Paint Chip Phonics

I found a great idea on The Snail’s Tail. She really does a good job of explaining it on her site, but I’ll try to do it here too. The idea is to practice the consonants, blends, digraphs and common word families. I have to admit I was a tad intimidated to walk into Lowe’s and grab a whole pile of paint chips, but the lady was talking to me the whole time and didn’t seem to mind. (Note: I did try Home Depot first, but didn’t like their paint chips, they were mostly 1 color on a card and didn’t have the ones with the hole cut out. Though later, I decided the hole was too small and used a 1 1/4″ hole punch to make it bigger.) Here is the list of the phonograms she used. The Phonogram Page is a great site that lets your child hear the phonograms correctly. All About Spelling has a list of Phonograms and how to teach them.

Shopping List:

• 13 long cards (6 colors to a card) or 26 short cards (3 colors to a card) for consonants, blends, and diagraphs

• 34 cards that have the hole cut out…12 if there are 3 colors on a card.

Here is a sample of the families, blends and digraphs (you can click on the images to see them larger):

Consonants and cards in action:

Since I had cards left over, I decided to make a “Shades of Color” game with them for my preschooler. You can download my color grid here, and I used a 1 1/4″ square punch to punch the colors out.

These word families go on the cards with the square cut out on them:

• ag
• ab
• ail
• ain
• ack
• ake
• am
• an
• ank
• ap
• all
• at
• ay
• eed
• ell
• est
• ew
• ick
• ight
• ill
• ine
• ing
• ink
• ip
• ob
• og
• ore
• ot
• out
• ow
• uck
• um
• unk
• y

The following consonants, blends, and diagraphs are all written on the long paint chips.

Consonants:

• b
• c
• d
• f
• g
• h
• j
• k
• l
• m
• n
• p
• q
• r
• s
• t
• v
• w
• x
• y
• z

Blends:

• bl
• cl
• fl
• gl
• pl
• sl
• br
• cr
• dr
• fr
• gr
• pr
• tr
• sc
• sk
• sp
• st
• sm
• sn
• sw
• spl
• spr
• str
• squ

Diagraphs:

• ch
• wh
• th
• sh
• ph
• thr
• shr

How many words can you make? (there are over 500+ words in this set)

• ab cab, lab, blab, crab, flab, grab, scab, slab, stab
• ack back, pack, quack, rack, black, crack, shack, snack, stack, track
• ag bag, rag, tag, brag, flag
• ail fail, mail, jail, nail, pail, rail, sail, tail, snail, trail
• ain main, pain, rain, brain, chain, drain, grain, plain, Spain, sprain, stain, train
• ake bake, cake, fake, lake, make, quake, rake, take, wake, brake, flake, shake, snake
• am ham, Sam, clam, slam, swam
• an can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van, bran, plan, than
• ank bank, sank, yank, blank, crank, drank, thank
• ap cap, lap, map, nap, rap, tap, clap, flap, scrap, slap, snap, strap, trap, wrap
• at bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, rat, sat, brat, chat, flat, spat, that
• ay day, may, pay, say, clay, play, pray, spray, stay, tray
• eed feed, need, seed, weed, bleed, freed, greed, speed
• ell bell, fell, sell, tell, well, yell, shell, smell, spell, swell
• est best, guest, nest, pest, rest, test, vest, west, chest, crest
• ew dew, few, knew, new, blew, chew
• ick kick, lick, pick, quick, sick, brick, chick, click, stick, thick, trick
• ight knight, light, might, night, right, sight, tight, bright, flight, fright, slight
• ill fill, hill, pill, will, chill, drill, grill, skill, spill, thrill
• in bin, fin, pin, sin, win, chin, grin, shin, skin, spin, thin, twin
• ine fine, line, mine, nine, pine, vine, wine, shine, spine, whine
• ing king, ring, sing, wing, bring, cling, spring, sting, string, swing, thing
• ink link, pink, sink, wink, blink, drink, shrink, stink, think
• ip dip, hip, lip, rip, sip, tip, chip, clip, drip, flip, grip, ship, skip, strip, trip, whip
• ob knob, mob, rob, blob, slob, snob
• ock knock, lock, dock, rock, sock, block, clock, frock, shock, stock
• op cop, hop, mop, pop, top, chop, crop, drop, flop, plop, shop, stop
• ore bore, more, sore, tore, wore, chore, score, shore, snore, store
• ot got, dot, hot, knot, lot, not, plot, shot, spot
• out grout, scout, shout, spout, sprout
• ow cow, how, now, brow, chow, plow
• uck buck, duck, luck, cluck, stuck, truck
• um gum, hum, drum, plum, slum
• unk junk, chunk, drunk, shrunk, stunk, trunk
• y by, my, cry, dry, fly, fry, shy, sky, spy, try, why

(Blends, digraphs, word families taken from The Snails Trail and word list taken from Literacy Connections)

• Another variation of this came from Sippy Cup Central. She calls it Word Sliders and it’s another great way to practice reading!