Silly Phonics Game for Beginning Readers {Dr. Seuss Inspired}

Reading Game Inspired by Dr. Seuss

We love Dr. Seuss!  This month Dr. Seuss is the featured author for The Virtual Book Club for Kids, and we had a hard time picking just one Dr. Seuss book.  Tomorrow I will post the official February Virtual Book Club post.  For fun I am sneaking in another Seuss inspired activity today.  We've been playing fun reading games with an emphasis on phonics, and one of our favorite Dr. Seuss books gave me an idea for a super silly game I knew my boys would love.

We own several of Dr. Seuss' works and read them weekly.  A few weeks ago at the library we grabbed a few new books.  One of our many new favorites is On Beyond Zebra!  On Beyond Zebra! is a whimsical tale, in true Seuss style, of imaginary creatures and words.  The main theme of the story is taking the alphabet past the letter Z.  Each letter after Z is made up of different characters with a creature or animal that starts with the made up letter.  

Since JZ (5) has recently really taken off with his reading I thought it would be fun to use our imaginations to create a silly phonics game with made up words.

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Supplies:

• magnetic letters
• magnet board
• chalk

To be honest, JZ needed a little prompting at first.  I made up the first few words, and then he realized how goofy it was and made up some words of his own.  We used our DIY magnetic chalk board.  A cookie sheet would make the perfect substitute or even your refrigerator if it is magnetic.

He giggled with each word he sounded out.  He was having so much fun he didn't realize we were doing school work.  In his eyes we were playing a game.  In my eyes we were practicing letter sounds and blends.  How cool that we were able to do both at the same time?

After spelling dozens of crazy words I suggested we draw imaginary creatures to go along with the words.  He thought this was hilarious.

I love watching his little mind create.

After putting the letters C, N, E and T together he drew a couple of boxes and a circle then drew a line between the boxes and circle and proudly said, "Look Mom, I made them connect!"  Obviously he didn't spell connect right, but he is grasping the basic concept of word building which is exciting.

Eventually, after a whole lot of laughter, the board looked liked this.

I love Dr. Seuss so much.  It is my goal to make learning fun, but I will admit that sometimes I get caught up in the busyness of the day and want to just get through JZ's kindergarten work quickly and be done.  There is nothing like a whimsical Dr. Seuss book to remind me to let our imaginations soar and take flight.  I hope you are as inspired as I am.

For more reading games follow me on Pinterest.

Other Dr. Seuss inspired activities:

Dr. Suess's ABC ~ I Can Read with My Eyes Shut ~ Bartholomew and the GLOWING Oobleck