1. Make three or four sets of alphabet cards ahead of time. There should be one
letter on each card. Shuffle them and put them face down in a pile.
2. Decide on the length of the sentence. For example, if students are fifth
graders, the average age would be ten. So put ten blank lines on the board. Each
blank line stands for a word.
3. Each student has a paper and pencil on his desk. The students draw the same
number of lines on their papers. The whole class works on this at the same time.
4. Call on one student to pick a letter card. Let's say he chooses a "g". He may
go to the board and put it at the beginning of any of the blank lines.
5. All the students must put that same letter on the same blank line at their
seats.
6. Repeat this process until there is a letter at the beginning of each line.
There will now be letters to begin ten words. See the diagram below.
7. Next, the students must create words that start with each of those letters,
and the words must make a complete sentence that makes sense. You may want to
say that no names of people are allowed.
Here is a possible sentence for the above configuration. "My old grandfather
began eating snap peas near lunch time."
8. The first student to finish and have a correct sentence is the winner of that
round. He writes his sentence on the board for the class to see.
9. Shuffle the cards and start again until all students in the class have had a
chance to pick a card.
Variations:
Home-school students could play this with a parent or sibling, and race to see
who makes a sentence first. Don't fool yourself if you as a parent are trying to
do this. It's not always easy!
Pick different lengths of sentences. Sometimes a short sentence can be more
difficult to think of than a longer one.
Choose small rewards for the winners. Maybe they will get a free homework pass
or a good behavior ticket.
Make A Ping Pong Bat And Net
The Chinese introduced table tennis to the world and have always been extremely
good at the sport. You can make your own ping pong bats and net and have a go!
Make A Name Book
More of a craft activity than a game, this is a great way for kids to get to
know each other at the beginning of the school year.
Fishing (Tiu-u or Chinese Dominoes) This game of Chinese dominoes sounds a little complicated to
begin with but is in fact very simple to play. The name ‘fishing’ comes from
the idea that players ‘fish’ for matching dominoes. You can either print out
our dominoes or make your own more authentic version with popsicle sticks
(instructions included!)
Matching Game cards can be used to play Memory
(Concentration), Go Fish and many other card games, as well as played with
our sorting mats by one child on their own. Printable Games
