Fun Literacy Games for Kindergarten and First Grade

Published: September 10, 2024
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Are you looking for an engaging way to help your students get the practice they need with new phonics skills? These fun literacy games for kindergarten and first grade are a great option! Keep reading to see how these engaging phonics games can enhance your Science of Reading lesson plans.

The Science of Reading

The Science of Reading may be a phrase you are hearing frequently and working to implement into your kindergarten or first-grade classroom. If you are trying to understand how to start this implementation and shift your way of thinking, I highly recommend the book, Shifting the Balance by Jan Burkins and Kari Yates. A couple of months ago, these amazing authors were on one of my Facebook Live chats and they are truly inspirational!

I have also written a blog post that walks you through what it can look like to use the Science of Reading in the classroom. The post is full of insights about the Science of Reading along with tips for implementing structured literacy in your classroom.

The Benefits of Using Literacy Games

As you put together your Science of Reading lesson plans, be sure to include some fun literacy tasks! Reading games can enhance phonics practice in many different ways:

Engaging Repetition: According to Wiley Blevins (another amazing author of books about reading and phonics), students may need additional time to truly master a phonics skill. Engaging literacy games can provide continued exposure and practice of phonics skills for kindergarten and first grade learners throughout the school year.
Targeted Phonics Practice: Students can practice a plethora of phonics skills with literacy games, like uppercase and lowercase letters, beginning sounds, CVC words, beginning blends, CVCe words, and vowel teams.

Cooperative Learning: Literacy games are a great way for students to practice skills like taking turns and following directions.
Easy to Swap: Once students have learned the rules for the game, you can easily swap out the game board and tokens to keep it fresh. Since the rules and format are the same, it’s easy to swap out the theme.

Fun Literacy Games for Kindergarten and First Grade

You don’t have to find a bunch of different games to incorporate into your literacy lesson plans. In fact, I use a similar format all year long. Each game has a different theme but uses the same format and rules. Let me show you how to use this series of games in your classroom:

Step One: Gather Materials

I love that this literacy game format is simple! You don’t have to spend a lot of prep time or money to use these phonics activities in your classroom. All you need is:

Game board
Game cards
Spinner and die
Recording sheet and pencil
Game pieces (snap cubes, counters, etc.)

Step Two: Introduce the Game

By using the same game format, it’s predictable for your students! This means you really only need to introduce it once in order to use it all year long. (Just like BUMP! games.)

You can introduce the game in whole-group and model playing with a partner. Once you feel that students can play the game without your support, you can move it into your literacy centers.

Step Three: Play!

The rules are simple, which makes the game perfect for early learners!

Two students will partner up for the game, setting up the game board with their tokens on START and the playing cards face down on the table or carpet. Each partner will have their own recording sheet for the game.

Partner A begins by drawing a card for Partner B. Partner A will say the picture name out loud so Partner B can demonstrate the target skill. They might need to identify the beginning sound, the beginning blend, how to spell the word, and so on.

After identifying the sound or spelling, Partner B will write this down on their recording sheet.

Then it’s time to move on the game board! Partner B will roll the die to see how many spaces they will move on the board. They will also spin to see what direction they will move. The spinner has two choices: Move closer to FINISH or move back towards START.

Once Partner B has moved their game piece, they will choose a card for Partner A and the game continues!

5 Ways to Use Literacy Board Games

One of the best things about these printable board games is that you can use them during any part of your daily routine. Here are a few examples:

Literacy Centers – The familiar format means that students can easily play these games independently, which is ideal for centers time!
Morning Tubs – If your students see these games in a morning tub, they’ll know exactly what’s expected of them. Plus, they’re easy to clean up so you can easily move on when it’s time to start the daily routine.
Early Finisher Games – These hands-on literacy activities can keep your early finishers engaged in worthwhile learning activities while they wait for the next class activity to begin.
Small Group Practice – These games are perfect for targeting specific phonics skills for intervention. They make a great warm-up for your small-group lessons!
Rainy Day Recess Activity – Since students already know the rules of the game, they’re easy for students to use with minimal refereeing needed!

Printable Literacy Games Bundle

Would you like to incorporate some engaging games into your literacy lesson plans? I have put together a bundle of fun literacy games that are perfect for kindergarten and first grade.

This year-long bundle includes a variety of engaging board games that are based on the Science of Reading. Since they are non-seasonal, you can easily incorporate them into your lesson plans whenever your students are ready for more practice with that particular phonics skill.

Just click below to take a closer look at everything included in this bundle of fun reading games for kindergarten and first grade: