Handy Word Family Game

Cash will be starting Kindergarten this fall, and he has already started reading. (yay!) I wanted to make a little game that would be fun for him, and help him review common words. I remember seeing this idea a couple of times, and since paint chips are free....it sounded perfect! Ok, so you have to go into Lowe's, Home Depot, or Wal-Mart and take a LOT of paint chips...DONT feel guilty! They are free! You aren't stealing! ( I had to tell myself this over and over.)

What you need:
*sharpie marker
*aprox. 13 "long cards" for consonants, blends, and diagraphs
*34 cards that have the hole cut out
(I got a few extra, just in case.)
*1' punch (if you don't have a punch, you can just cut out a rectangle using scissors or exacto knife)
The "long cards" are the cards that have multiple blocks of color.
The cards you cut a hole out of are just one solid color.
I used my 1' punch on the solid colored cards, and punched a hole on the left side of each card.
Then, you just write the common word families on the cards to the right of the hole.
Here are the ones I used:

• ag
• ab
  
• ail
• ain
• ack
• ake
• am
• an
• ank
• ap
• all
• at
• ay
• eed
• ell
• est
• ew
• ick
• ight
• ill
• ine
• ing
• ink
• ip
• ob
• og
• ore
• ot
• out
• ow
• uck
• um
• unk
• y

Then I took the long cards with multiple blocks of color, and wrote consonants, blends, and diagraphs on them.

Consonants:

• b
• c
• d
• f
• g
• h
• j
• k
• l
• m
• n
• p
• q
• r
• s
• t
• v
• w
• x
• y
• z

Blends:

• bl
• cl
• fl
• gl
• pl
• sl
• br
• cr
• dr
• fr
• gr
• pr
• tr
• sc
• sk
• sp
• st
• sm
• sn
• sw
• spl
• spr
• str
• squ

Diagraphs:

• ch
• wh
• th
• sh
• ph
• thr
• shr

ps- I kept the same kind of diagraphs and blends on the same card to make it easier for Cash.

There are tons and tons of words you can make!

--ab cab, lab, blab, crab, flab, grab, scab, slab, stab

--ack back, pack, quack, rack, black, crack, shack, snack, stack, track

--ag bag, rag, tag, brag, flag

--ail fail, mail, jail, nail, pail, rail, sail, tail, snail, trail

--ain main, pain, rain, brain, chain, drain, grain, plain, Spain, sprain, stain, train

--ake bake, cake, fake, lake, make, quake, rake, take, wake, brake, flake, shake, snake

--am ham, Sam, clam, slam, swam

--an can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van, bran, plan, than

--ank bank, sank, yank, blank, crank, drank, thank

--ap cap, lap, map, nap, rap, tap, clap, flap, scrap, slap, snap, strap, trap, wrap

--at bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, rat, sat, brat, chat, flat, spat, that

--ay day, may, pay, say, clay, play, pray, spray, stay, tray

--eed feed, need, seed, weed, bleed, freed, greed, speed

--ell bell, fell, sell, tell, well, yell, shell, smell, spell, swell

--est best, guest, nest, pest, rest, test, vest, west, chest, crest

--ew dew, few, knew, new, blew, chew

--ick kick, lick, pick, quick, sick, brick, chick, click, stick, thick, trick

--ight knight, light, might, night, right, sight, tight, bright, flight, fright, slight

--ill fill, hill, pill, will, chill, drill, grill, skill, spill, thrill
--in bin, fin, pin, sin, win, chin, grin, shin, skin, spin, thin, twin

--ine fine, line, mine, nine, pine, vine, wine, shine, spine, whine

--ing king, ring, sing, wing, bring, cling, spring, sting, string, swing, thing

--ink link, pink, sink, wink, blink, drink, shrink, stink, think

--ip dip, hip, lip, rip, sip, tip, chip, clip, drip, flip, grip, ship, skip, strip, trip, whip

--ob knob, mob, rob, blob, slob, snob

--ock knock, lock, dock, rock, sock, block, clock, frock, shock, stock

--op cop, hop, mop, pop, top, chop, crop, drop, flop, plop, shop, stop

--ore bore, more, sore, tore, wore, chore, score, shore, snore, store

--ot got, dot, hot, knot, lot, not, plot, shot, spot

--out grout, scout, shout, spout, sprout

--ow cow, how, now, brow, chow, plow

--uck buck, duck, luck, cluck, stuck, truck

--um gum, hum, drum, plum, slum

--unk junk, chunk, drunk, shrunk, stunk, trunk

-y by, my, cry, dry, fly, fry, shy, sky, spy, try, why

(word list taken from http://www.literacyconnections.com/Phonograms.html)

**The Phonogram Page is a great site where you can hear the sounds. Also, All About Spelling has a list of Phonograms and how to teach them.**

Cash loves the game, and really likes the idea of "word families." It makes him laugh. :) This is super easy, so make one today for your little guys!