Wednesday, March 10, 2021

ALPHABET CATEGORIES

Here's a variation of the category game on yesterday's blog. To make this game you will need 2 sheets of poster board of different colors. Cut the poster board into 4” squares. (You will need 23 squares of each color.) On one color print alphabet letters. (Print “u & v” on the same card and “x, y, z” on another card.) On the other color print one of the categories below. 

                                       

Shuffle up each set of cards.  Draw a card from the “letter pile” and a card from the “category pile.”  Encourage the children to make the sound of the letter.  Can they think of a word in the category that begins with that sound?

*When introducing this game, simply play it as a shared group activity and do not keep score.  This would work online or in person. 

*For older students divide the class into teams and give points to the first team to come up with a word that fits that category.  

shapes                        things that fly
cars                             TV show
animals                            toys
books                              famous person
plants                          occupation
game                          verb
songs                          body part
fruit or vegetable        sports team
color                           store
candy                         zoo animal
something you wear
type of transportation
something in the school
something in the kitchen
river, lake, or ocean
city or town


Hint! Adapt the categories to the specific age, skills, and interests of your students.


Winners and Losers

                                      
Sometimes children get a little over zealous if you are playing team games where you keep points. Here’s a tip to eliminate some of that competitiveness. Take a deli lid and trace around it twice on paper and cut out. Write “high” on one circle and “low” on the other circle and tape to opposite sides of the lid. (I had to trim the circles a little to get them to fit on the lid.) After playing the game, toss the lid. If it lands on “high” the team with the highest score wins. If it lands on “low” the team with the lowest score wins.