Blending road
In English schools children learn to read by blending sounds: c-a-t, cat. Here the word sits above a road and the picture is hidden in a garage. The child drags the car with a finger; at each sound the car stops, the letter lights up and a picture that starts with that sound appears above it (s, sun) while the voice says its word. At the finish the garage opens and the voice says the word stretched and then normally.
What children practise
- Blending sounds to read a word
- Three-sound words: cat, sun, pig
- Four-sound words with two consonants together: frog, drum, hand
- Two letters, one sound: sh, ch, ck, ng, ll, ee, oo, ar
- Reading without guessing from the picture
Levels and settings
Early years
Three-sound words. Playing alone, the garage opens at the finish; in teams, you first guess the picture from 2.
Year 1
Three sounds, then four, mixed on hard; in teams you guess from 2 or 3.
Year 2
Four sounds and digraphs (fish, ship, duck, moon, star), mixed on hard.
How to play it in class
- Choose the year and difficulty, or in More options the words, what happens at the finish, the voice and the points.
- Press Start: each team has its own road with the same word.
- Grab the car with your finger and drive it to the finish. It stops at each letter and a picture that starts with its sound appears: time to say it.
- At the finish the garage opens (or you guess what is inside first). The first team to arrive, or to get it right, wins the point.
Ways to play
In teams, at the same time
The screen splits in two and each team plays on its own half at the same time.
For one player
One child plays on the whole screen at their own pace: on the whiteboard, a computer or a tablet.
Frequently asked questions
Does the voice say each sound?
Browser voices cannot say sounds on their own. So each letter shows a picture that starts with that sound (s, sun) and the voice says that word; tap the letter to hear it again. At the end it says the whole word, stretched and then normally.
How many words are there?
49 words with pictures: three sounds, four sounds and digraphs such as sh, ck, ee and oo.
Is it free?
You can play 5 free games without signing up. After that, a one-off payment of €9.99 unlocks all 78 games for ever, on all your devices. There is no subscription.
Do I need to install anything?
No. It opens in the browser of the interactive whiteboard, panel, computer, tablet or iPad. Once loaded, it also works offline.
More English games
Spelling roadSpelling by sounds is the other side of reading: hearing cat and knowing it goes c, a, t.
Torch huntA game of discovery.
Sentence BuilderIt starts from zero: the voice says a word or a sentence in English and children tap the matching picture, with no reading needed.
I am, you arePronouns and the verb to be, learnt the way English schools teach them: with pictures and whole sentences, not conjugation tables.Blending road
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