The shops have stocked their shelves with Christmas produce and I have been inspired to create some phonics games using the chocolate coins. So here are a few games that can be used with your children whether they are just starting out on their phonics journey or they have been learning for a year or two.
Game 1:
Resources: 1 pack of silver coins, 1 pack of golden coins, a sharpie pen
Write the sounds your child is learning or needs to practise onto the gold set of coins. These could be initial sounds or long vowel sounds. Write the same sounds on the silver set of coins. Turn them over and then take turns to turn over one gold coin and one silver coin at a time. When you find two that match then keep them. Encourage your child to say the sound as they turn it over. The person with the most pairs at the end wins.
Extension: Give your child four coins. Three coins make a word and one is not needed. Give your child the word e.g. hat. Ask your child to say the sounds they can hear in hat and then find those sounds to make the word.
Game 2:
Resources: 1 pack of silver coins, 1 pack of gold coins, a sharpie pen, a list of 2 syllable words such as bathroom, driftwood, bedroom etc
On the gold set of coins write the first part of the word e.g. bed, on the silver set of coins write the second part of the word. Turn all the coins over and take it in turns to turn over two coins, one gold and one silver. Put the coins together and read the whole word. Is it a real word? If so then you keep it. The winner is the person who has collected the most pairs.
Game 3:
Resources: One set of gold or silver coins, two boxes (shoe boxes would work well, I just used two of Isabel’s jewellery boxes), a sharpie pen, a piece of paper.
The game is a sorting game. Can your child sort out words that start with a particular sound. On the piece of paper write the sound you would like them to sort e.g. ‘h’ and place it in one box. On the coins write a selection of words that start with the letter you would like to practise such as hat, hit, hand and words that start with other letters. It would be helpful if the words you write are ones they can attempt to read. Turn over all the coins, then ask your child to pick them one at a time. Read the word. Does it start with the ‘h’ sound? If yes then place in the correct box. If no then place in the other box.
Extension: This is a great one to help with spellings. Isabel has just started bringing spellings home and she sometimes writes the wrong sound in the middle of the word. This game has helped her to try and work out which sound to use.
‘OU’ or ‘OW” On one piece of paper write ‘ou’ and place in a box. On the other piece of paper write ‘ow’ and put in the other box. On the coins write words that have either sound in them e.g. owl, house, cow, found etc. Children then pick up a coin, read the word and place it in the correct sound box.
Game 4:
Resources: one set of coins, two boxes, two pieces of paper, a sharpie pen.
Buried Treasure: On one piece of paper draw a smiley face and put in one box, on the other piece of paper draw a sad face and put in the other box. On the coins write a selection of words, some are real words and some are silly made up words. They must be able to read the words so using the sounds they know. (A quick google of phase 2 alien words will give you a list of words.) Turn the coins over, take it in turns to turn over a coin and read the word. If it is a real word it goes in the smiley face box, and if it is a silly word it goes in the sad face box.
I hope you find these activities useful. If you want to use them alongside a theme then it would work well with pirates or kings and queens.
Enjoy 🙂