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Paint Chip Word Families

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Learn how we made paint chip word families for  a fun hands-on learning activity!
paint chip word families

I saw this fabulous idea to make paint chip word families a while back.  I loved it and immediately went to the hardware store to collect my paint chips.  Did you know you can now buy a bulk set of paint chips online?

bulk paint chips for teachers

How to Make Paint Chip Word Families

You need about 13 long paint strips with multiple colors on them and 34 with square holes cut out of them.  Some places have the paint chips with holes cut out of them, but I didn’t find them on my outing, so I used a square hole punch that I got over at the craft store.

I wrote these on the cards with the square cut out on them. These are commonly called word families. Word families are a group of words that have the same root ending or the same groups of letters that end a word. They often are rhyming words, but not always. There are 37 common word families in the English language, but in reality there are 171,476 word families in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Below I listed the most common word families that I used not these paint chips.

Word Families List + Examples:

  • ag  (bag, sag, drag)
  • ab (tab, lab, drab, stab)
  • ail (fail, mail, tail, rail, jail, pail, snail)
  • ain (train, main, gain)
  • ack (sack, track, back)
  • ake (rake, take, bake, cake)
  • am (jam, ram, slam, clam, yam, dam)
  • an (man, pan, fan, ran, scan, bran, ban)
  • ank (tank, bank, sank, prank, rank)
  • ash (dash, rash, mash, sash, bash, stash)
  • ack (back, rack, stack, lack, tack, pack)
  • aw (saw, raw, paw, claw, straw)
  • ap (cap, tap, rap, lap, nap, clap, flap, trap)
  • all (call, mall, tall)
  • at (cat, sat, bat, mat, rat, pat, vat)
  • ay (stay, ray, pay, lay, hay, spray)
  • ad (pad, bad, dad, sad, lad)
  • ame (fame, same, name, blame, shame)
  • ale (sale, scale)
  • eed (seed, reed, need)
  • eel (heel, feel, peel)
  • eep (sheep, sleep)
  • eat (meat, neat, seat, feat, wheat)
  • ell (sell, well, bell)
  • est (best, test, rest, pest, nest, vest)
  • ew (new, pew)
  • en (pen, men, hen)
  • ent (tent, sent, rent, pent)
  • ick (sick, trick, lick, tick, brick, kick)
  • ock (clock, tock, rock, dock, lock, flock)
  • ight (sight, light, right, might)
  • ill (pill, will, sill, fill, thrill, quill, gill)
  • in (in, tin, win, sin, bin, pin, chin, spin, fin, kin)
  • ip (sip, dip, rip, hip, lip)
  • ine (mine, fine, swine)
  • ile (tile, mile, file)
  • ide (side, ride, hide, bride, pride)
  • ice (mice, rice, twice, dice, slice, spice)
  • ing (wing, sing, ring, ping, sting, swing)
  • ink (sink, drink, link, wink)
  • ip (sip, trip, tip, drip, blip)
  • it (pit, sit, fit, sit, kit, skit)
  • ob (mob, rob, sob, fob)
  • op (cop, mop, drop)
  • og (fog, dog, log, hog, frog)
  • ore (more, store, fore)
  • ot (rot, cot, hot, pot, dot, trot, knot)
  • out (pout, shout)
  • oat (goat, coat, boat, float)
  • ow (mow, row, tow, low, bow, glow, crow)
  • op (mop, top, drop, stop, bop)
  • oke (yoke, stoke)
  • uck (duck, truck, luck, buck, puck)
  • um (sum, drum, mum)
  • ump (dump, trump, lump
  • unk (trunk, sunk, flunk, dunk, bunk, junk)
  • ug (tug, pug, rug, bug, mug, hug, jug)
  • y (by, fry, fly, dry, sky, my, cry)
The following consonants, blends, and diagraphs are all written on the long paint chip that has a lot of colors.

Consonants:

  • b
  • c
  • d
  • f
  • g
  • h
  • j
  • k
  • l
  • m
  • n
  • p
  • q
  • r
  • s
  • t
  • v
  • w
  • x
  • y
  • z

Blends: Blends are consonant sequences that come together before or after vowels.

  • bl
  • cl
  • fl
  • gl
  • pl
  • sl
  • br
  • cr
  • dr
  • fr
  • gr
  • pr
  • tr
  • sc
  • sk
  • sp
  • st
  • sm
  • sn
  • sw
  • spl
  • spr
  • str
  • squ

Diagraphs: Digraphs are a combinations of two letters that combine to make one sound

  • ch
  • wh
  • th
  • sh
  • ph
  • thr
  • shr

You can make 500+ words with these.  My kids thought they were pretty neat.  I think I will combine it with writing and have my son write the words he discovers in a list.  It should be fun to see how many we can make.

 

See More Fun Language Arts Activities:

Community Helpers Printables for Reading and Writing

Dr. Seuss Hop on Pop Reading & Spelling Game

Beginning Reading Game: Roll, Read, Write

Story Starter Blocks for Creative Writing

Draw and Write: Creative Writing for Kids

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8 Comments

  1. Great Idea,heres another.Go to Home Depot and get the MICKEY MOUSE color shapes and sperate them for ho many students you have and clip them together and there you have an color wheel that will go with each student.
    Hopping over from the HHH

  2. Such a cool idea!
    Following from the homeschool blog roll. My son Logan is 5 months but we plan to homeschool. I am following you first years to learn from you as you begin. Would appreciate if you would follow me back in GFC at my blog
    kaeliskiwis.blogspot.com

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