Word Family Board Game (free printable -at, -ug, -op, & -ail practice)

Our kindergartner is starting to read. It's incredibly exciting. I cannot tell who's more proud: him or me. To introduce him to word families, I made a fun little board game.

Download your copy for free from Google Drive here. Print on heavyweight cardstock. Double the weight of the arrow spinner by folding the paper over and gluing two plies before cutting it out. Punch a hole with a nonconventional hole punch and attach the spinner with a brad. Find different game pieces for each player.

Playing is easy. The youngest player starts. They flick the spinner and land on a letter. They'll move their game piece from the START words to the first real word that can be made with the letter they spun and the word ending (e.g. if they spin t, they'll move to -op since that makes the word top). 

Kids will love trying out the combinations of letters and word endings and giggle at the nonsensical words they make in the process. 

Play alternates between opponents. If a player lands on the SPIN AGAIN, they'll do just that and spin again to get a letter. They'll then move their piece twice to form the first two words that can be formed with the letter spun and the word endings on the board.

The first player to reach the final square on the board is declared the winner. When we played, that was my 6 year old! 

Want a great book to pair with this game? We've been reading these flip-a-word books. They're great for beginning readers and a perfect introduction to word families!