Cheap, downloadable, printable word-building card games targeting phonemic awareness (blending and phoneme manipulation) and sound-spelling relationships and syllable structure (orthography), suitable for ages 6 and up.
Each card represents a sound/spelling (phoneme/grapheme), and these are combined firstly to make one-syllable words and then to change one’s opponent’s words into new words. The games are set up to draw attention to permissible combinations in English e.g. we can put “sn” as in “snip” or “snake” before a vowel in English, but not “ns”. We can put “ck” after one-letter vowels as in “back” and “luck” but not two-letter vowels like “ee” and “au”.
These cards are supplied as downloadable pdf files (six A4 pages) which you print in colour on paper or light cardboard, laminate if you will be using the games a lot, and cut up (or ask kids to hone their scissor skills on it). Put an elastic band around each of the decks, and you have small, cheap, portable edutainment. Save them to your computer so any lost or worn out pieces are easily replaced, or you can make extra copies.
Here are videos showing how each game is played, with links to more detailed explanations of each game.