Making a Word Machine

This is part of a series of posts taken from Dr David Smawfield’s catalogue of resources created to help new teachers, or teachers in training, feel comfortable in their new classes and effectively control their new pupils.

Educationally, matching words to pictures is the simplest way in which the Word Machine can be used. With early learners, this should be the method with which to start. The Word Machine can be set up with three or four columns. To make three-letter words with pictures, all four columns are used.

The photo below shows an example of how the Word Maker is set up, when it is wished to make three-letter words with pictures or four letter words.

You can find Dr Smawfield’s word list at the back of his original booklet, which you can find here, there you will find thirty-five words that are in bold and coloured blue. We also have a variety of picture flashcard here at Early Learning HQ which you may find useful for your own Word Machine, there are some in the phonology section and in the Letters and Sounds category.

A good participative activity with children is to set up the words and then let children take turns to match the five pictures to the five words and insert them in the Word Machine themselves or with the teacher’s help.

If you would like to make your own wooden Word Machine, like featured in the photos above, then you can find the rest of this booklet here, where there are full instructions of how to construct it.

Dr Smawfield is a senior international development consultant based in the UK and has a strong background in teacher education. He has worked in countries around the world, including Bangladesh, Malawi, Romania and Vietnam and is especially interested in active learning and low-cost teaching aids. You can find out more about his work on his website.