (pages 3 and 4). To play deal 5 crocodile cards to each player. Have players place the cards face up in front of them. Place the fish cards face down in front of you. Turn one fish card over and call out the word. Players look at their cards, if they have a match they say "SNAP" and smack the card with their hand. The first to call "SNAP" gets to discard the card. Continue playing until one player has gotten rid of all of his/her crocodile cards.
OPTIONAL MODIFICATIONS:
If the groups is too rowdy, eliminate having them smack the cards.
If a child is having trouble with the words, show them the card as you call it.
If the "competition factor" is too much for your group, have all players who have a match discard rather than only the first person who called "SNAP".
Sight Word Uno* (black line master included)
(sight words)
Print one copy of the playing cards. There are 4 sets (Sponge Bob, Scooby, Dora, and Spiderman) with 9 word cards each plus one set of "special" cards (draw 2, wild). To play, deal 5 cards to each player. Put the rest face down in the middle of the table. Turn one card up. The first player must read the card and match either the word or the character. If he puts down matching character (new word), he must also read the new word. Play continues with players matching either the words or characters. If a player does not have a match, he draws a card from the pile. Players can play a Draw 2 or Wild card at any time. Draw 2 means the next person takes 2 cards instead of playing a card (just like in traditional UNO). A Wild card lets the player select the character. Continue playing until some gets rid of all of his cards. This is the winner. Optional: You can have players call UNO when they have one card remaining .
*You can easily change the words used in this game by deleting these words and replacing them with your own.
Segment and Spell* (black line master included)
(short a words)
Print one set of letter cards and one set of word mats (enough for 6 players). Cut apart letter cards. Laminate mats or place in sheet protectors. To play, give each player a word mat. Shuffle the letter cards and place in the middle of the table. Players take turns rolling a die (or you can use a spinner). Give them the number of letter cards shown on the die (roll a 4--get 4 cards). The player segments each word on his card and places the letter cards in the appropriate places on the mat to spell the word. At the end of each turn, the player discards unused cards. Continue playing until someone completes all three words on his mat. This is the winner.
Birthday Balloons* (black line master included)
(CVC words)
Print one copy of the balloon picture cards and word cards (up to 6 players). Deal the picture cards out so that each player has the same number of cards. Place the word cards face down in a pile. Players take turns choosing a word card and reading the word. The player with the matching picture gets to turn in his picture card (place in discard pile). Continue until someone gets rid of all of his or her picture cards. This is the winner.
Picking Pumpkins* (black line master--pumpkin and caller cards)
(identifying beginning sounds/associating sounds to letters: g,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,q,r,s,t)
This game can be played with an emphasis on phonemic awareness (hearing sounds) or phonics (matching sounds to letters). Print one set of pumpkin cards, one set of caller cards (same file as pumpkin cards), and one farmer. To play, distribute the pumpkin cards evenly among players. Place the farmer in the middle of the table and tell children that the farmer is looking for words that begin with __ (fill in with letter or sound). Place the matching caller card on the farmer. Children check their cards and give you their cards that begin with the target sound. Continue playing until someone gets rid of all of his or her cards. This is the winner.
*The pictures used on the caller card correspond to the Open Court sound-spelling cards. If you don't like these pictures, you can easily change them when you download the document by substituting any clip art that begins with the given sound.
Squirrel's Sounds* (black line master included)
(matching beginning sounds /b/, /c/, /f/, /m/, /r/, /s/)
Print one copy of the squirrel game boards (enough for 6 players) and one copy of all acorn sets. Cut out acorns but leave game boards whole (laminate or place in plastic protectors). Spread all acorns on table face down. Players take turns choosing an acorn. If they having a picture with the same beginning sound on their game boards, they cover the picture with the acorn. If they don't they put it back on the table. The player to collect all 6 acorns first is the winner.
Raking Rhymes*(black line master included)
(rhyming words)
Print one tree game board for each player. Print the first two sets of leaf cards on one color of cardstock or paper and the second two sets on a different color. Cut the leaf cards apart. To play, place all cards of one color on the table (spread them out) and distribute the other color cards to the players. Each player gets 4 cards and places them on their game boards. Players take turns choosing a card from the table. If they have a rhyming card, they can turn the pair into the teacher. The first player to get rid of all cards on the game board wins.
Roll a Fire Truck* (black line master included--letter/word cards)
(black line master included--fire truck pieces)
(black line master included--fire truck mat)
(black line master included--fire truck dice)
Print one copy of the fire truck mat for each player and one copy of the word cards for the group to share. Cut the word cards apart. To play, children choose a word card and read the word. If they get it correct, they may roll the die and take the matching piece for their fire truck. Players continue taking turns. The player to complete a fire truck first is the winner.
*The cards I've posted are for letters. You can change them to word cards by deleting the letters and replacing them with your sight words.
Clifford's Words* (black line master included--sight words)
(black line master included--letters)
Print one copy of the game boards (enough for 6 players) and 3 copies of the word cards (with bones). Cut the word cards apart. To play, children choose a word card and read the word. If they have the matching word on their game board, they place the bone card on top of it. Players continue taking turns. The player to cover all words on his game board first is the winner.
Rotten Bananas* (black line master included--page1)
(black line master included--page2)
Cut bananas out of yellow paper. Print a sight word on each. Color some bananas brown on one side instead of writing a word. Put all bananas in a can. Pass the can. Students take turns reading drawing a card and reading the word. If they get it right they may keep it. The can moves to the next person even if they get it right. Game continues until someone gets a rotten banana. Then everyone counts his or her cards. The person with the most is the winner.
*****Also see Meltdown and Crazy Carrots for similar games******
Crash (black line master included)
Print sight words on car shaped paper. On some cars print the word CRASH. Spread all cars out on the table. Students take turns choosing words. If the student can read the word, he or she may keep it and continue drawing until he or she doesn’t know a word or gets a CRASH card. Students also keep CRASH cards. At the end of the game, the student with the most cards is the winner.
Number Stamp* (black line master included)
This game is for practicing number words. It could be adapted to use with color words as well.
Give each child a paper with a blank at the top and six boxes underneath. Each child chooses a number word to fill in on the blank. Students take turns rolling a die (I use a special 10 sided die). Whoever has the number word that is rolled gets to put a stamp (or you could use stickers) in one of the boxes. The game continues until someone fills all of his or her boxes.
Flip It Down (black line master included)
Divide a regular sheet of paper into two columns and 12 rows. Number each row on the left hand side. In the left hand column, print a word in each row. Make a copy for each player. Cut the left hand column on the rows so that each word is on a strip of paper that can be folded over to the right. Students take turns rolling a die (I used a 12 sided one) or dice (1 or 2). If they can read the word that corresponds to the number they rolled, they “flip down” the word by folding it over. First one to flip down all of the words is the winner.
Pirate’s Treasure* (black line master included)
Print sight words on treasure box cards. I did a 2-letter word, 3-letter word, and 4-letter word on each. I also tried to make sure that the 3 words on each card did not have the same letters. Print the letters to spell each word on gold coins. I purchased “gems” from the Dollar Store but you could also use yellow circles. Put all of the letter coins in a “treasure box” (container). To play, each student chooses a treasure box card with sight words. Then they take turns scooping coins out of the treasure box (container) with a small shovel (I tied mine to the container). If they need the coins to spell a word, they may keep them. If not they need to put them back. The first person to complete a word wins. (Or you could also play that the first person to complete all three words wins).
Pizza Pizza* (black line masters included)
Type simple sentences (using sight words and CVC words) on the pizza slices putting harder sentences on the slices with more pepperoni slices. Cut the slices apart and store in a pizza box. Children take turns choosing a slice. If they can read it, they keep it. This game has 2 winners...the person with the most pizza slices and the person with the most pepperoni slices!
Cookie Monster* (black line master included)
Print a letter on each cookie. Leave a few cookies with Cookie Monster on them. This game is played exactly like BANG except that it uses letters instead of sight words (for my kids who are not reading yet). Children take turns choosing a cookie. If they know the letter or sound, they may keep it. If they get a cookie monster, they must put all of their cookies back in.
Pop* (black line master included)
Print a letter on each balloon. Make some pop cards. This game is played exactly like Crash except that it uses letters instead of sight words. Spread all cards face down on the table. Students take turns choosing words. If the student can say the letter name or sound, he or she may keep it and continue drawing until he or she doesn’t know a letter or gets a POP card. Students also keep POP cards. At the end of the game, the student with the most cards is the winner
Crazy Carrots* (black line masters included--page1)
(black line masters included--page2)
Cut carrots out of sturdy paper. Print a letter on each. Be sure to make “crazy carrot” and “bunny steal” cards. Put all cards in a can. Pass the can. Students take turns reading drawing a card and identifying the letter/sound. If they get it right they may keep it. The can moves to the next person even if they get it right. Game continues until someone gets a crazy carrot. Then everyone counts his or her cards. The person with the most is the winner
*****Also see Meltdown and Rotten Bananas for similar games*******
Shooting Stars* (black line masters included)
To make this game you will need to purchase star shaped beads (or some other type of small plastic stars in various colors). Place the stars in a container. Print the shooting stars game boards and glue to cardstock. One side should have the blank game board and the other side should have the color words game board. This game can be played several ways:
1. Color words: Create color word cards that correspond to the colors of stars. Each child takes a turn choosing a card. He read the color word and checks his game board to see if he needs that color. If he does, he uses the tweezers to place a star bead on that color word on his game board. The first player to fill his game board wins. For a shorter game, play like BINGO…the first to get 3 in a row wins.
2. Generic game board: Create word cards (or other concept cards). Each child chooses a card and read the word/letter/problem. If he gets it correct, he rolls the dice and chooses that number of star beads to place on his game board. He may choose ANY color of stars. This game has 2 winners: 1.) The first person to fill his card wins and 2.) After all cards are filled, the teacher will choose a winning color by drawing one color word card. The player with the most beads of this color wins.
Football* (black line masters included--page1)
(black line masters included--page2)
I originally created this game to help a fourth grade student with multiplication facts. However, it could be used for addition, subtraction, letters, sight words, etc. It is played very much the same as Rotten Banana. Print a sight word on each of the football cards. Print out one (or more) sheets of the whistle/touchdown/tackle cards. Put all cards in a can. To play, pass the can. Students take turns drawing a card and reading the word/solving the problem. If they get it right they may keep the card. The can moves to the next person even if they get it right. If someone draws a tackle card, he may take one card from another player. If he gets the touchdown card, all players must give him their cards. Game continues until someone gets a touchdown card. Then everyone counts his or her cards. The person with the most is the winner.
**Long vowel version (Magic E)**
Sound Sandwiches* (black line masters included)
To create this game I used a pad of paper made by Colorbok that is shaped like a sandwich. It has 6 different kinds of paper shaped like the different parts of a sandwich (bread (2), meat, cheese, tomato, onion). I purchased the paper at Michael’s (craft store) but you could also cut the pieces out of construction paper or print them from clip art. Put a picture that begins with a given letter on each sheet of paper (6 different pictures for each letter—I used Matchword software to get pictures; you could also use clip art). You should have a complete sandwich for each letter. Put a different letter on each sound sandwich card. I divided the alphabet into 3 sections (beginning, middle, and end) and printed the cards for each section on different color cardstock so that I really have 3 different games. To play, spread all sandwich pieces face down. Give each child a sound sandwiches card with a letter. Each child takes a turn choosing a sandwich piece. If the piece begins with his letter, he keeps it. If not, he turns it back over and the next player has a turn. The first one to get all 6 pieces to complete a sandwich wins.
Boo* (black line masters included--page1)
(black line masters included--page2)
Print a word/letter/number/etc on each jack-o-lantern card (they are preprogrammed with color words but you can change that). Print out word cards and "Boo" cards. This game is played like Bang: Children draw a card and read the word. If they are correct, they keep the card and the next player goes. If they are incorrect, they put the card back. If they get "Boo", they put ALL of their cards back.
4-in-a-Row* CVC Words
To create this game you will need to print out the playing cards (above) and make a six-sided die with the following written on the sides: red, yellow, green, purple, top, bottom. To play, the child rolls the die and reads a word that meets that requirement (ex: red--any red word, top--any word in top row). If correct, he covers the word. The first person to get 4 in a row (like Bingo) wins. The printable cards above have CVC words or color/number word but they can be altered to reflect any skill.
*It's always interesting to see who uses strategy and who just picks any word!*
Under the Sea* (black line masters included--page1)
Using sticky back foam shapes and a large sheet of Fun Foam, I create a game board called "Under the Sea". I drew circle spaces and placed 1 of each foam shape (see cards for shapes used or alter cards to use shapes you already have) randomly along the path. At the end of the path, I drew a treasure chest. It is played similar to Candy Land. Children read a word card (from any set of flashcards) and then draw a card to see how many spaces to move. If they draw an "under the sea" card featuring one of the foam shapes, they move directly to that shape or follow the directions on the card. The first person to reach the treasure chest wins.
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