Splash Blends and Diagraphs Game is a hit with my students. Once your students have mastered CVC words, and have moved on to those 2-letter diagraphs, this is the game to grab. The cards are sturdy cardboard cut outs. They will survive the handling of children. 49 words are decodable blends using the short vowel sounds (spill, swan, skunk etc.). Only 3 require knowledge of the broad sound of a /ah/ (small, squat and swat). The blends are represented in both the beginning and ending of the words. The diagraphs include: sh (5 cards), th (4 cards), ch (4 cards), ck (9 cards + chick which I counted with the CH cards), wh (2 cards), ph (1 card), ar (4 cards), ir (2 cards), aw (1 card). The remaining 6 cards are poor choices in my opinion. They are scoop, laugh, tough, twelve, quarter and from. There are 8 splash cards. It is easy to customize the game by deleting the diagraphs not yet covered. In this manner, the game can grow with the student. My students like to see what new words have appeared. We also amend the game so that there is no penalty for reading the word incorrectly. This evens out the playing field when different leveled readers are playing together. Our rules: We place all the cards face down on the table top. When a card is selected, the player reads, or attempts to read the card. After the word has been decoded correctly (with help if needed), the player keeps the card and it is the next player's turn. When a SPLASH card is drawn, the player places all of his cards back in the box along with the SPLASH card. When all of the cards have been read, the player with the most cards is the winner. A longer version of the game can be played if only the SPLASH card is removed from play, but the cards that are lost are replaced in the draw pile. Even with the 6 strangely chosen words, I'm going to give this 5 stars. Those words are easily removed from play and the game is not diminished without them. This is a fun way to practice reading, especially with those reluctant readers who groan the moment a book is pulled out. (My apologies if there is some strange highlighting in my review. My cat walked across the keyboard as I was typing. I don't know how he managed to add yellow highlights and I can't figure out how to get them off!)

My students love this! Always great if I have a sub. It is fun and has easy directions!

This is a fun way to provide extra reading practice. It’s a great time filler if you have a few extra minutes left at the end of a small group reading session.

Learning while having fun playing a gamewin win! Great skill review!

My students love these learning games!

My kindergarten students loved this game in small group. Perfect to review phonics lesson that was taught.

Great teaching tool

Better than I expected!!