As we move past CVC Words into blends and now digraphs, kindergarteners are starting to really gain momentum with reading! This Digraphs Board Game is a great way to introduce beginning readers to digraphs without requiring them to sound out the whole word, which they might not be ready to do. Listening for the digraphs in these words will help them gain recognition of when to use those sounds in writing and reading. Plus, it is so fun to play board games!
Supplies needed:
Paper
Cardstock or scrapbook paper (see tip below)
To prepare the game, print the game board page. Then, print the playing card pages on cardstock or scrapbook paper.
Printing on scrapbook paper gives the cards a fun back design, while also making it so that the kids can’t see through the cards and cheat.
Before allowing the children to play on their own, go through the playing cards with them, making sure that all the kids understand what the pictures are showing. Words like shadow or thermos may be confusing to kindergarten students.
How to play:
Place your marker on the “Start” of the board game. Place all the cards upside-down on the “Card Draw Pile”.
Choose a player to go first.
The player will draw a card from the pile and read the word or say the name of the picture on the card. Then the player will move their game marker to the next space that has a picture contains the same digraph as their card.
If a player lands on a space with an arrow, they will follow the arrow to the new space.
If a “star” card is drawn the player will head to the closest star space, even if it is behind them.
To win by landing on the last word “whale”, the player must draw a card that has the “wh” digraph.
Download the Digraphs Board Game
Ready to work on those Digraph Sounds? Download the Digraph Sounds Board Game here. Then, hop over and download more free digraph printables!
Tons More Kindergarten Printables
Looking for more easy prep, ready to go activities for your kindergarteners? Our Kindergarten printables bundle has tons of ready to go activities for literacy and math!
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For advanced students- remove the playing cards. Roll a die to begin and move that number of spaces. Then student identifies the digraph sound, and spells the digraph. Moving one space forward or one space backward for each correct/ incorrect answer. Next turn they identify the same based on where their marker is at. (no more rolling of the die)
(Just a thought for my older Title I students who need less picture clues from the cards)
Hi Sheila,
What a great differentiation of this activity! Thanks so much for sharing with us.
Have a great rest of the school year!