Swat the Fly Game

Little Bug loves using the fly swatter. I'm not a big fan of her touching the yucky end that is actually used to swat the flies but she loves the idea of swatting. Since she loves swatting I thought she would love the "Swat the Fly Game". When I taught first and second grade a very popular game we would play to review spelling words or high frequency words was "Swat the Fly". I decided to try this game at home with Little Bug using Uppercase letters of the Alphabet. She knows most of them already so this game was a great review. Here is how you set up the game:

Materials:
* one or two clean fly swatters (mine were used simply for this game - I got them for $1 at the Dollar Tree)
* a piece of masking or duct tape for each of the fly swatters
* index cards with words, letters, numbers, or whatever you are reviewing written on them

Directions:
1. Spread the cards word, letter, number, etc side up on the ground. They don't have to be in a row. In fact, I always spread them out in random directions to make it more of a "hunt".

2. With my first or second graders it was a "face-off" game. With their backs turned away from the cards I would call out a word and then after I said the word the students turned around and it was a race to see who could find the word first. Once a student finds a word he swats it with the fly swatter. The tape on the back picks  up the card. (** for safety the students could not lift their fly swatter up past their shoulder)

3. The student would hand the swatter to the next person in line and repeat.


Now when I did this activity at home Little Bug was just playing and I did not use all 26 letters. In fact, I chose only the letters in her full name and maybe 3 more. I called out a letter and she swatted it. She loved playing this game! This game can be used to review any concept including numbers, letters, letter sounds, colors, shapes, and even math problems. For example, you could have students find the sum, difference, product or quotient when given an equation. There are so many possibilities!

Little Bug found a letter! 

Searching for letters

Swatting another letter