I love to wander around Lakeshore while Avery does the craft on Saturdays. I find some great ideas and then make them my own. I found this game the others day. It’s a large plastic mat you can lay on the ground and the kids jump from letter to letter to make words. I thought it was a great idea, but it was $30!! How can I make this myself for Avery to use?

I took a picture of it on my phone and made it myself when I got home. I used chalk behind our driveway. Avery loved the new game. A little like hopscotch with the jumping, and she got to make words.

The first time we played (a few weeks ago) I wrote the words she made down next to the chart. They were simple words; cat, mug, hop, cab, hip, pat…

Then we played it yesterday after watching a Leap Frog video about “complex words.”  This time around she began to put four letter words together; cute, mine, pine, hope. They all have the silent “e” at the end. She is really starting to get the hang of this reading thing. It’s fun to watch her figure it all out.