NJoy (almost 6 years old) is in Kindergarten this year and loving it. He has a solid grip on reading (and spelling) CVC short vowel words, so I knew it was time to move on to something more challenging this year. So, we began learning about digraphs with the SH digraph.
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In his spelling, we started working through the word sorts in Words Their Way’s Letter Name-Alphabetic Spellers supplement book with the SH Digraph {You can see the boys doing their sorts on Instagram}. I love how Words Their Way separates the S, H, and SH sounds through picture sorts, getting kids to really LISTEN for those beginning sounds {a GREAT way to help kids become better readers and writers}.
After we’d worked through the picture sort for about 3 days and I felt he had a solid grasp on the SH digraph, so we played a fun little game I entitled, “Shh! Don’t Wake the Baby”. And today, I’m sharing our SH digraph game for you to use, too {free download link is at the end of this post}!
First, What Exactly is a Digraph?
Here’s a handy little page I made for Set 4 of my BOB Books printables. You can find and download it in the pack from this post. The most common consonant digraphs are probably sh, ch, th, and wh, but kn, wr, and gn are also digraphs.
SH Digraph Game
This game is played very similar to a common sight word game “Bang!”, which has many adaptations, as you’ll find if you just google it. I first copied the cards on to card stock to make them hard to see through and to give them durability. I did not laminate mine, but if you are in a classroom or teaching multiple children, laminating is always a good idea.
Before we played the game, we sorted the pictures by S, H, and SH on our table top pocket chart. {I wanted to make sure he understood what each picture represented.} Then I shuffled them all up.
We placed all the cards face down in a pile. We took turns drawing the top card, identifying the picture and then telling whether it started with s, h, or sh. When a player did this successfully, we kept the card.
BUT, if a player drew the Shh! card with the baby, that player had to put all his cards in a discard pile (all players share the same discard pile), including the Shh! card. When all the cards in the draw pile were gone, the player with the most cards won! {If you need more step-by-step directions, you will find them on the free download at the end of this post.}
We played about 3 times…all in one sitting. That’s a big deal for such an active, little boy. 🙂
More Phonics Games:
- Our Short Vowels Word Study App IS NOW HERE for Android and has learning and game activities for words with blends and digraphs {Purchase for $2.99}
- Check It! {a free CH/SH Digraph Game}
- Beginning Blend BINGO
- Blend BINGO
- Long Vowel BINGO
Download this FREE SH Digraph Game HERE.
~Becky
What a great free printable game! It looks like so much fun. I shared it with my followers on my blog’s FB page.
Thanks for sharing! That means a lot from you!!
I love using the two hands to explain the concept! Great idea!
The digraph link sent me to Choco Krispies
My links are always reddish/pinkish in color. And my download link is at the end of this post. Sorry it’s so confusing. 🙂
Love this game thank you.
You’re very welcome! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing! I am doing speech therapy at home for my son and this is perfect for this week! Thanks so much for giving the materials to help us out!!
You’re so welcome! The pictures make for some great speech therapy work, don’t they? My 1st grader has an s-lisp and we use these pictures! 🙂
So glad to find these here, still!!!
Found a Digraph game from a colleague who sent me looking for you!