Age group(s) for which this activity is appropriate:
Preschool and Younger
Elementary School
Middle School
High School & Beyond

Describe the activity:
The Alphabet Game

I have played this game for many years with my children, usually in the car.

One person (the Word Keeper) starts at the beginning of the alphabet, and thinks of a word that begins with the letter we are on. So, I will start here with an 'E' for example.

Then the Word Keeper tells everyone how many letters the word is, which for now I will say our word is 09 letters long.

This game helps with spelling, counting, as all players must visualize the word and where the new letters are (NO PAPER). Remember, this is a car game.

Next, everyone takes a guess at a letter, and gets a second guess if a correct letter is guessed, one person at a time, much like a game of hang man.

Then, if no one gets the word after the first round, the Word Keeper tells everyone a clue as to what the word might be. This really helps a child to learn strategy, as they learn that a single word description, such as stating something like "the word is a 'noun'" as a hint, without telling everyone the definition of the word. My hint here to you is that our word is 'something highly important', and still begins with an 'E', and is still 09 letters, any guesses?

To make the game more of a challenge and a learning experiance, once the word is guessed, the person getting it right must spell it out in sign language (learning the basic 26 letters of the alphabet will be good for us adults too...we should learn too and set a good example).

The person who guesses and spells the word correctly gets to be the Word Keeper for the next round. And each person should keep count of how many times they guess correctly.

Have you guessed our word yet?

It is...

EDUCATION... certainly a highly important nine letter word.

I hope everyone has fun and finds this game at least slighly educational, and good luck learning the Sign ABCs'.

What is the benefit to a child with learning problems?
Benefits to all children would be that they learn, simple strategy, memory retention, visualization,turn taking, group socialization skills, learning both the spoken and silent sign and language alphabets, simple counting math, and the size and difficulty of the words grows with the child's ability, which offers virtually endless opportunity for spelling growth, and learning new words creates a continual educational exeriance.