If you're a primary teacher, you already know how essential CVC words are for helping your students learn how to read! New readers need lots of practice with these simple words, and fortunately, these CVC words games make learning so much fun!
One of my favourite things to teach my students is always CVC words! These simple words are the first real words your students will read independently. They're easy to sound out and short enough to manipulate easily.
Since they're such a huge part of learning to read (alongside phonemic awareness skills) you'll spend lots of time teaching and practising these words with your students. Because of that, they become a bit repetitive.
That's where CVC games come in! The best CVC word activities are engaging and interactive. Although some can be played independently, it can be beneficial to have students work with a partner to keep their motivation high.
20 Best CVC Words Games
These games were all designed to help your students build their literacy skills in a developmentally-appropriate way using principles from synthetic phonics. Plus, I made them to be fun and hands-on!
Note: Most of these activities include tips to make the task more complex for students who are catching on quickly, like writing the word out on a whiteboard or using it in a sentence. Please adapt the games to work for your students!
1. Snakes & Ladders
In this spin on the classic board game, your students will decode simple CVC words to finish the game!
You can easily use in your literacy centers or even add them to your morning bins to practise those phonics skills right away.
2. CVC Clown Toss
This is one of my favourite CVC games! It can be played indoors, but it's also a fun interactive game to play outside on a sunny day.
As students pick up the flash cards, they check to see if they have a ball that matches the words on the game board. If they do, they can put the ball on the board and try to fill it up!
3. CVC Connect Four
Since many students are familiar with the Connect Four board game, they usually catch onto this activity quickly!
There are two players. The first player tries to decode a word on the board, and if they get it right, they get to cover it with a game piece. The next player tries to do the same. The first student to get 4 in a row wins!
4. Crash CVC Activity
In this game, students take turns removing cards from a pile and reading them out loud. For every word they say correctly, they add it to their stack. However, if they grab the crash card, they must put all of their cards back in the pile!
The goal is to see who can get the most cards. I have several versions of this game, including ones for CVCC CCVC words, tricky words (sight words) and consonant digraphs, so you can change the cards to fit your lesson!
5. Drive & Decode
If you teach Kindergarten or first grade, this is a great activity to practise blending and segmenting individual phonemes!
Your student will get to roll the car over each letter, saying the individual sounds of the CVC word as they go. It's an easy way to motivate a young child who loves cars, and I have several other Drive & Decode activities (including digital versions) on the resources page of Mrs Learning Bee.
6. Roll a Silly Sentence
Once your students finish get the hang of reading CVC words, they're ready to build sentences. I love this game because the sentences are always fun to hear, and the kids can't wait to make another one!
7. Buried Treasure Board Game
This interactive game tests your students' knowledge of real words! They must dig coins with CVC and nonsense words out of a pile and read each one.
If they find a real word, they save it on their treasure mat. If they find fake words, they go in the trash. This activity practices decoding and making sense of the words they're reading, so they're really effective. Plus, you can keep this one simple or add props to make it even more exciting!
There is also a digital version too!
8. Hidden CVC Words
This digital game is perfect for distance learning or to play on an interactive white board! Your students must find the images representing CVC words in a graphic.
9. I Spy CVC Words
Early readers absolutely love these games! With a written word bank at the bottom and pictures on the game board, students must match the written word with the images.
This is a great activity to build phonemic awareness and is a perfect next step after playing the hidden words game above. Plus, you just need to print and go!
10. CVC Word Jigsaw Puzzles
In this fun game, students match the pieces of the CVC word puzzles. I love using this one to practise blending phonemes!
11. Buzz to the Hive
As students buzz to the beehive, they must place a word with a matching middle sound on the game board. This game includes two sets of words (CVC and CVCC/CCVC) and can also be used with phonics magnets from Magnificent Learning Supplies for lots of fun learning!
12. CVC Word Building Trains
There are different ways to play this game, but the main idea is that students blend individual sounds to build the words in the train.
There are templates (in 2 designs) for 110 words so you can use this again and again!
13. Swat the Fly
If students find the word from their word pile on their mat, they can lay the card down and swat the fly!
14. Tic Tac Toe
Your students are probably already familiar with this game! If they can read the word, they can add a playing piece. Whoever gets three in a row wins!
15. Soupy Sounds
For this game, students use a disposable spoon marked with a CVC word (use the provided templates if you don't have spoons) to scoop up magnetic letters to spell the word in a soup bowl. It's perfect for practising decoding!
16. Super Decoders Board Game
This set includes four different board games at three levels of complexity, so your students can practise a variety of decoding skills. You can even make custom word cards to practise new words!
17. Butterfly Catch
For this fun game, partners take turns reading the CVC words on their cards and catching them in their nets. There are 100 CVC words included!
18. Phonics Fish
This is one of my favourites because kids love it! Add paper clips to your CVC words and give your students a magnetic fishing pole! There's also a version with tricky words (sight words) to keep the fun going!
19. CVC Bingo
Pre-readers who are still building their phonemic awareness will love this version of bingo! There are three versions to choose from, each increasing in complexity as your students develop their reading skills.
20. CVC Word Fidget Spinners
Once your students spin the fidget spinner on the word card, they can read, write, spell, build, or manipulate the word. This activity is a fun, interactive way to review CVC words in literacy centers. I love using the same words for all students, but changing the task as needed to make it more complex! For example, to add an extra challenge, students can put the word into a sentence.
There are so many great CVC word games here! They can be a powerful way to help your students learn how to read, and you can quickly adapt each one to make it more challenging when needed.
Bonus CVC Activities in The Hive
You'll find loads more interactive CVC activities in The Hive. Not only can you build CVC words with our famous online word builder tool, but you can also review CVC words and CVC sentences using our Decodable Words and Decodable Sentences apps.
Looking for more resources and ideas to simplify your teaching?
Don't miss my free download, Phonics and Beeyond! This 250-page ebook includes everything you need to know about teaching literacy from a synthetic phonics perspective. It's jam-packed with tips and resources to teach CVC words and more, so get your copy today!
