How Do You Play The Bowling Word Building Game?
I have been teaching Kindergarten since 1996 and playing this bowling word building game with the kids since 1998–and they always love it. I do it during our bowling thematic unit and play it with them in March, once most of them have their phonics skills in place. Here is how we do it. Make cutout bowling pins by tracing a master bin on white tag board. Then cut the pin vertically down the middle and write a beginning sound (S, P, ch…) on the left side and an ending sound on the right side (e.g. at, ing, ad…). Lay all the pins on a table and ask the kids to build words. Once they build a word they show it to the adult at the table, and if they can read it, they get to write the word up on the board. Have the kids write the words they build on the board and then count them at the end of each rotation station. Have the kids build as many words as they can in 15 minutes.
