Phonics Fluency Games - School and the City

When it comes to explicit phonics instruction, students need lots of practice both decoding (reading) and encoding (writing).

It’s easy to make decoding fun with phonics games to practice fluency!

Check out my favorite ways to get kids reading with no-prep games that are easy to implement with any skill.

Gamify Decoding Practice

Tic-Tac-Toe

This is the easiest option when you only have a few minutes to play. Use paper, whiteboards, or even windows. Students read before each play.

Connect 4

Students of all ages love this one! The setup is quick but the game is exciting. Turn Connect 4 into a phonics fluency game by having students read before each play. Quick and easy!

Jenga

Jenga is – by far – the favorite in my classroom. A big pro for Jenga is that you can play in 3’s if you have an odd number of students. Of course, a majoy con is the setup time and the fact that young students can’t keep a tower standing for long. But it’s always a hit! I save Jenga for a treat every once in a while.

What do the students read?

I made these phonics fluency strips to match the phonics skills targeted for the grade levels I serve. They are easy to print and use right away! Make the fluency strips more “fun” by having students roll dice to see which line to read. When you use dice, the strips can be used as a game in itself – Kids barely realize they are reading!

Shop fluency strips by grade level:

I also have phonics word cards that I use for all sorts of games! (pictured below)

Other options are index cards and decodable passages. For single words, I like to cut index cards in half. I write about 20 words with the target skill. For decodable passages, sometimes I have students read a sentence at a time in order, and other times I’ll let them choose a line to read since the purpose is decoding practice, not necessarily comprehension at this point.

Gamify Decoding Practice

Tic-Tac-Toe

Connect 4

Jenga

What do the students read?

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