Word Tracing Game

Word Tracing Game

This activity is fun for prereaders, beginning readers, and independent readers. Adapt it to your child's ability.

• Family photos or photos from old magazines or catalogs Glue
• Homemade or store-bought picture cards showing things that represent simple words like hat, pig, and doll
• Pencil
• One sheet of paper per player
• One marker per player

Directions

1. Divide the cards into as many equal sets as there are players. For each set, print the corresponding words faintly in pencil on a sheet of paper.
2. Give one list to each player.
3. Shuffle all the cards together and put them facedown in a pile.
4. The first player draws a card, identifies the picture, then looks for the word on his list.
5. If he finds it, he traces it with a marker. If he doesn't, he discards the card.
6. The next player does the same, and the players take turns until there are no more cards in the pile.
7. The player who has traced the most words at this point is the winner.
8. A child playing alone can make a game of simply identifying the pictures, finding the words, and tracing the words.

1. If all the players are independent readers, turn this into a spelling game.
2. For this variation, you needn't make lists.
3. When a player draws a card, he simply writes the word on a sheet of paper.
4. When there are no cards left in the pile, the player who has spelled the most words correctly is the winner.