Skills Being Practiced

Sentence building Analytical thinking Basic parts of speech

What You Need

Large piece of paper/poster board or a whiteboard Markers/dry-erase markers

How to Play

  1. Begin by writing the numbers one through six down the left-hand side of the paper or whiteboard. Write a small sentence on the first line, such as: “I saw a boy.” 2. Ask your child to add a word describing the boy. (“I saw a small boy.”) Write this sentence on the second line. 3. Next, add a word describing what the boy is doing (“I saw a small boy running.”) and write that sentence on the third line. 4. Continue taking turns adding words to the sentence until you’ve created six or seven sentences. When you are done, your child will see how building onto that sentence made the sentence expand. It should like a set of stairs like this: I saw a boy.I saw a small boy.I saw a small boy running.I saw a small boy running away.I saw a small boy running away from a dog.I saw a small boy running away from an angry dog.