Word Builder

Little levels (ages 4 to 6)

1. Build cat Tap C, A, T in order; then dog and sun.
2. Which word? Cat, cot or cut: tap the word that matches the picture.
3. The missing vowel c_t, p_n, p_g: tap the vowel that makes the word.
4. Change one letter Cat to hat to hot to pot to pet to pen.
5. Build it yourself Mixed-up tiles with extras: build bus, hen, map, fox, jam.

Big levels (ages 7 to 9)

1. Blends and digraphs Ship, frog, fish, drum, crab, shell.
2. Magic e words Cake, kite, cube, bike, rope, bone.
3. Vowel teams Boat, rain, feet, moon, tree, seal.
4. Two parts Rab + bit, sun + set, cup + cake: syllable tiles.
5. Unscramble Apple, snake, train, bread, house, clock.
6. Spell what you hear No picture: spell jump, hand, nest, lamp, sock, clap.

The big ideas

• Words are letters in order. C, A, T in that order spells cat. The same letters in another order spell something else or nothing at all. Order is what makes spelling work.

• Every word needs a vowel. The middle letter of cat, pen, pig, dog and cup is a vowel, and swapping it swaps the word. Hearing the middle sound is the hardest part of spelling short words.

• Change one letter, get a new word. A word ladder (cat, hat, hot, pot, pet, pen) shows that words are built from parts that can be swapped, which is how children learn to read whole families of words.

• Some sounds take two letters. SH in ship and the vowel team OA in boat are single sounds spelled with two letters, and the silent e in cake changes the vowel before it. These patterns cover thousands of words.

• Long words are short parts. Rabbit is rab plus bit. Spelling a long word one syllable at a time is far easier than trying to hold all the letters at once.

Try it at home

1. Fridge-magnet workshop Spell a short word with magnet letters, then swap one letter at a time and read what you get: cat, hat, hot, pot. Nonsense words are fine as long as you say so.
2. Vowel swap Write b_g on paper and try every vowel: bag, beg, big, bog, bug. Which ones are real words?
3. Clap and spell Clap the parts of a long word (rab-bit, pump-kin) and spell one part at a time.
4. Sound spelling Say a short word slowly and have your child write a letter for each sound they hear. Praise the sounds they caught before fixing the spelling.

Ask after playing

• What word can you make from the letters of pot by changing one letter?
• Which word has a magic e: cap or cape? What does the e do?
• Can you clap the parts of your name and spell the first part?