Try this:  Beach Ball Phonics!  Write all of the phonogram sounds on a beach ball, using a permanent marker. I usually draw a square or circle around each sound. (Beach balls are available at clearance prices at the end of the summer swim season! I have found them for a little as a quarter!) For game play, toss the ball to a student, or have the students toss the ball to each other. Call out, left thumb or right thumb, or right index finger, left index finger, right pinkie or left pinkie. Then ask the student what those letters "say"... for an extension to this activity, ask the student to give you a word that has that sound in it, spelled just that way. 

Try this: Phonogram Flash! Give the student a phonogram riddle such as: I am thinking of an OA word that a boat can do on water. This is great for a five or ten minute filler before specials, lunch, or recess. Want to make it easy for yourself? TWO complete sets of Phonogram Flash are available with your subscription order! Set 1 has only blends, Set 2 contains vowel/double vowels and the more difficult sounds.

Try this:  Phonics Baseball!  (This game can be used with any spelling, also.) Draw a baseball diamond on the board and use little "people" magnets as the "runners." Assign a student to record the outs and the hits. Divide the room into two teams. "Pitch" a phonetically spelled word such as COUCH. (use sounds you have recently studied to help reinforce the sounds!) Team 1 is at "bat" and the first student spells the word correctly. Their "magnet runner" gets moved to first base. The next student is given the word CROWD and the student spells it c-r-o-u-d. He made an out, so one out is scored on the board. The other team now gets a chance to make another out against that team by spelling it correctly. The student from Team 2 spells the word correctly, so there are now 2 outs for Team 1. Team 1 has another turn...they continue until they make three outs. Runs are scored as each magnet person "runs" all the bases and gets to home plate. We generally play this for about 20 minutes, save the score and play again on another day. After three game plays, the game is over and the team with the most runs, wins! (This game can also be played when reviewing regular spelling list words, too!)

Phonics Basketball: You will need Nerf basketball and a clean trash can. Divide the class into two teams, lining them up. Place a trash can several feet away from the beginning of the line. Flip a coin to see which team goes first and then give the first player a phonetically spelled word, such as PORCH. If he spells the word correctly, hand him the basketball and allow him to shoot. (A variation...Use colored tape to put down two different lines and allow the student to choose which line to take his shot...the farther line is worth 3 points, the closer line is worth 2.) If the student doesn't spell the word correctly, allow the other team to "steal" by spelling it correctly. If the person from that team spells it correctly, he automatically scores one point and then, the next person on THAT team is up.  Record basket points and "stolen" points. Set a time limit for the game or just go through the lines once or twice. Winning team is the one with the most points.      

Try this: Board Race Phonics! Students are divided into three teams. They line up facing the whiteboard. Draw lines down the board to divide it into three areas. Write three different phonics sounds on the board. For example in column 1, write "ai", column 2 write "oa" and in column 3 write "ir".  Students must go in order, "race" to the board and write a word (spelling it correctly of course!) that fits that column's sound. A student in group 1 could write words like rain, train braid, trail, etc. Group 2 students might write boat, goat, float foam, soap, etc. Group 3 students might write bird, first, birthday sir, etc. IF the student writes a child's name, it must not only be spelled correctly, but it should have a capital letter! Use a timer and set it for 2 minutes. Students must stop when you say "STOP!" Tally up the correctly scored words and write the total above the groups area (Use tally marks if studying that, otherwise, just the total number). We generally play five rounds, changing the sounds for each group each round. We do "math" when we add the scores together. Duplicate words and words that are spelled wrong do not count. 

Try this: Phonics Memory Match  Though this game was created to be used with the phonics charts, it can be adapted to any phonics program. 

Two fun games with baseball mitts & baseballs to help students identify the sounds in words. Included with your subscription order.