Building Cognitive Flexibility and Supporting Reading Intervention with Uno-Style & Crazy 8 Spelling Games
These colorful, engaging card games are more than just fun—they’re powerful tools for building cognitive flexibility and reinforcing essential spelling and decoding skills. Designed in the style of popular games like Uno and Crazy 8, these four targeted spelling games support reading intervention while keeping learners motivated and engaged.
Each game focuses on a foundational spelling pattern:
CVC – Simple consonant-vowel-consonant words, perfect for early readers. Carefully selected to avoid confusing endings like “r” or “z.”
CVCC – Emphasizes ending blends and introduces nine essential spelling rules (like ck, wa, qu, double consonants, and soft c/g). Blends such as nd, mp, nk, and others are practiced with separate flashcards.
CVCe – Also known as the “Magic e” pattern, this game incorporates six spelling rules, including when o says /ŭ/ and when s sounds like /z/.
R-Controlled – Covers patterns like ar, or, ur, er, and more complex sounds like air and oar, along with homophones and tricky combinations (w+ar, w+or).
How These Games Build Cognitive Flexibility:
Cognitive flexibility involves shifting attention, adapting to new rules, and recognizing patterns—skills that are constantly exercised as players sort, match, and interpret cards based on multiple spelling rules and phonics cues. The color-coded format strengthens visual memory and reinforces sound-symbol correspondence.
Ideal for:
Reading intervention groups
Small group instruction
Independent centers
Home practice with families
Students can use these as traditional flashcards or jump into fast-paced gameplay, practicing decoding, blending, and rule application in a low-stress, highly engaging format. Wild cards representing spelling rules further deepen understanding and allow teachers to differentiate instruction with ease.
In short, these games blend play and pedagogy, making foundational literacy practice fun, effective, and flexible.
Educational games do more than entertain—they train the brain. When students play spelling games that sort words by vowel teams or consonant blends, or adapt to changing rules in card games like Crazy Eights and UNO, they’re developing cognitive flexibility. This skill helps them switch between tasks, adjust to new information, and think creatively—making them more adaptable learners both in and out of the classroom.
How Educational Games Foster Cognitive Flexibility in Students
In today’s dynamic learning environments, educational games are proving to be more than just fun—they’re essential tools for cognitive development. One critical skill they nurture is cognitive flexibility, the mental ability to switch between thinking about two different concepts or to think about multiple concepts simultaneously. This skill is crucial not only for academic success but also for navigating everyday challenges.
Spelling games, for instance, offer powerful cognitive training. When students sort words by multiple attributes—like beginning sounds, syllable count, or spelling patterns—they’re engaging in flexible thinking. A game might challenge them to group words by vowel teams in one round, and then by consonant blends in the next. This kind of task-switching encourages students to adapt their mental strategies, boosting their ability to pivot between rules and patterns.
Color-coded phonics games also can enhance cognitive agility. Matching games that combine vowel teams (like “ea” in “bread” or “ee” in “tree”) or consonant blends (like “tr” or “bl”) with colorful cues help students create flexible associations. They learn to recognize that one sound can appear in different letter combinations and that the same visual cue may apply to multiple sounds depending on context.
CVC Uno-style game. Build cognitive flexibility with the foundational short vowel sounds.
Even classic card games adapted for the classroom, such as Crazy Eights or UNO, can be educationally potent. These games require players to respond quickly to changing rules. Like changing suit, color, or numbers, Which mirrors the kind of flexible thinking needed in learning environments. When teachers modify these games to include vocabulary, math facts, or grammar prompts. Students can seamlessly blend content learning with cognitive skill-building.
Incorporating such games into the curriculum provides students with playful, engaging opportunities to practice adapting, shifting, and applying knowledge in real-time. The result? Stronger minds, sharper problem-solvers, and learners who can think on their feet. This Uno-style CVC game is a simple tool for practicing the basic
UFLI inspired anchor charts with words lists and picture embedded vowel teams. Visual aids for quick spelling lessons helps to draw students into reading with well organized spelling patterns.
Word list with the extra picture embedded phonics images.
Spelling cheat sheet that students love to read. Grouped by sounds to help students remember spelling patterns. Amazing anchor charts.
Plural suffix endings S ES IES VES & more. Organized reference materials with word lists, spelling rules, and engaging picture-embedded phonics posters and cards.
Included-
S – Unvoiced
S – Voiced /z/
ES – Voiced /z/
IES – Voiced /z/
VES – Voiced /z/ – change /f/ to /v/
Bonus Doubling Rule (+y, +ed, +er, +ing, +est)
Lessons 44, 54-59 & more. K sound endings
k, ck, ke, ic,
Are the students struggling with when to use ck, ke, k, or ic when writing words? Final k sounds can be tricky. There are some spelling rules to teach them about vowel sounds, vowel teams, multi-syllable words, and the suffix -ic. Posters with word lists, picture-embedded letters and color-coded word spelling words.
You get 4 posters – They can be printed on double-sided.
Learning soft c & g can be tricky! Knowing the patterns can help.
These anchor charts have mnemonic picture-embedded letters, word lists, and spelling tips to help learn and remember some of the soft c & g tricks.
The vowels e, i, y, are very important to the spelling pattern.
Anchor charts have colorful visual reminders and word lists that follow the same spelling pattern. Some have spelling tips and clues to help teach this as a lesson or to place it in the classroom as a reference guide, with some homophones included.
UFLI lessons 58, 89, 90, 91 +more “ui” spellings
Vowel teams ue, ew, u-e, u, have 2 long u sounds. The tricky spelling is organized on reference posters with word lists, spelling rules, and engaging picture-embedded phonics posters and cards. Great companion materials for
Great resource to support the many spellings of “air”. Spelling are, ear – Lesson 112, plus more eir, err, arr, ere, & ur. Colorful picture embedded letters (phonographs) and word lists. NO PREP! Easy to help reinforce the trigraph r-controlled vowel teams. Full of homophone words.
How to teach the heart words just got easier with this mapping manual for teachers. Decoding and encoding by the spelling patterns. Sound articulations and spelling rules all organized in one place.
Detailed sight word mapping by sounds, with articulation support.
Help is at your fingertips with these colorful tabs on the teacher’s manual. Low Prep organized Teacher’s Guide. Support your students by explicitly teaching heart word mapping sorted by sounds. Differentiated levels, cumulative instruction, phonics, and spelling patterns. Student worksheets. Articulation images with detailed explanations. Great for reading intervention!
Heart words grouped by the sounds make it easier for students to practice and retain the information.
Unique Heart Word Decoding Elkonin Boxes
Full Red Heart – Focused heart sound skill
Heart Outlines– Previously learned pattern
Green line – Decodable sound
Green line with a Dark outline – Long vowel that says its name
White line with X – silent letter
Articulation Instruction
Mouth image with airflow lines
Voiced and unvoiced marking under bottom lip ~
Detailed descriptions of lip and mouth movements
Helpful descriptions of sound: bursts, vibrates, air pushes
Spelling Patterns – Tabs
Vowel Sounds, Schwa, 2 Long u sounds, Digraphs, R-Controlled, R-Trigraph, consonants, th/th voiced and unvoiced, wh
Consonants – Begin c, k, ending ck, ending k, ke, ic, soft & hard g, dge, ending l, ll, le
more
s = z sound
The suffix – ed has 3 sounds
contractions
tricky Y
more
How will this help you?
Well-organized resource. Easy to grab and teach with No-prep work.
Heart Words are orthographicly mapped for you. Explicit phonics.
Code-based spelling instruction.
Color-coded decodable sounds are green or darker outlines for long vowels.
Heart Words and decodable words are grouped together by similar sounds, which makes teaching them easy and sound-focused.
Sound checks on the back cover.
Vowel articulation on the last page.
Detailed sound articulation directions are at your fingertips.
Student worksheets are versatile to use. Follow the link to see the video.
Cumulative Instruction
Heart Words and High-frequency words grouped by sounds are presented in a sequential and cumulative format.
Starting with the simplest words first and then progressing to more advanced words.
Example – short a
at,
an,
and,
am,
as * ( this one is the heart sound, s = z) The other words were decodable.
Do you need help understanding how to teach the SCHWA Spelling pattern?
Surprise! There are a few tricks to this spelling pattern that can make it easier to teach and fun for students to learn.
Do you need help understanding how to teach the SCHWA Spelling pattern?
Surprise! There are a few tricks to this spelling pattern that can make it easier to teach and fun for students to learn.
Kids love to play games. This Schwa UNO-style game has a very predictable sound pattern. All the words have at least one short /u/ sound. It is not just the final letter /a/ that can make the schwa sound as in: pizza, tuna, and comma.
The truth is any of the vowels can make the schwa sound. So be on the lookout and listen for all the vowel patterns in this game. Vowels: a, e, i, & o, might be making the short /u/ sound.
Letter a
was
what
grandma
about
The vowel /a/ might make the schwa sound, it can be in any position in a word. It may depend on your country, region, or dialect of English. It is often called the lazy /a/ sound. The open-mouth schwa sound is easier to say.
Letter e
The
the
The vowel /e/ may be the first schwa sound word that trips up the young student decoder. Letters /th/ are a digraph that they might know, but then the letter /e/ changes and is now making the schwa sound. In the game, there are both capital and lowercase cards for /the/.
Letter o
love
other
done
some
of
The vowel /o/ makes the schwa sound more often than you might think. There is a very predictable spelling pattern for some of the words. When the vowel letter /o/ is followed by: v, m, n, or th, it might make the schwa sound.
v, m, n, th
Examples are these words: oven, love, glove, and shovel.
The magazine file holders are a perfect fit for my shelf. They are within reach of my reading table. The boards slide right in. They are big enough to fit smaller cookie sheets too.
A Magazine Storage File, Makes a Great Divider on My Literacy Shelf.
Easy Way to Store the Different Letter Boards
There are many reasons why I took the time to create extra blending broads. Then, I needed a way to store all the extra boards. The magazine file holders are a perfect fit for my shelf. They are within reach of my reading table. The boards slide right in. They are big enough to fit smaller cookie sheets too.
Clear L-Pocket Covers
Each whiteboard is covered with a clear plastic L pocket before it is put on the shelf. We call it the clear blanket. The younger kids say, “Time for the letters to go night-night”. After they put all the letters back in place, they slip each whiteboard into the pocket. Making sure the open end is at the top and the folder end is at the bottom. So, no letter tiles will escape.
The cookies nest together very nicely, we usually don’t cover them.
Leveled Letter Groups
UFli is great. They have wide range of free things in the toolbox. The Satpim order is not taught in the UFLi scope and sequence, but the decodable books that were available at my school were the Satpim style. So, I adapted some of my blending boards to have less letters. This was helpful for a few reasons.
Fewer letters to start with.
Less to clean up or lose.
Less distraction on the blending board.
Costs less – fewer magnets needed.
Sorted pre-made boards for differentiated invention groups.
Blending Without Tears
Some students can’t handle all 26 letters at once. One boy started to cry. He was new to group and he did not have all his sounds yet. When we switched to less letters it was easier for him to keep up.
The result was more organized system that flowed will with the scope and sequence of each group.
Lines Under the Letters
I also added lines under the letters. To help aid the students with the letter reversal issues. b, d, p, q, n, u, m, w. All these letters were creating problems. Some students said things like, “I have two m’s.” I had to admit without the bottom line as reference it did look like she had two letter m’s.
Extra Letters
It has proven to be helpful to have a box of extra letters near by. With out fail some how the letters get misplaced. This large shorting box has been very handy.
Vowel Importance – Red Letters
Sometimes we need to do a little extra vowel pratice. These cvc word builder sheets let student put the missing vowel sound in the word next to the picture. The self-checking flap help it to feel more like a game.
The Sound Wall Frame and Heart Words were a big hit with my students. We focused on the short /o/ sound, as in “all.” One of my students drew two L’s hugging each other, the letter /a/ is thought it was so cute, and she made the /o/ sound, “ŏ.”
You can use letter pictures to teach sounds and spelling patterns.
Sound Wall Frame and Heart Words were a big hit. Skill was Short /o/ as in all.
The Sound Wall Frame and Heart Words were a big hit with my students. We focused on the short /o/ sound, as in “all.” One of my students drew two L’s hugging each other, the letter /a/ is thought it was so cute, and she made the /o/ sound, “ŏ.”
I created a simple and versatile sound wall to display on my classroom wall, right next to my reading table. As part of my reading intervention lessons, students are encouraged to create visual images to help them remember the skills we are working on.
Add some silliness to the sight words. I have a collection of sight words that have a silly snake image. I tell the students that it is a sleepy snake. He falls asleep and starts to snore. He makes the “zzzzz.” sound.
This snoring snake would be a cute one to draw for the Sound Wall Frame.
A Simple Black Frame Has Inspired Students to Draw Decodable Sounds.
Sound Wall Frame. Letter g Pure Joy Teaching
Art has always been my first love, and it is a great way for students to make sound connections to letters, digraphs, spelling patterns, and heart words.
Any space can easily be used for this type of visual-sound encouragement.
I used a lightweight plastic frame with no glass and painted it black. I also colored the tacks black with a large permanent marker so that they were hidden. Now, the focus is on the art and the sounds.
Easy Step to Create a Sound Wall
Cut the background fabric a little larger than the frame opening.
Pin or staple the fabric to the wall.
Place large black tacks in the corner of the frame opening. Let the frame hang on the tacks inside the top two corners.
Let students draw pictures inside the letters to help them make sound connections. (Try to encourage using the letter shapes to make sound links to relatable words. Example /ee/ bee – might be two bumble bees.)
Extra tacks are there for students to hang their art.
Or display the main skill that you are working on for the day.
Lowercase letter g for girl, with braided long hair hanging down.
Some of my younger ESL students were confusing the hard and soft letter g sounds. This is actually very common because of the letter name influence.
The name of the letter G, does have a soft “j” sound and they can instantly relate the name and sound together. I like to correct them by reminding them that they are correct. Sometimes the letter G, does make the “j” sound but it also has a tricky first sound and that is the hard /g/ as in girl.
I created a sample drawing for them, where my girl had brown braided hair flowing down in the shape of a lowercase “g.” The other girls wanted to draw their own versions, adding colored hair, flowers, and crowns. We kept the pictures displayed for a while, and it actually helped some of the other intervention groups who were facing the same difficulty with the “g” sound.
If you don’t want to hand draw all the letters for the students you can print them out. It is very handy to have them ready ahead of time and add a word list on the back to inspire the art. This is my set for Long E.
These pre-made cards can be used to inspire the students with images that relate to the sounds that the letters make.
What to do with the pictures after they draw them?
After the lesson is over, I leave the pictures up for a while. Sometimes I have to take them down for the next group and replace them the next day. It depends on your classroom situation. I teach reading invention, in seven different groups a day.
Some of the groups began creating a sound notebook, gluing the pictures into it. This was a great way to keep the images and lessons organized together. If you think this would be helpful, I have a link to that resource.
vowel team digraph cards
Find this on TPT mnemonic images for sounds and spelling patterns.
The schwa sound can be challenging to teach and learn. While there are some tricky words, there are also predictable spelling patterns. These games and lessons can be helpful in mastering it.
Following the scope and sequence, some of the first words students may encounter are in the first lesson. These include words like: the, was, what, of, some, come, and from.
Learning the Schwa Spelling Pattern is Easier with Games and Posters.
Looking for a way to introduce and practice the schwa sound?
Explain the schwa sound to emergent readings
The schwa sound is more than just the letter /a/ making the /u/ sound in words like banana, grandma, and pizza.
Students may first encounter the sound in the words the, was, what, and the word of. As well as the words come, some, from, and love. The bundle below has my favorite tools for introducing the schwa sound and spelling patterns to students of many levels and skills.
Schwa spelling bundle
The schwa sound can be challenging to teach and learn. While there are some tricky words, there are also predictable spelling patterns. These games and lessons can be helpful in mastering it.
Following the scope and sequence, some of the first words students may encounter are in the first lesson. These include words like: the, was, what, of, some, come, and from.
The first poster set includes them. The warning sign theme helps reinforce the visual reminder that some words have tricky vowel sounds that we will call schwa.
schwa words of, the, was, what, warning signs. Pure Joy Teaching
The schwa sound is typically the short /u/ sound. What makes it more challenging to teach is that any of the vowel letters can represent the schwa sound.
You may choose to group the spelling patterns together to help students better remember them.
One option is to introduce the letter /o/ as a schwa sound, with a predictable pattern that students may encounter.
schwa love, dove, glove, Pure Joy Teaching
This schwa sound UNO-style game is excellent for helping students master words that feature the schwa sound.
Fast pasted fun educational game students will love to play.
The Letter U has Many Sounds
More than just schwa…………….
The letter “u” sound can be quite confusing, but this fun mnemonic sentence and image of the letter “u” pushing a super unicorn can serve as a memorable spelling aid.
