Pop for Blends
Practice your Blends to help your reading fluency!
What is a Blend?? A consonant blend is two or more consecutive consonants in a word whose sounds blend together. Although the sounds “blend” together, each sound is still heard. These are examples of a blend: “fr” as in fry, “dr” as in dress, “sw” as in swim and “st” as in string.
A consonant digraph is a group of consecutive consonants in a word which join to make one sound. These are examples of a digraph: “wh” as in when, where, “th” as in thick, “ch” as in much and “kn” as in know.
The reason kids need to have a good understanding of their blends is to help them read with fluency. Pop for Blends is a great game in which children will practice reading blends and digraphs, and coming up with words that have these sounds in them. This makes it excellent for Foundation Phase children.
Pop for Blends contains die cut pieces of “popcorn” that each contain a Consonant Blends or Digraph on it. Children pull a popcorn piece from the box and need to come up with a word that uses that Blend (or Digraph) in a word.
This is a fast paced game that children will LOVE! It has an element of anticipation in it, as you never know when the “Pop” cards are going to come up! Through playing this game, you will help the child increase their reading fluency.
Watch out for the ‘POP’ pieces in this fast-paced early literacy practice game!
What is nice about this game is the strongest reader is not necessarily going to be the winner. The Pop pieces can come up at any time, so everyone is at the same risk of losing their cards.
How to Play
Place the Popcorn box in the middle of the table. Each child takes has a turn to take a piece of popcorn from the box and to come up with a word that contains that blend or dgraph.
If you can find an word that has the blend in it, you keep the popcorn piece
If you can’t name a correct word – the piece goes back into the box.
The first reader to get 5 (or any number) of words correct is the winner
But watch out for the “Pop” pieces!! If you pull a piece of popcorn from the box and it says “Pop” – you place ALL your saved pieces back into the box.
A game with multiple levels
There is a Spinner included in the box. This is used once the children have a familiarity with playing the game. The person having their turn spins the spinner as they pick a piece of popcorn out of the box. The spinner will reveal how many words the child needs to generate to keep the piece of popcorn. It could be one, two or three!! This is an added element of anticipation, and makes the game just a little more complicated! But also offers great practice in blends for the child.
This game includes 92 of the most common Blends and Digraphs required for the Foundation Phase of schooling. There are also 8 Pop cards per box. The box measures 8cm W x 15cm H.
The game is ideally played with between 2 – 6 people, but more can play if necessary.
There are many games in the Pop series of products. An excellent addition is Pop for Word Families. Look out for Pop for Sight Words for the first Sight Word installment, and Pop for Sight Words 2 for a little more advanced reader.