How To-62: "How to Build Literacy Skills Through Games"

How to Build Literacy Skills Through Games

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Create a simple board game with letters, spelling and pictures to learn the English alphabet and spell simple words.

Steps

1. Make 9 x 3" (22.9 cm x 7.6 cm) squares on a board with a pencil and scale.
   
2. Keep the first square in the bottom left-hand corner empty.
   
3. Paste a picture in each of the other squares. Each picture should have printed prominently on it:
   
• one of the letters of the alphabet (for example, 'A')
  
• a word beginning with that letter ("apple", "bicycle", "cat" etc.)
  
• a picture relating to that word. You should have pictures for all 26 letters of the alphabet.
  
4. Make a die using a paper cube. On each face of the cube, write four letters of the English alphabet randomly (not in any order). This way 24 of the letters would be written on the six faces of the die. On any one face, write the remaining two letters of the alphabet.
   
5. Make 7 place markers each for four players of different colours. Good choices might be blue, green, red and yellow. Create these from cardboard, which you can laminate if desired, or save time and use laminated cardboard to begin with.
   
6. Let the four players roll the die. Whoever rolls the six letters side up, gets to play first. The rest of the players will then take turns to play in an anticlockwise direction.
   
7. Move. When a player rolls the dice, he or she puts a coloured marker in the box (on the board) which matches the first alphabet on the face of the die that he or she rolls. For instance, if you roll the die to a face that contains "DFGH", then you place your marker in the box on the board which contains the letter D.
   
• If somebody else's marker is already there in the "D" box, then put your marker on the "F" box, which is the next letter on the face of the die.
  
• If somebody already has a marker in all the four boxes then the player does not get to place his or her marker and it becomes the next person's turn.
  
• If one of the players rolls the die with the six letter face up, he or she gets another turn.
  
8. Once all the boxes on the board are covered with a marker each, the number of markers that each player has placed on the board is counted up. The player who has placed the maximum number of coins on the board wins the game.

Tips

• Two to four players can play this game.
  
• This is a fun way of recognising the letters of the alphabet and recognising the spellings of simple words. As well, it helps with associating pictures with the letters, so that the learning is retained.

Things You'll Need

• Board - large enough to fit the 26 squares
  
• Pictures for pasting
  
• Paper glue
  
• Scissors
  
• Paper cube (for die)
  
• Cardboard (laminate it or use laminated cardboard)
  
• Pens or pencils for the lettering

Related wikiHows

• How to Exercise Your Brain for Better Thinking Skills
  
• How to Improve Your Reading Skills
  
• How to Become an Advanced English Speaker
  
• How to Use Children's Literature and Cooking Activities to Teach Early Literacy Skills
  
• How to Read Aloud to a Child

Sources and Citations

• For more learning games for kids and adults visit http://www.experiential-learning-games.com/

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