This is a game developed with teachers at Thomas A Beckett school in Worthing. The focus is sounding out letter sounds. The game is similar to the original with a “Grandmother’s footsteps twist” One child – The Wolf stands at one end of the playground with her back turned, the rest of the children group at the other end and call out together “WHAT’S THE SOUND MR WOLF” To which Mr wolf will reply with a Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) word such as pot, dog, log, mum, dad etc (we had an adult accompany the wolf holding a sheet full of CVC words from which the child could choose) The group of children must then move towards the wolf sounding out the letters of the word so for LOG they would say the sounds “L” – “O” – “G” at any point the wolf can turn around, if she does so the other children must freeze because if the wolf sees them moving they must return to the back of the playground. Once the wolf has turned her back again the children will once again ask “WHAT’S THE SOUND MR WOLF” and the process repeats. At any point the wolf can shout out “Dinner Time” at which point the other children must flee the chasing wolf to the back of the playground (home). If a child manages to tag the wolf they become the wolf themselves! If the wolf catches a child – that child will become a wolf – this keeps the game moving and ensures everyone gets a go – be they bad at fleeing or great at sneaking!
The year 1 children we were working with took to this game very quickly and got very competitive about it. We saw children who would normally cringe away from reading or sounding out doing these activities with enjoyment as they focused on enjoying the game.
Image Credit – earth_voyager