Punch 5 - Bananagrams

Bananagrams

This little banana bag of capital letter tiles can be an essential tool for phonics fun and it's loads of fun for spellers of all ages. You can purchase Banagrams here, or just about anywhere toys are sold.


When my kids were little I would have them play with the tiles from my old Scrabble game. I would use the tiles as a means of introducing a sound and then sliding sounds together to make words.


I was so excited when I discovered Bananagrams. The tiles have a great feel and weight to them and they also sound cool on the table or shaken in the bag. Along with my kids, I have many adult friends I play the game with and I regularly use it in teaching.

Despite the fact that all of these letters are capitals, using them as a means of spelling and sounding out words will produce wonderful results. Below is a list of ways you can put these fun tiles to use.

1. Instead of writing letters and words, use the tiles.
2. Allow your child to put letters together however he wants to and sound them out with or for him.
3. Have him find letters for his name, or write words for him to copy with the tiles.
4. Play a matching game.
5. Have him lay them out in alphabetical order (then count them).
6. Take a walk around the house leaving tiles on items that correspond with a given letter. ex: put a "P" next to a 'plant', put a "T" on the 'television' or a "B" on the 'bed' and so on. Then as you stay in one room, see if he can recall where a certain letter is. So you would say, "bring me the B's" and see if he can do it.
7. Have him match and stack them (great for eye hand coordination).
8. And of course, enjoy playing the game as suggested with adult family and friends. It's a blast!

*Important note: When making words with these tiles separate sounds and slide them together as you verbally blend them together. This gives a natural visual to the verbal happenings of blending.