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Home / Early Learning / Literacy / Teaching Word Families with Ping Pong Balls

Teaching Word Families with Ping Pong Balls

Shared by Mary Catherine 6 Comments

Young children need hands-on activities to learn, and literacy is no exception. Using ping pong balls when teaching word families certainly allows the children to get their hands busy! It’s a great way for kids to get in some fine motor practice as they’re learning about letters and words. It’s also perfect for a ball theme, which is today’s #PLAYfulpreschool focus.

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What a great hands-on literacy activity to try! Teaching word families with ping pong balls!

Table of Contents

  • What a fun way of teaching word families!
  • Done-for-You Preschool Resources

What a fun way of teaching word families!

I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Materials Needed
Ping pong balls
Permanent marker
Styrofoam base
Golf tees

Prep
Decide which word families to focus on first, then grab the permanent marker. Write one letter on each ping pong ball to correspond with the word families that will be taught.

Place the appropriate number of golf tees into the styrofoam base. Try to ensure they’re spaced far enough apart so the ping pong balls don’t touch. Since the word families I chose were just three letters, I just used three tees.

Use ping pong balls and golf tees for a fine motor literacy activity teaching word families

Directions
Call the child over and introduce the concept. For example, I might say, “Let’s make some words with these ping pong balls!”

Since they ARE balls, the kiddo may want to throw or bounce them a little bit. I think that’s a great warm up! Go over letter identification while tossing the balls back and forth. “Throw me the ‘a’!” “Oh, I caught the ‘g’!”

Place one word up on the golf tees, encouraging the child to help. “Let’s make the word ‘dig’ together! I bet you can help me figure out which letters we need. Let’s say ‘dig’ slowly. Hmmm, I hear the sound /d/ at the beginning. The letter ‘d’ says that sound! Let’s find the letter ‘d’!”

After making the first word, set out a few other balls with letters written on them. Make sure that the letters would work as part of the word family you’re discussing. For example, with ‘dig’ I chose the letters r, b, and z to make more words with.

Use ping pong balls for teaching word families - what a fun hands-on learning game

Explain how to change the word into another word. “We can change words we know into new words just by changing one letter! Let’s change ‘dig’ into ‘zig’. /Z/ is the sound I hear at the beginning of the word ‘zig’. Which of these letters should be use next? Yes, the letter z! Let’s take ‘d’ off of ‘dig’ and put the z at the beginning. It’s not ‘dig’ anymore! Now it’s ‘zig’!” You can also touch on making new words by change the last letter!

Keep moving along with one word family, helping the child as needed. Model and think out loud as much as possible. This allowed the child to better understand the process. If you’re so inclined, move onto another word family!

Additional ideas
Of course, the ping pong ball letters can be used for more than just teaching word families. They’re great for letter identification, practicing letter sounds, letter matching, etc. Make names using the ping pong letters! Allow older children to practice spelling words with the letters. Use them on the golf tees or toss them around for a more active game. Lots of playful literacy fun!

Teaching word families and names with ping pong balls

How do you go about teaching word families? How would you and your kiddos use ping pong ball letters?

More from the #PLAYfulpreschool teachers –

Ball Theme Alphabet Activity: Kick the Cup by Mom Inspired Life
Rhymes with Ball Ending Word Sounds Game by Capri + 3
Teaching Word Families with Ping Pong Balls by Fun-A-Day
Language Activities for Preschoolers: Preposition Fun With Balls by Growing Book by Book
Ball Jar Numbers by Learning 2 Walk
Fine Motor Ball Color Sorting by Still Playing School
What Makes Balls Bounce by Rainy Day Mum
 

Done-for-You Preschool Resources

Planning meaningful lessons for students week after week, all while balancing other teaching responsibilities and a personal life, can be a daunting task. That’s where Preschool Teacher 101 comes in to save you time!

Preschool Teacher 101 is excited to share with you some amazing lesson plans, activity packs, and much more! We offer a wide variety of themes that are frequently used in preschool classrooms, as well as some less common (but super interesting) themes. Click on the images below to learn more about some of our literacy product offerings.

Digital & printable short I CVC words 4-in-1 activity pack preschool resource cover.
Short I CVC Words 4-in-1 Activity Pack
Short A CVC Words 4-IN-1 Activity Pack preschool resource cover.
Short A CVC Words 4-in-1 Activity Pack
Short E CVC words 4-in-1 activity pack preschool resource.
Short E CVC Words 4-in-1 Activity Pack

Join The Pack from Preschool Teacher 101 today for exclusive access to our amazing products. And we even have three different membership options to suit your needs!

Use ping pong balls when teaching word families, letter ID, letter sounds, names, and more! Hands-on fun and lots of fine motor work!

Filed Under: Literacy Tagged With: #playfulpreschool, #TeachECE

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  1. Cerys says

    April 15, 2015 at 4:34 am

    Brilliant – I’m going to be buying pingpong balls this will be great to work on all of the sight words and spellings. I could even add diagraphs and trigraphs to some of the balls to help with the phonics work my oldest is doing.

    Reply
  2. Amanda Boyarshinov says

    April 15, 2015 at 10:32 am

    What a great way to combine fine motor and learning to read cvc words. SOOOO wish I had some t’s in the house for this!

    Reply
  3. Danielle says

    April 15, 2015 at 3:47 pm

    Smart idea! My son would love this. Now I need some golf tees.

    Reply
  4. Theresa says

    April 15, 2015 at 4:36 pm

    I am going to get some ping pong balls and try this out. I love that it combines word building with fine motor skills and balancing.

    Reply
  5. Jodie @ Growing Book by Book says

    April 15, 2015 at 5:33 pm

    What a fun way to practice! Very clever!

    Reply
  6. Lee says

    April 16, 2015 at 2:50 pm

    This is so clever! What a fun way to repurpose sports equipment!
    You could use this with numbers too — ordering, leaning street address, phone number, etc!
    ~Lee

    Reply
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My name is Mary Catherine, and I love to share meaningful {and fun} learning activities for kiddos! Feel free to browse and stay awhile!

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