The Best Way to Learn Lots of Words Quickly? This Word Family Activity!

Tap into the power of word families and watch your students grow.

Are you looking to supercharge your students’ reading growth? Boy, do we have an activity for you! Learning word families is a fast way to help students recognize a lot of new words quickly because they are groups of words that share the same sound and spelling. By learning the ending -OG for instance, students quickly understand how to read and write words like DOG, LOG, FROG, FOG. Talk about supercharged reading growth! This fun, hands-on word family game will have your students spinning with excitement.

Grab your set below and then join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock access to all of our brain-friendly teaching tools in one time-saving spot.

Prepping the Word Family Activity

To get ready for the game, you’ll need to gather a few things:

• Several sheets of card stock. (The thicker, the better.)
• A circular stencil
• A black marker
• Scissors
• A brad
• A printout of the Spin a Word printable

First, draw a circle on one sheet of cardstock and write ten beginning sounds around its rim. You can use any letters students have already learned! In The Science of Reading Formula, we teach the consonants M, S, F, P, T, C, N, D, R, L first but any beginning sounds will work. You can even write digraphs like SH, CH and TH if students have learned them.

Cut out the circle and then cut several long strips from the other pieces of cardstock. Write one word family at the end of each strip. You can choose any word families that work for you and your students, but if you use AT, IP, UG, OT, and ED, you’ll cover all the vowel sounds and several different consonants. Can you say endless word combinations?!

Next, attach one of the word family strips to your circle using a brad. Be careful to attach the brad to the center of your circle so that the wheel spins around evenly.

Word Family Activity

Now comes the fun! Ask students to spin a word and write it on the printable. Then, ask them to read the word out loud and decide if it is a real word or a nonsense word. If it is real, they will circle YES under the column “IS IT REAL?”. If it is not, they will circle NO. 

Students will continue playing until all of the spots on their record sheet have been completed. 

But wait! There’s more.

Once students are able to read and write words in one word family, simply detach the word family strip and add a new one like this: 

With one quick switch, you will be ready for a completely new game. 

If you love this activity and are excited to practice all kinds of words, snag our Editable Word Work Board Games in our shop or in The Science of Reading Formula so you can practice any words under the sun!

Download Now

Grab your set below and then join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock access to all of our teaching tools in one time-saving spot.