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Trusted by families & educators — sensory, learning & support tools.
Trusted by families & educators — sensory, learning & support tools.
We often underestimate just how much practice some students need to become proficient and automatic when blending CVC words during reading.
Many people think that once a student knows their letter sounds, they will be well on their way to reading.
The reality is that knowing letter sounds (phonics) is not enough on its own. Children also need to be able to join, or blend, those sounds together to read words.
For some children, blending develops quickly. But for others, particularly students with dyslexia, ADHD, developmental language disorder, autism, learning difficulties or working memory challenges, it can take many successful repetitions before decoding starts to become automatic.
Before children can successfully blend CVC words, they need explicit, systematic instruction so they have the knowledge and strategies required.
This includes directly teaching:
This is the foundation.
Beyond explicit instruction, children also need plenty of meaningful practice. With enough successful repetitions, decoding can gradually become more accurate, fluent and automatic.
Finding resources and games that make decoding CVC words interesting, varied and fun is a great way to give students the amount of repetition they need.
Well-designed games can make that practice effective without it feeling repetitive.
Having a variety of games that are appealing, quick, fun and easy to play can help children get plenty of opportunities to practise blending and decoding CVC words. They can have so much fun that they don't realise just how much “reading” they're actually doing!
These games are useful in the classroom or clinic, and they're also great to share with parents so practice can continue at home.
Here are some of the resources I use most often with my own students.
This card game is played along similar lines to Uno, only there are no draw, skip or reverse cards.
Instead, there are Switch It cards that allow you to change the colour.
There are five colour sets, with each colour containing CVC words with the same medial vowel. For example, the red cards contain words with /a/ as the medial vowel, such as map.
The gold cards are an expansion pack, where the words contain consonant digraphs, such as duck and wish.
Each colour set also has a consistent shape, so if a player is colour blind, they can still identify the different sets and enjoy the game.
Aside from being a really fun and quick game for two players or the whole family, we often use the cards in Switch It as prompts for other games and activities.
This is an oldie but a goodie!
I've had and used a version of this game in my teaching for over 30 years. Sadly, the original isn't available anymore, so I ended up making my own.
Children choose the nine pictures they would like on their bingo board. Players then take turns flipping over a calling card and reading the word.
Every word they read is another opportunity to practise blending. With all the CVC calling cards included, it's surprising just how much exposure and practice they can get while simply playing a game.
This would have to be up there with one of the most popular games with my students.
It can be a bit of madness, so you do need to choose your moment—or child—carefully!
To play, simply spread the flies out on the table. Players use their fly swatter to collect as many flies as they can in one swat. They then read the word on each of the flies they've collected.
I tend to have one important rule: the fly swatter needs to stay below their shoulder!
Most students also learn pretty quickly that the harder they swat, the fewer flies they tend to catch.
The flies have a little secret too...
They're colour coded, making it quick and easy to modify the game depending on where your child is on their literacy journey.
Flies with red eyes are easier to decode because they contain simple CVC words, whereas flies with green eyes contain words with consonant digraphs, such as rock (ck).
Another thing I love about this game is how easily you can change its length depending on the time available. Simply add or reduce the number of flies you spread across the table.
Fast-paced, active and incredibly motivating. You'll love it!
A simple race track transforms reading practice into a game.
Roll the die to move your car—or counter—along the track. Read the word correctly to park on the spot. But be careful to avoid the crash spots, where you'll need to reverse one place!
The game uses words beginning with continuous consonants, which can be easier for beginners to blend into the vowel sound that follows—for example, m+a—compared with stop consonants such as b+a.
It's a simple, quick and easy game that gives you another way to vary the reading practice you're doing.
And variety is important. It helps keep children interested and engaged while still giving them the repetition they need.
The free download also includes a blank template, so when the time comes, you can change the words or increase the difficulty.
My students love playing this one.
It's perfect when we only have time for a really quick game at the end of a tutoring session—although when it comes to Noughts & Crosses, it's hard to stop at just one game!
I find one of the easiest ways to play is using the Switch It Level One cards.
We might each choose a colour and put those cards face down in a pile. Flip a card, read the word and then write it on the Noughts & Crosses board.
Alternatively, I'll use the whole deck, with or without the gold expansion cards, depending on whether the student is ready for consonant digraphs such as ch, ck, th and sh.
If you don't have Switch It Level One, that's no problem. You can simply type or write a list of CVC words that you can both choose from.
Explicit teaching is the foundation, but practice is where those skills are consolidated.
Regular, successful practice helps children become increasingly accurate, fluent and confident with decoding.
And the good news is that practice can be FUN.
Have a variety of games available. Leave them somewhere easy to access. Incorporate them into family life or pull out a quick game several times throughout the week.
Five minutes here. Ten minutes there. It all counts.
The goal isn't to turn every practice session into a lesson. It's to create plenty of opportunities for children to successfully use the skills they're learning.
Many of the resources I use in our specialist tutoring centre are available through The Starfish Store.
You'll find practical, evidence-informed games and tools designed to make learning engaging, including:
Kirstie Wishart M.Ed (Special Education).
Owner and founder of The Starfish Store. Kirstie’s professional life has included: teaching (in both public and private schools in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand), lecturer and subject coordinator at the University of Wollongong, Educational consultant (working with children and young people with a trauma background), OoHC Case Work Manager, and Specialist Tutor (working with children and young people with significant learning difficulties and/or disabilities).
40 Proprioceptive activities for the classroom. Simple and practical activities to incorporate Proprioceptive into the classroom. 16 A4 sheets to print for your classroom, therapy space or home.