This OA game is a great hands-on way to help young children learn to read OA words! It’s simple, multi-sensory, and fun. My daughter had so much fun learning to read OA sound words with this activity that I had a hard time getting her to stop!
Materials You Will Need for OA Floating on a Boat OA Game:
- oa words printable
- white cardstock or regular paper – I prefer card stock because it is more durable
- laminator (I really like my Purple Cow laminator! – it’s been very reliable)
- a small toy boat – I used the Munchkin bath boats, but any boat that floats will work, or you can use a floating container, like a tupperware, and call it a “boat”
- a place to float your words and boat – the bathtub, the sink, a pan on the table, a kiddie pool, etc.
- metal paper clips
- a magnetic toy fishing pole or a magnet tied to a string – there are some great toy fishing poles on Amazon, or hooked magnets tied to a string would also work well. You can also hot glue a simple magnet to a piece of string.
How to Prepare the OA Floating on a Boat OA Game
- Print and cut out the OA words (you can find the free printable OA sound words below).
- Laminate the OA words with lots of space between them so that the laminating sheet can seal around the words really well.
- Cut the laminated OA sound words apart, leaving at least 1/4 inch of laminate on all sides of the word.
- Attach a paper clip to each word.
- Fill a container with a little water – enough so that your boat will float. I used a roasting pan for this.
- Put the boat and several of the OA words in the water.
- Now the OA Floating in a Boat OA game is ready!
Review or Teach the OA Sound
- (Optional): Introduce the sound of OA with the song Oa – Tummy Ache from the Sounds Fun Phonics album. While this is optional, I really recommend using this song (or another like it if you can find one!) to introduce the OA sound. Music is a powerful way to help your child engage and remember what he learns. Dance around to the song and act silly with your child. Make the learning joyful and fun! You can find the album Sounds Fun Phonics on Spotify, and possibly other streaming services. Please let me know if you find it on another streaming services so I can let others know as well!
- Explain to your child that when O and A are next to each other, they make a new sound. OA makes a long o sound, like the sound in boat and float. Write a few examples on a dry erase board or spell them with a movable alphabet, and let your child try sounding them out. You can use the words boat, float, coat, goat, etc.
- Once your child gets the hang of sounding out a few OA words, you can do some more practice with the OA Floating on a Boat OA game!
How to Play OA Floating on a Boat
This OA game is simple to play! All you have to do is “fish” for floating OA words!
- Instruct your child to “fish” for a word.
- When he has caught an OA word, he can read it and put it in the boat.
Here’s an example video to help you get started:
I only put about one fourth of the words in the water at once – and that is enough practice for one sitting. If your child wants to add more words and keep reading, let her do so. If she’s ready to stop, that’s ok too!
Remember that this is meant to be fun – keep it light, keep it brief, and don’t push your child. If he is getting tired or losing interest, it’s ok to be done, even if he has only read one word!
Just a little practice every day goes a long way, so don’t stress if your child doesn’t read a lot of the OA words at one sitting. Just be consistent!
I hope you and your child enjoyed this OA game! Feel free to check out my other fun phonics games for learning how to read in a joyful way!
