This activity is the simple kind of fun that most kids really enjoy. My daughter didn’t want to stop because she was having such a good time painting the AI words.
Materials You Will Need:
- White crayon (has to be white, has to be a crayon)
- White sheet of paper
- Watercolor paints and brush (these can be the cheap kid kind)
Instructions:
- Prepare for the activity by doing the following:
- Write AI words on a white sheet of paper with a white crayon. Write the words in columns down the page. You can use all or some of the following AI words: pain, rain, main, gain, hair, vain, brain, chain, claim, drain, stain, paint, stair, snail, faint, grain, air, maid, fair, pail, mail, jail, trail, nail, sail, fail, tail, claim, train, faith, plain, braid, fairy
- Set up a box of watercolor paints with a brush and water
- Write the word paint on a dry erase board or piece of paper, or spell it out with a moveable alphabet
- Show the word to your child, point out the ai, and tell her that you are going to learn its sound.
- (Optional) Play the song Ai/Ay Hooray from the album Sounds Fun Phonics (you can find it on Spotify)
- Teach your child the sound of AI. AI make a long A sound (A says its name) like the sound in the middle of the word paint and main. The video below can help you if you need it.
- Now the fun part!
- Place the paper with the AI words written in white crayon in front of your child. Instruct her to paint on the paper (help her know where so she will uncover one word at a time) and read the AI words as they appear.
- Once your child is finished or gets tired, you are all done!
