This digraph center is full of fishing fun! Digraphs are two letters that make just one sound. (“DI” literally means two and “GRAPH” means letters). For example, “shark” has the digraph SH- and “chant” starts with the digraph CH-.
Learning digraphs can be tricky for kids, so it’s important to give them plenty of practice.
This playful literacy center is a fun and simple way to stretch students’ phonics skills. Just grab your copy below and then hop over and check out our Vowel Team Centers in our shop!
Getting Ready
To prep the digraph center, print one record sheet for each student.
Then, print and laminate the fish cards before cutting along the lines to separate the pieces.
Place the fish in a pile facedown on the table and grab a basket of crayons.
That’s it! You’re ready to play.
Digraph Fishing Center
My first grader, Avery, has been hard at work memorizing her digraphs, so she was excited to take on the challenge.
She flipped over the top card in the stack and said the word out loud: “cheese.”
Then she slowly stretched out the word to listen for the digraph: “CH-eese.”
Since she knew that cheese started with CH-, she grabbed a crayon and colored a CH- fish on her record sheet.
Working her way through the pile, she flipped each card, read it out loud, and then colored the matching fish.
NOTE: While there are many words that start with the digraphs CH- SH-, TH- and WH-, there are far fewer words that start with PH-. Since we still want to give students practice with that digraph too, we’ve included fish that begin with PH- like “photograph” along with extra fish that have PH- in the middle of the word like “elephant.”
Easy prep and super fun! Everything you could wish for in a digraph center!
Snag Your Set
Grab your copy of Digraph Fishing and then hop over to snag our awesome Vowel Team Centers for more word work!
This looks fabulous but is there an option for the digraphs to be in small caps instead of capitals at all?
Your right! I didn’t notice this. I think the kiddos will still get the idea since my Kinders aren’t going to be spelling the words.
Hi Jayne,
I’m happy to help! I just uploaded a revised version of the fishing game so that you can practice digraphs with lowercase print. Just click “download” again to grab your copy. 🙂
Malia
I’m so glad I found this. I’ve been trying to teach my Kindergarteners these sounds to read high frequency words. I will be using these ASAP. Thank you!
Awesome, Pat!
I hope they love it 🙂
Warmly,
Ashley // Happiness Ambassador
I love this. Thank you so very much. I will put it to good use.
Wonderful, Deborah!
I hope your students enjoy 🙂
Warmly,
Ashley // Happiness Ambassador
When I try to print it it says file is corrupt
Hi Olivia,
Thanks for reaching out. I’m sorry you’re having trouble printing. We never want that. You’ll also want to make sure you have the most recent version of Adobe Reader Other and that you’re printing the file that has been downloaded and saved to your computer. If you still can’t get it to work, you can email me at hello@www.playdoughtoplato.com
Warmly,
Ashley // Happiness Ambassador
If the digraph is in the middle of the word, does that mean the child should skip coloring anything? The instructions say to color the first sound you hear, so I assume for words like elephant, that means to skip.
Great question, Laura! While there are many words that start with the digraphs CH- SH-, TH- and WH-, there are far fewer words that start with PH-.
Since we still want to give students practice with that digraph too, we’ve included fish that begin with PH- like “photograph” along with extra fish that have PH- in the middle of the word like “elephant”.
I hope that helps clarify! 🙂
Hello!
When I click “Download Here”, nothing happens. I am not sure if the activity was moved or this is an old post.
Thank you!
Hi Kerri,
When you click the blue “Download Here” button, a pop-up should open. You can try checking to make sure your browser isn’t blocking pop-ups from the site or try using a different browser. Let me know if you’re not able to get the digraph center!
Warmly,
Sarah // Playdough to Plato Team