Here’s a delightful adaptation to a flashcard game. You can use this for letters, sight words, sets, numerals, shapes, math facts, or any skill that needs practice.
Hint! One pre-reading skill for younger children that can be reinforced with this game is RAN – Rapid Automatic Naming. (How quickly can children see something and retrieve the word for it.) Glue pictures of different categories you are studying (farm animals, fruits, clothing, etc.) on flashcards for children to name.
Materials: index cards or blank flash cards, marker, picture of cowboys and chickens, glue
Directions: Write skills on index cards. Glue chickens and cowboys to a few cards. As you hold up the cards, children identify the information. If a chicken appears, they jump up, cluck, and flap their arms like a chicken. If a cowboy appears, they jump up, twirl a finger in the air, and say, “Yee haw!”
Note! This is a game that can be played if you have a few extra minutes before lunch or at the end of the day. Vary this game throughout the year with skills that need strengthening. Change the silly cards to holiday and seasonal characters. For example, in October you could have scarecrows and pumpkins. Jump up and flop around when the scarecrow appears. Put your arms around your head to make a circle and smile for the pumpkin.
