Hide And Seek With Letters, Sounds, And Sight Words!
"Ready or not, here I come!" Do you remember hearing those words as a kid and immediately feeling the pitter-pattering of your heart as you sat in suspense wondering if you would be found?
So many children of all ages still enjoy the thrill of a good game of “Hide and Seek.” If your child is one of them, I’m going to show you a fun and engaging way to weave literacy into your child’s day by throwing some letters, sight words, or vocabulary words into the mix of this popular game. Both of my boys learned quite a bit playing this version of the game.
Here's what you do.
1) Decide On The Setting of The Game
Will you play inside or outside? Will you use the living room or your entire living space? Maybe you want to bring the game to the backyard and hide your items in a few bushes, under some rocks, or in the snow. Where would they love to play?
You want to communicate that this is FUN and all about THEM!
2) Choose The Objective
Did they just learn something new in reading or writing? You can play this game to review or practice almost anything! That’s why I love it so much!
Like any other game, you want this game to have an objective. You can even decide on what the objective will be together with your child.
If your child is interested in learning letters, then you can play by hiding and finding letters from the alphabet. The objective will be for her to find the letters and eventually learn a couple of new ones after a few rounds of the game.
If she’s practicing how to match sounds to letters or letters to sounds, then the objective will be for her to find the letters and tell you what sounds they make. She can also search for hidden pictures and tell you the beginning and ending sounds they make or the letters they begin and end with.
Does she have a list of sight words or high frequency words that her teacher sent home? Hide some of those words!
Maybe your older child has some new vocabulary words to learn?
This game checks out for all of these and more! The options really are endless.
3) Start with Five
I like to start with five of whatever we’re reviewing. So for example, when playing with letters, choose three that they know really well and two they are still learning. This way they don’t get frustrated.
You can use magnetic letters, post-its, or index cards to write on.
As they learn, add on new letters, words, or pictures to your hiding pile. After some time, be sure to boost their confidence and say, “Look at how many letters you know now! Wow!”
“As they learn, add on new letters, words, or pictures to your hiding pile.”
4) It’s TIME To Hide!
Decide on who will do the hiding and who will do the seeking first.
Let’s say your objective is to have your child learn some new letters. If your child is doing the hiding first, tell him he has X amount of time to hide all five of the letters. You know your child best. Give him the amount of time that’s right for him, but that will still keep the game interesting and fun.
To keep true to the original version of the game, he could also go and hide after he’s hidden the letters. After all, hiding is what the kids love about the game! Just make sure you find him first so he can see you find the letters.
5) Make a Big Deal about what you find!
This is the the magical moment you’ve both been waiting for. Once time is up, say, "Ready or not, here I come," and enthusiastically begin your search for your child and the hidden items!
If you’re finding letters, say something like, "Yes! I found the letter S!" and show it to them so they can begin to make the association between the name and the shape of the letter. You could also say something like, “Hmmm…what letter could this be? It’s round and reminds me of a circle! This must be the letter O!”
When it's your turn to hide the letters and they find a newly learned one, don't forget to say something like, "Awesome! You found the letter C!"
Play a few rounds and watch how much the repetition of hiding and finding the same group of letters helps them learn.
6) A LITTLE HEALTHY COMPETITION!
With older children, you might want to create a little bit of healthy competition by adding more players, giving out points and prizes, or adding an extra step like having them explain the meaning of the vocabulary words they find.
They will get so much enjoyment from hiding the items and from finding them that they may not even notice they are learning.
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