Fill In The Blank Spelling with Playdough

Learning After School is our series of short but important lessons that are big on fun and reinforce skills your kids are learning at school. They are designed not to feel like homework and if they do or if my son rates them too low ( yes he rates each and every activity we do here) I don’t post it .This simple CVC word activity lets kids explore spelling with playdough and did pass the test. I like using playdough because if you make a mistake it’s easy peasy to squish and try again.

When your kids or their teachers speak about CVC words these are the type of words they are talking about consonant- vowel- consonant.  These simple three letter words are a great place to start segmenting sounds and working on connecting known consonant sounds with various vowel sounds to create new words. This works on your child’s phonological awareness and differentiation of vowel sounds which can be a very big struggle for many kids. The playdough adds novelty which is great when you are doing activities that require practice and repetition. Here is what we did.

Gather your materials. You will need some playdough and some letter stamps.

Divide your playdough into small mounds and flatten.

Using your alphabet stamps stamp the first and third letters. Here are some ideas for you : c-p , b-d , m-p, w-n,  f-n, r-g, h-m , c-t  * As Casey points out in comments you shouldn’t include words ending in r for CVC words because the vowel is r controlled ( say a few words in your head cab, cap, car… to see the difference) and they don’t follow the CVC vowel pattern.  For kids still learning at this level we want them to see and recognize these patterns because it helps them learn. We don’t want to confuse them.

Next give your child the stamps with the vowels on them and ask them to make words with them. If your child is new to this activity encourage adding any vowel and take time to help them sound it out and do not worry if they create combinations that aren’t real words. If kids are more experienced give them the challenge of only creating words that have meaning. Encourage them to try out different combinations and ask themselves if it makes sense.

Squish the middle letter and try again. How many words can they create? For an even greater challenge offer them the consonant stamps and make whole new combinations of letters and words.

For another playful way to work on spelling and boosting phonological awareness try this idea from an article I wrote for Scholastic Parent’s Raise A Reader blog and this word family playdough and letter stamp activity from I Can Teach My Child .