This resource aims to give students the opportunity to recognise and blend sounds, whilst playing a fun game! The spin-a-word activity requires students to decode and encode, drawing upon their knowledge of single sounds and phonemic awareness. To play the game, students spin each spinner (there are 3 – one for the beginning sounds, one for the middle sound and one for the end sound). They then record the sounds they have landed on, read the word, and decide if it is a real word or non-word. Pre-made boards have been provided, with a variety of single sounds designed to align with most synthetic phonics program sequences. A blank version has also been included for you to include sounds of your choosing. Two versions of recording sheets have been included – one which involves recording the sounds in boxes, then writing the whole word, then ticking whether it is a real word or non-word. The other version is a simple sheet with two columns – one for real words and one for non-words. Colour and black and white versions of both sheets are included.

TIP – a cost-effective, low-prep way to create a spinner is by using a pencil and paper clip. Simply place a paper clip in the middle of the spinner and a pencil in the centre. Flick the paper clip and it will spin around the tip of the pencil!