Purpose:
Children will want to play this game forever! They are learning valuable alphabet and phonic skills as they fish. This activity can be easily adapted to a wide range of abilities, as you will see in the variations below.
Materials/Advance Preparation:
- Construction paper
- Fish pattern
- Magnets (Try to find the magnet rolls that are one single
strip and can be cut with scissors; they also have a sticky side.)
- Metal washer
- String
- A dowel
- (Clear contact paper)
- Trace the fish pattern on the construction
paper (you will need 52 fishes when done) and cut out. You may want to
extend the life of the fish by attaching clear contact paper to each.
- On 26 of the fish write one capital letter, and on the remaining 26, write
the lower case letter.
- Cut a small piece of the magnet and stick it to the
side of the fish that is blank. Tie one end the string to the dowel and
the other end to the washer.
Directions:
- Scatter the fish on the floor, letter side
down. You may want to begin with all capital letters or all small
letters. Later you can mix them up.
- Use the dowel as a fishing rod and pick up a fish.
If the letter is said correctly the child may keep the fish. The fish
is thrown back if the child does not identify the letter correctly. You
may want to do the fishing and ask the children to identify the letter, or you
may want to let each child take a turn with the rod. Be sure you make it
safe to make mistakes and that you gear the requirement to keep the fish to
the developmental levels of the children so that they can be successful.
- The game is over when all of the fish are caught.
Variation
I: Add the sound. To keep the fish, the child must say the letter
correctly and give the corresponding sound.
Variation
II: Tell a word that begins with that sound. If the child catches a
fish with the letter “S” they must tell you a word that begins with the letter
“S”.
Courtesy
of http://kaydee.virtualave.net/
Fishing for Letters