Unlocking Literacy Through Word Chains: How a Simple Activity Transforms Reading and Spelling

natasharichards051
Jan 2
3 min read

Supporting children’s reading and spelling development can feel challenging, especially when they struggle to connect sounds and letters. Word chains offer a straightforward, effective way to build these skills. This simple game helps children gain confidence by focusing on small, manageable changes in words, making reading and spelling less intimidating.

What Are Word Chains?

Word chains are sequences of words where each new word changes by just one sound from the previous word. This change might involve swapping a single letter or sound, adding a letter, or removing one.

In this chain, each word differs by one grapheme from the one before it, helping children focus on how sounds shift and letters correspond.

A grapheme is a letter or a group of letters that represents one sound. For example, 'n' is a grapheme for /n/. Likewise, 'kn' is also a grapheme for /n/.

Because the child has already said or read the previous word, their verbal working memory supports recalling the sounds for parts of the new word. This makes the process smoother and less overwhelming.

How Word Chains Support Reading and Spelling

Strengthening Verbal Working Memory for Reading

Verbal working memory is the ability to hold sounds and word parts in the mind while working with them. This skill is crucial for reading because children need to blend sounds together to read new words. Word chains help by giving children practice in remembering and manipulating sounds in a step-by-step way.

For example, when a child moves from "fan" to "man," they only change the first sound. This small change is easier to process and remember than jumping to a completely new word. Over time, this strengthens their ability to hold and work with sounds, which supports reading fluency.

Supporting Phonological Awareness and Decoding

Phonological awareness means hearing and working with sounds in words. It is one of the strongest predictors of success in reading and spelling. Word chains encourage children to listen carefully to the beginnings, endings, and rhymes of words. This attention to sound patterns builds foundational phonics skills.

Word chains also introduce more advanced phonemic awareness, such as elision, where sounds are switched or dropped. For example, changing "crash" to "cash" involves dropping the "r" sound. Practicing these changes helps children become more flexible with sounds, improving their decoding skills.

How to use word chains at home

Word chains for reading

Place out the first word in the chain in Elkonin boxes.

Example: r/u/sh

Tell your child, “This says ‘rush’”.

Then change a grapheme (letters that represent a sound) to make the next word on the list.

Example: r/u/n

Say, “If that said rush, what does this say?

Then change another grapheme to make the next word on the list.

Say, “If that said rush, what does this say?

Modification for children with poor blending skills

If you have a child with blending skills, have your child say the first 2 sounds

Example: r….u….

Then have them crash them together

Example: ru

Then stretch the sounds until they crash into the last sound

Example: ruuuuuuun

Word chains for spelling - tap it and switch it

Place out the first word in the chains in the Elkonin boxes.

Example: r/u/sh

· Tell your child, “This spells ‘rush’”

Then give your child the next word in the chain.

· Say, “This says ‘rush’, now make it say ‘run’.

Have your child tap out the sounds for the word run on each box, then see which grapheme does not match and switch it.

Other considerations

Follow a systematic approach: use consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) word chains before moving on to words with blends or digraphs.
Use letter tiles: Letter tiles can be especially beneficial for children with poor fine motor skills for writing.
Use visuals such as...
- letters embedded with pictures, such as Lively Letter tiles
- a rubber band to show "stretching" a sound
- a slide to help the child keep the first 2 sounds blended while stretching to the final sound
Digraphs go in one box.

Silent 'e' doesn't make a sound, so it doesn't get its own box. It goes with the consonant before it.

Final Thoughts on Word Chains and Literacy

Word chains are a simple, effective tool that supports key skills in reading and spelling. By focusing on small sound changes, they strengthen verbal working memory, phonological awareness, sequential processing, and word knowledge. These skills form the foundation for confident, fluent reading and accurate spelling.