Phonics Relay Races

Do you have a class that has too much energy?  You've heard of Race for the Cure, this race will cure something a little different.  Phonics Relay Races can help with the wiggles, irritability, and limited attention span that students seem to magically "catch" around Halloween, Easter, or other sugar-fest holidays.

To play:

1. Divide your students into groups.  If they are particular wiggly the day you decide to do this, you need to have more groups so they will run more often.

2.  Students line up in straight lines behind a line.  Beside each team is a different colored bucket.  Each team is assigned a bucket.

Dollar Tree has these buckets for $1.

3.  The race part of this activity involves students running to a hula hoop that is at a designated place, finding letters that are lying inside the hula loop, bringing the correct letters back to their team and putting the letters in their team's bucket.  Each team has their own hula hoop.  P.E. teachers usually have hula hoops that they will loan you.   You can use letters used for bulletin boards or foam letters like these:

You can buy foam letters like these in the baby bath tub supplies at Target or Wal-Mart.

4.  The teacher will give clues for what letters the people at the beginning of the line needs to find in the hula hoop.  After giving the clue, the teacher will say "go", the student will run to the hula hoop, find the correct letter, and put it in their bucket.  

5.  The winner is decided at the end.  The team or teams that have all the correct letters in their bucket is/are the winners.

The great thing about this game is it can be adapted to any grade level.  Examples of clues:

*Clue #1:  This letter is the sound you hear at the end of the word "globe".

*Clue #2:  These are the letters you hear at the beginning of the word "chain".

*Clue #3:  These are the 3 letters you hear at the end of the word "coming".

*Clue #4:  This is the sound you hear in the middle of the word "zap".

You can also make this game into a Math Relay Race game.  It can be adapted to any grade level.

*Clue #1:  What is the answer:  12 + 3 = ___

*Clue #2:  What is the answer:  How many sides does an octagon have?

*Clue #3:  What is the answer:  4 X 8 = ___

*Clue #4:  What is the answer:  How many minutes are in a quarter hour?

This game burns off excess energy while reviewing skills your students have studied.  It's a WIN-WIN!