Faith Curriculum Library: Tapestry of Faith: Creating Home: A Program on Developing a Sense of Home Grounded in Faith for Grades K-1

Activity 4: Word Scramble

Activity time: 10 minutes

Materials for Activity

Preparation for Activity

  • Print out Leader Resource 1: Family Word Scramble. Cut out each of the 16 letters on the sheet. Make four piles of letters so that each pile contains the correct letters to spell "care," "feed," "love," and "safe."
  • Identify four separate work surfaces where children can unscramble the letters.
  • Optional: You may wish to post a sheet of newsprint with the words children will try to form. The group may include some who cannot yet read or spell words, but most children in kindergarten and first grade can recognize and match letters.

Description of Activity

This activity will help children identify some of the elements that bond families. Say, in your own words:

You can't always look at a group of people and tell if they are a family or not. So, what makes a family? What do families have in common? Some of the answers are on these pieces of paper.

Place a stack of four letters, face down and scrambled, on each of the work surfaces. Tell the children that they will work in smaller groups to unscramble the letters they are given, and that each group has the letters to make a different word.

Form four groups, mixing children who might be stronger spellers with others who may not yet spell or recognize letters. Invite the children to move the letters around until they spell a word for something people do for each other in a family.

To make the task easier, you can tell them the words they are looking for: "care," "feed," "love," and "safe." You may wish to write the words on newsprint and post them as the small groups begin working.

Visit each group and assist as needed. After the letters are unscrambled, ask the children how each of the four words relates to families. Encourage the children to think of examples from the story about Tango, from their own families, or from other families they know.