Multisensory Monday: Classic Board Games for Review

Happy Monday!

I love board games. Especially with kids! Who’s with me? Time spent playing can be such a fun and exciting experience between you and your child or students. While board games are wonderful by themselves, I love to mix it up a bit by changing the rules and turning the game into a review for reading and spelling. Read on for some spruced-up board game suggestions.

Sorry! 

This is a challenging game of competition, as you try to be the first one to get all your pieces into home. A few
modifications to the original game of Sorry! can be a fun way to practice reading and spelling previously introduced Red/Sight Words.

• Write previously learned Red/Sight Words on index cards.
• Students pull a card, load and arm tap the word (involving both reading and spelling of the word), then move as many spaces as there are letters in a word.
  • If the word is misread, the student does not move her player and instead, loads and arm taps together with a parent or teacher three times.

War

Definitely a game of luck! In this modified version of War, students get the chance to have a little fun, while strengthening reading words that contain a variety of phonics skills.

• To get ready to play, you will first need to create some word cards. The simplest way is to take index cards and write a word on one side of each card. The best part is that you can customize the words to include phonics skills that are being worked on in class. For example, if your students are learning CVC words (cat, pig, cup, etc.) write CVC words on the cards. If your students are working on more advanced phonics, include words that contain a combination of previously learned skills (catnip, slime, bugle, etc.).
• On the back of each card, write a number 1-13.
• Separate all the cards into two piles (or a pile for each player, if more than two). Two players will each draw a card at the same time and place on the table. Each student reads their card, then turns over their card to see who has the largest number. The one with the largest number gets to keep their card.
• Keep going until all the cards are gone from each of the piles. The winner of the game is the person with the most cards!

Connect 4

The best games are sometimes the simplest. While this game may seem simple, it’s another wonderful way to build in practice and repetition of current phonics skills being practiced.

• Use word cards created from another game/activity, or make new ones. Be sure the words are up to date, containing skills that have been previously taught.
• In order to take a turn, each player must read a word correctly on a card aloud. After reading, they continue with their move as normal.
  • If the word is misread, the student does not move their chip, but gets to try and read again. If stuck, the student can “phone a friend” by asking another student or their teacher for some help.
• The first person to get four chips in a row wins!

Enjoy!

Written by Tony Puente

Tony is a Brainspring Tutor and Livestream Facilitator with Brainspring Educator Academy.

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