Friday Game Day... Alphabet Fruit Salad

It's Friday again!

Today I'm going to mix it up a bit and share a literacy game :) Well, actually it could easily be adapted for Maths or any other subject area, but it was originally a literacy game, so here goes....

Alphabet Fruit Salad

This game was introduced to me by my lovely colleague who I team teach with, and is a great way to get moving and practice Alphabet name/sounds at the same time.

It's based on the traditional game Fruit salad, but instead of using fruit names, you use letters (or blends/digraphs/sight words/bonds to 10, one more/less than.... the list is endless)

All of the children sit in a circle (or you can get them to place their chairs in a circle, but I find this is a lot of prep and a bit of a headache with new Receptions!). Choose 4 or 5 different letters (or blends etc) and go around the circle, naming each child a letter.

The teacher then shows a letter (I use flashcards), and all children with that letter must get up from their spot, run (or fast walk when we're in the class!) around the outside of the circle and sit back down in their spot. the person who is last back to their spot is 'out' and must sit in the centre of the circle. The teacher then shows another letter and the children with that letter must do the same. Last person back replaces the person in the middle (so there is only ever one person 'out' and they're only out for one turn). The teacher can also call out 'FRUIT SALAD' and then EVERYONE has to run around the circle and back to their spot.

You can also play the game (when using chairs) so that you  don't have to run around the outside of the circle, you simply swap seats with another person.... this can be a bit easier if you are playing inside in a small classroom! 

Laminate and cut out the cards for ready made flash cards

If you'd like to download a copy of my flashcards (from Google Docs) that I use for this game, click here ... we use Jolly Phonics, so I have the letters and digraphs that we will be learning this year on flash cards.

I hope your class likes this game... mine love it! :)