Word Family Blackout

Games. They are definitely a favorite at our house. Especially when I can bring games into learning! Our Word Family Blackout game {FREE download at the end of post} was no exception. It features word family practice for short a, short e, short i, short o, short u and some mixed vowel word family review.

*This post contains affiliate links.

Word families are such an important part of learning to read and spell. Why? Because word families help kids to see that many words share common patterns. For example, wag and bag both share the -ag pattern. Using word family patterns helps young learners to read and spell more words. It also prepares them for reading and spelling by analogy, which is what proficient readers and spellers do. You can read more about this in my article, Using Word Families to Read New Words.

This Word Family Blackout is a little spin-off on BINGO {and could still be played like BINGO, if you wished}. If you have a child who isn’t quite ready for Word Family Blackout, you will want to use The Measured Mom’s Letter Sound Blackout. If you have a child who is ready for more, you may want to print off my Long Vowel BINGO game.

 

Preparing Word Family Blackout

In the 32-pg pack, you’ll find 6 Blackout games. You can find more info about the exact word families featured on the free download, link found at the end of this post. {This game is perfect as a stand-alone game, but would also fit nicely with the BOB Books Rhyming Words Set.}

1. Short a Blackout
2. Short e Blackout
3. Short i Blackout
4. Short o Blackout
5. Short u Blackout
6. Mixed Short Vowel Review Blackout

• Pick the one Blackout game appropriate for your child. I would suggest just picking one vowel to start with, perhaps the Short a Word Family Blackout. {NJoy, in Kindergarten, and I played the Mixed Short Vowel Review game because has has demonstrated mastery over all short vowels in his reading and spelling.}
• Print the word cards and game boards onto cardstock for durability. You can laminate them if you want, but we didn’t.
• Gather some kind of manipulative you can use to cover the game boards. We used our Snap Cubes, but you could totally use pennies, jewels, or counters.
• Shuffle all cards and place them face down in a pile.

 

To Play Word Family Blackout

For 2-4 players; each short vowel pattern contains 4 different game boards.

• Players take turns drawing the top card off the face down pile and reading the word out loud.
• All players, including the person who read the card, look for the word on their game board.
• If a player has the word, he covers it.

 

• The goal is to be the first one to cover the entire board first.
• And…he won…twice…fair and square. 🙂

 

More Literacy Fun for Beginners:

•  Our Short Vowel Word Study app has quite a few activities in Level 1 for learning to read and spell word families. You can purchase it on iTunes or Google Play for only $2.99 or read more about it here.
• 1-2-3 Flip it! Short Vowel Game {FREE}
• Flip a Short Vowel Word {FREE game for word families}
• LEGO Word Family Sorting
• Roll & Write Words that Rhyme {FREE printable games for short & long vowels}
• BOB Books Rhyming Words printables {featuring 10 different word families}

 

Follow This Reading Mama’s board Word Study/Phonics on Pinterest.

 

Download Word Family Blackout HERE.

 

~Becky