Swat-It! A Fly Swatter Game for Active Learners

"Swat It" is a high energy fly swatter game that kids ask to play again and again. Whatever you want to practice with your child, be it number recognition, number sense, math facts, letters, sight words, or reading skills you can do it with this game. All you need is a fly swatter and some Post-its.

Who doesn't love permission to hit something every once in a while? Lot's of parents express worry about their child's low interest in learning numbers and letters and a lack of focus. But the problem, isn't really their child's focus. It's boredom so let's make practicing fun with hands-on learning games. 

Your new favorite way to use a fly swatter:

• On Post-Its, write about 10 numbers or letters your child is currently learning.
• Place them on a wall or surface so that your child can see them all from one spot
• Invite your child to play: "Let's see if you can swat the ______! When I call out a number (or letter), you hit it with your fly swatter!"
• Call out numbers and letters or whatever you've chosen to focus on

6 Exciting Ways to play "SWAT-it!" with only a fly swatter and Post-its

1. Teach Letters or Letter Sounds - For younger kids 2-4, call out a letter name. Wanna up the ante a bit? Call out the letter sound for kids 4+. Here are 12 more epic hands-on games to teach letter sounds.

2. Teach Numbers- For kids in preschool, practice numbers 1-10. For kids in kindergarten use numbers 1-20!

3. Teach word families - I recommend beginning with the AT word family. Grab those flashcards you see in the picture here.

4. Teach sight words - Using a fly swatter is just one of 16 epic ways I teach my kid sight words.

5. Teach number sense- In this game, kids are working on more than just number identification. Call out more difficult math clues to get them really thinking.

• call out "the number after _" or "the number before _"
• addition or subtraction problems
• a number greater or less than _
• super challenge: multiplication or division

6. Combination of numbers and letters - For this we had Big Sis identifying numbers and Lil Sis working on letters!

Pro-tips for Fly Swatter learning games:

Be sure to add in some items that your child has already mastered so they won’t get burnt out searching for only ones they don't know. We want kids to have success and fun while exposing them to new numbers, letters, words, etc.

What should I do if they don't know the answer? When my eldest was looking for a number she didn't know, I would call out clues initially like what it was next to or if it was higher or lower. This would help her narrow her focus, preventing visual overwhelm and guide her to find it on her own. After playing a few times, she felt more confident and we did a lightning round.

There is NO way your child won't absolutely love this fly swatter game.

More Hands-On Learning for you!

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