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  • Hi, I'm Vicky, the founder and content creator at Mess For Less. If you are looking for family-friendly recipes, recipes that kids can make, and play and learning activities for kids, you will find them at Mess For Less. I invite you to learn more about me. Thanks for stopping by!

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    Home » Learning Activities

    Water Balloon Phonics - Get Ready for K Through Play

    Published: Jul 24, 2013 · Modified: May 4, 2022 by Vicky · This post contains affiliate links.

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    Time for week 7 of Get Ready for K Through Play, the8 week series I am working on with my favorite bloggers. We will be providing you with all the tools you need to prepare your child for Kindergarten in fun, hands-on ways. Each week we have been focusing on a different Kindergarten readiness skill. This week's topic is Alphabet and Phonics and I will be sharing a fun water balloon game to help kids practice their phonics skills.

    Beat the heat with this water balloon phonics game

    You will need:

    • Water balloons
    • Permanent marker
    • Index cards
    • Tape
    Water balloons with word endings

    Kids love water balloons and since it's summer can there be a more fun way to learn? For this phonics activity, I filled 15 water balloons and wrote some word endings on them - at, an, ar, ug, in. I made 3 balloons for each ending.

    Then I wrote the following letters on index cards: F, H, C, J, P, B, and M. I taped those cards to the wall.

    cards with letters hung on fence

    I gave the kids the box of water balloons with the word endings. They would pick a balloon and bring it up to a letter to see if it made a word. If it did, they had to read the word and they got try and throw the balloon on the letter to pop it.

    child with water balloon

    In addition to being a fun phonics game, my kids had the opportunity to enjoy some gross motor play.

    water balloon toss

    Sometimes they really surprised me with their good aim!

    water balloon game

    Whenever they got a new balloon, they would go down the line of letters to see if they had a word. "Har is not a word, but car is!"

    phonics game with water balloons
    learning phonics with water balloons

    As we played, we kept a list of the words that we made. At the end we read and reviewed them.

    chalkboard with words on it

    If you are looking for a way to practice phonics that doesn't involve worksheets and you want to beat the heat as well, then you need to try water balloon phonics.

    phonics activity

    You'll make a splash with your kids!

    child throwing water balloon

    For more fun Alphabet and Phonics activities hop on over and visit my friends:

    Alphabet Phonics Activities for Kids from Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas Walk the Word Gross Motor Phonics Game from Coffee Cups and Crayons Learning Letters and Their Sounds from Mama Smiles Chalk Letters from Rainy Day Mum
    Active Alphabet Activities from Toddler Approved

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Becky

      July 01, 2014 at 12:59 pm

      What a fantastic idea! Just found this post on Pinterest. I'll be sharing on my Facebook page later today!

    2. Lorie K

      July 24, 2013 at 1:45 pm

      Love this idea! Pinning it.

    3. Megan Sheakoski

      July 24, 2013 at 1:24 pm

      Looks like a lot of fun Vicky!!! We did a gross motor one too! Such a fun way to learn!

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    Hi, I'm Vicky, the founder and content creator at Mess For Less. If you are looking for family-friendly recipes, recipes that kids can make, and play and learning activities for kids, you will find them at Mess For Less. I invite you to learn more about me. Thanks for stopping by!

    Easter Activities and Recipes

    • Stained Glass Easter Cookie Recipe
    • How to Make Spotted Easter Eggs
    • M&M Easter Cookies
    • Shaving Cream Easter Eggs

    Spring Activities

    • How to Make a Mother's Day Card
    • DIY Seed Starter for Kids
    • Flower Craft Idea
    • How to Make a Paper Butterfly - Easy Craft for Kids

    Popular Recipes

    • Crack Chicken Casserole
    • Overnight Egg Casserole
    • Toasted Italian Sandwich - Food Fun Friday
    • Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Bake

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