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Who says that reading has to be in a book or on paper?
A key way to support your child in blending sounds together is to do it in as many ways as possible. Georgie’s Gym is a practical, active, fun way to practise that very skill, as well as helping improve listening skills – not a piece of paper in sight!
What you will need:
2+ players
Your voice… that’s it!
What are the rules?
One of the players is Georgie (the caller).
The others are the listeners.
Georgie calls out verbs (action words) as sounds. The listeners must put the word back together and complete the action.
Once your child is a little more au fait with the idea, let them try being the caller role. On this side of the game, your child is practising how to segment words orally, which will help them with their spelling skills for writing.
Example: I’m Georgie. Listen to my sounds. Put them back together and follow the action they spell.
s-i-t
s-t-a-n-d
j-u-m-p
s-p-i-n
You can extend it further by doing phrases (more than one word). I always symbolise the start if a
new word with a karate chop type action.
E.g. f-r-o-g / j-u-m-p
b-u-nn-y / h-o-p
s-t-r-e-tch / h-igh
Top tip
You can play this game in a small space with simple verbs, such as j-u-m-p, s-i-t, s-t-a-n-d.
You also spread out and use larger spaces by making the verbs move, such as j-u-m-p / a-r-ou-n-d / the / r-oo-m.
Stuck for ideas?
Here is a list of the words or phrases that often crop up when I play with a class or my children. It could help earlier readers to accurately segment (break up the word), but practise makes perfect.