Play Contraction Concentration!

A contraction is an abbreviated form of two words.  It contains an apostrophe which indicates that there are missing letters.  Help your child figure out contractions and their original two words by playing this simple game. 

What You Need:

• Index cards 
• Pencils, crayons, markers or a variety of these items 

What You Do:

1. Prepare. Make a list of contractions and the two words that make them up, such as: 

• can't - can not
• I'm - I am 
• didn't - did not
• what's - what is 
• won't - will not
• doesn't - does not 
• isn't - is not
• you'll - you will 
• I'll - I will
• they're - they are 
• it's - it is
• she's - she is 
• we're - we are
• he'll - he will 

2. Make word cards.  Write the list of contractions individually on index cards.  On another set of index cards, write the two words that make up each contraction.  For example, for "can't" you will have two cards.  One will say, "can't" on it and the other will say, "can not".  Your child can participate by writing the contractions and their base words. 

3. Set it up. Turn the cards face down and lay them out in rows on the floor or on the table.  Ask your child to turn over two cards at a time. The object is to find the correct two words that make up the correct contraction.  Once a match is made, ask your child to remove those cards from the rest of the game.  If you play with more than one child, each one takes turns drawing two cards, trying to make a match.  If a match is made, that child gets to take another turn.  Otherwise, play continues as normal.

Continue flipping cards two at a time until all the matches have been made. The result? A game that’s sure to make learning contractions a whole lot more fun!