Exciting Action Cards To Try (Have A Blast With Reading!) (2024)

In my previous blog post, we learned about picture and word cards. The action cards lesson is next in the Montessori reading words sequence. In my teacher training, we called them activity cards.

Your child reads the word on the card and then acts out the word. Then, you or another child guesses the word acted out. It is a fun and engaging game for the kids. I strongly remember this activity being a massive hit with the beginning readers in my classroom.

To keep the game attractive, changing the word cards often is essential. If you don’t have the cards handy, I made a printable with 80 action word cards if you want to download and try them.

In this post, I’ll share with you the action activity lesson I learned from my training and how it went with my five-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Annie, at home!

There is endless research on how phonics and practicing decoding words is essential in helping kids to learn how to read.

Phonics and phonemic awareness is the exploration of letter sounds and symbols and manipulating sounds in spoken words. Once a child can grasp this and practice this, she can begin decoding or sounding out words, which is so exciting!

According to the Hechinger Report article,What parents need to know about the research on how kids learn to read,

"We don’t know how much phonics each kid needs. But we know no kid is hurt by getting too much of it."

Jackie Mader, The Hechinger Report

The article goes on to say that phonics instruction is critical for young children, according to experts.

Incorporating fun ways to practice decoding words phonetically, such as acting out words with action cards, is a fantastic variation to keep sounding out words intriguing.

Continuing to play the game with new and more challenging words keeps the game exciting. It allows further practice with sounding out words.

Just like with the previous reading activity, picture and word matching, action activity cards can help young children with:

• learning to read written words
• enlarging reading vocabulary
• decoding the written word

A clipboard (or hard book or board to write on), a pencil, and small blank slips of paper. You will only use these materials when you first introduce the game to your child.

You’ll also need two sets of cards prepared in two different colors: white/cream/ivory for set 1 and green for set 2.

If you do not have the action cards at home, I made printables of sets 1 and 2 (as you see in the photos), which you can download from the Resource Library. I made 80 word cards total (40 word cards for each set). Sign up at the bottom of this post to access the Resource Library.

Set 1: three-letter phonetic words, words that include short vowels and consonant blends, and two-syllable phonetic words (such as: clap, jump, gallop, fan, pat)

If you prefer, you could print out set 1 on white card stock and print set 2 on light green card stock to save you the extra step of mounting them on colored card stock. It’s up to you!

You can then laminate them, which is optional. I always laminated the cards in the classroom because multiple children would use them for several years, and they needed to last longer.

But if you’re using them at home, you can skip laminating them. Then, you can recycle them in the paper recycle bin when you’re done using them.

For the set 2 words with the phonograms from the green sandpaper letters, underline or print the double letters in red/dark pink. This helps to pinpoint the double-letter sound. You can always revisit the green sandpaper letters if your child needs support sounding out the double letters.

As I mentioned in the previous few blog posts about reading word activities with set 2 words, be sure to only use words with the spellings found on the green sandpaper letters. We will address the alternate spellings of these sounds later on in the reading sequence.

When I first do this, I choose a small collection of 8 or 10 word cards that are the easiest to read and interpret. For example, I started with the words from set 1: clap, swim, jump, hop, sit, stand, skip, and hug.

I made a collection of 40 cards in set 1, so the next time we do this game, we could choose a different set of 8 to 10 cards that may be a bit more challenging.

When your child is ready, you can move on to set 2 with the double letter sounds. It’s okay to revisit the green sandpaper letters to get through some of them.

As I mentioned above, changing the words is always a great way to change it up and make the game more challenging.

This game is kind of like a fun version of reading charades! You can turn it into an exciting game with multiple friends, where you take turns reading the word on the card, acting it out, and having the other friends guess the word.

Also, as a Montessori teacher, we would do theater with the kids every week as a special. We would read a classic story like The Three Little Pigs, and the kids would take turns playing roles in the book and put on a whole theater production with props.

This theater activity was not a decoding or phonics activity, but it was a fun way to practice acting out different characters and helped prepare for reading comprehension. If your child is interested in acting out words, you could explore theater or acting out books you read as a fun activity for your child!

You can also make the game even more challenging by writingphraseson a card to act out, such as:

• sit on the rug
• tap a box
• hit a drum
• pet the dog
• get the pen

Also note that there are lessons on verbs and nouns in the grammar and functions of words sectionat the end of the Montessori Language sequence. So although action activity cards is not really a lesson about verbs, it could also be an introduction to understanding action words or verbs.

In this lesson, all the words are action words or verbs, but you could alsotry nouns to act out, like different animals or vehicles.

If your child is really into writing words, you could encourage her to write action words to act out on slips of paper. I didn’t suggest this, but Annie thought of this independently when I first introduced the lesson to her!

Annie said, “Mommy, it’s my turn to write a word for you to read and act out!” She had so much fun with this as she explored with her creativity!

I hope you enjoyed reading about the Montessori action activity cards. I noticed that Annie had so much fun with this activity and smiled throughout. Sometimes, she got a little silly, but that’s good!

Finding exciting ways to encourage your child to sound out words is excellent practice for learning how to read. Sometimes, reading practice can feel boring for children. Make it fun so that your child will want to do it.

Also, remember to change up the word cards to keep the game fresh and challenging.

I love how this game also helps prepare for reading comprehension because you must read the word and think about what it means to act it out.

Have you tried action word games with your child? Did you get the chance to download the cards and try them? Leave a comment below!

If you liked this post, you’ll like:

• Try This Cute Reading Activity: Play A Secret Box Bingo Game
• Montessori Word Lists And Fun Rhyming For Beginning Readers
• Picture and Word Cards: 2 Cool Games for Beginning Readers
• Try These 2 Intro To Reading Words Games And Spark Excitement
• 5 Beginning Reading Games You and Your Kid Will Love

Check out my Montessori Language Series:

• The Essential Guide To 11 Fun Oral Language Development Activities
• Essential Guide To 4 Fun Letter And Sound Activities
• Writing and Reading: 6 Movable Alphabet Games You’ll Love
• 5 Handwriting Practice Activities That Are Engaging and Fun
• 5 Beginning Reading Games You and Your Kid Will Love