“KABOOM” is one of my favorite games to play during phonics and OG lessons and with my speech/language elementary students. KABOOM games are easy to set up, inexpensive, versatile, and super fun! You can create any KABOOM set of your choosing in just a few short steps.
- Choose your materials – popsicle sticks, strips of paper, or cut up index cards are great for creating a KABOOM game.
- Choose your target skill – What are you practicing with your student? What phonics skill are you focusing on? Do you want to mix review words with new concepts? Do you want your student to read words, phrases, or sentences?
- Write out your targets – after deciding what you want to practice, come up with your targets. For example, if your target concept is the digraph “ch” at the word level, generate a list of 12-15 “ch” words (controlling for vowel sounds that you’ve introduced).
- Write each target word on one of your materials (ex. one target per popsicle stick).
- Add KABOOMS – using the same material you used for your targets, write the word “KABOOM!” You can include as many KABOOMs as you’d like, but 1 KABOOM per 4-5 targets is a good rule of thumb for a balanced, but fun game.
5. Mix the sticks – combine the targets and the KABOOMs. If you’re using popsicle sticks, place them face down in a cup. If you’re using papers or task cards, you can place them face down on the table as long as students cannot see through the back of the card. You can place them in a bag or a box to prevent students from peeking through.
6. Start playing! Students take turns drawing a stick, paper, or card. If it shows a target, students should read the word and keep the stick. If it’s a KABOOM!, students LOSE all targets they’ve collected.
The object of the game is to avoid the KABOOMs! and be the player with the most sticks or cards when the cup or bag is empty.
KABOOM! cards can easily be added to any task card or clip card set. If students are working in pairs or small groups in a phonics center, turn it into a KABOOM! game by adding the cards to the set.
Place all cards face down in the center and instruct students to take turns drawing one. If a student selects a task card, they should complete it as directed and form a pile of completed cards. If they draw a KABOOM!, they lose them all. The player with the most cards in his/her pile once the set is completed, wins!
You can find lots of printable KABOOM! sets on TpT. Click the links below to explore some of the sets in my TpT shop, The OG SLP.
DIGRAPHS Fluency Building Phrases and Sentences
What will you “KABOOM” ?!
