Fill in the Blanks Fun

What You Need:

• Pencil
• Crayons
• Clear tape
• 2 pieces of construction paper (one red, one yellow)
• Safety scissors
• 2 bowls

What You Do:

1. Fold each piece of construction paper into 8 sections (fold the paper in half, then fold in half again, and then fold the remainder in half). Unfold, and ask your child to draw a picture on each of the sections, to illustrate the following word lists: Red (nouns): Car House Cat Girl Boy Yellow (verbs): Walk Swim Eat Throw Read
2. Once she’s drawn illustrations for all of the words, ask your child to cut along the folds to create picture cards. (NOTE: She will have five picture cards for each sheet, plus 3 blanks.) Put all the red cards in one bowl, and all the yellow cards in the other.
3. It’s time for some fill-in-the-blank silliness! Using the template below as a “sentence frame”, your child will choose cards at random to fill in the gaps. Each time she sees the words “red card” underneath a blank, she should pick a card from the red bowl, and write the word in the blank. When she sees the words “yellow card”, she should pick a card from the yellow bowl, and write it in the blank. Repeat until all spaces are full. The result? Absolutely ridiculous sentences, that she’ll get a kick out of repeating.
4. This activity gets things started, with four super silly sentences. But you can extend the fun, by creating some more of your own. Add new picture cards, or add more fill-in-the-blanks, it’s up to you. Either way, this game is sure to get your kid giggling, and practicing her new writing skills, too!

Sentence Frames:

1. We will go to her (red card) to (yellow card).
2. The (red card) likes to (yellow card) mice.
3. The (red card) will (yellow card) me the ball.
4. A (red card) went to the library to (yellow card).