Literacy teaching game

Abstract

A literacy teaching game includes a rack restable on a support surface and having a raised tray slanting upward from a lip at a lower edge of the tray, and a set of individual letter tiles. Each tile has broad opposite upper and lower sides, the upper side of each tile displaying at least one associated letter of an alphabet. The tray is of a length sufficient to accommodate at least three letter tiles disposed side by side against the lip, such that their displayed letters are aligned to form a word. The tray is of a width, measured perpendicular to the lip, selected such that when a tile is added to the tray to displace a tile already on the tray, by pushing the tile already on the tray away from the lip and up the tray, the tile already on the tray falls from a back edge of the tray. Preferably there are multiple such trays arranged in a staggered configuration.

Description

[0001] LITERACY TEACHING GAME

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] This invention relates to literacy teaching games, and more particularly to literacy teaching games involving letter pieces.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] Early childhood literacy development involves teaching a number of concepts relating to the structure of words made of individual letters, letter types, and association of letters, and groups of letters, with sounds. There is always a need for games to help teach such concepts through play.

[0006] SUMMARY

[0007] One of the aspects of the invention features a literacy teaching game with a rack and a set of individual letter tiles. The rack is restable (i.e., supportable) on a support surface and has a raised tray slanting upward from a lip at a lower edge of the tray. The tiles of the set of individual letter tiles have broad opposite upper and lower sides, the upper side of each tile displaying at least one associated letter of an alphabet. The tray is of a length sufficient to accommodate at least three letter tiles disposed side by side against the lip, such that their displayed letters are aligned to form a word The tray is of a width, measured perpendicular to the lip, selected such that when a tile is added to the tray to displace a tile already on the tray, by pushing the tile already on the tray away from the lip and up the tray, the tile already on the tray falls from a back edge of the tray.

[0008] Each tile is preferably of an overall thickness, measured between the upper and lower sides, that is less than a height of the lip.

[0009] The tray is preferably angled to be inclined at an angle of between about 10 and 20 degrees with respect to a horizontal support surface supporting the rack during play.

[0010] In some configurations the raised tray has vertical dividers dividing the length of the tray into segments, each segment of a length to accommodate a single letter tile of the set.

[0011] In some embodiments, each of at least several of the individual letter tiles of the set displays a single associated alphabet letter. In some cases, at least one of the individual tiles of the set displays a pair of letters associated with a digraph. Some of the individual tiles may be vowel tiles each displaying an alphabet letter associated with a vowel sound, and others of the individual tiles may be consonant tiles each displaying an alphabet letter associated with a consonant sound. The displayed letters of the vowel tiles may be of a first color, and the displayed letters of the consonant tiles may be of a second color. In sets with digraph tiles, the digraph tiles may display letters of a third color.

[0012] In some embodiments, each of the tiles also displays an orientation indicator indicating an edge of the tile to be placed against the lip of the tray.

[0013] In some examples, the raised tray is a first tray of the rack, the rack also having a second tray slanting upward from a lip at a lower edge of the second tray, and disposed at a higher elevation than the first tray with the rack resting on the support surface during play. The second tray is preferably disposed rearward of the first tray with the rack resting on the support surface during play. The rack may also include a third tray disposed at a higher elevation than, and rearward with respect to, the second tray with the rack resting on the support surface during play. In some cases, the trays are supported by vertical side walls of the rack at opposite ends of the trays. The rack may also include a tile catch shelf connecting the side walls of the rack and spaced below the trays to catch tiles pushed from the trays during play.

[0014] Some embodiments of the literacy teaching game also include a tile setup card illustrating an initial arrangement of tiles on the rack to start play.

[0015] Some examples include a word transition card illustrating a sequence of graphics associated with respective words, the graphics arranged such that the words associated with any two adjacent graphics of the sequence differ by a single letter. The graphics may be arranged on the word transition card along a diagonal line, such as of an illustration of a slide.

[0016] Some examples of the game include a word transformation card illustrating two words differing by two letters, and for which there exists a third word differing from each illustrated word by a single letter.

[0017] Various aspects of the invention can, through either solo or multi-player play, help to teach or reinforce the comparative structure of words, particularly simple words, and the association of sounds with letters. The game can be adapted for more advanced play as the child’s literacy develops.

[0018] The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

[0019] DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0020] Fig. l is a perspective view of a rack of a literacy teaching game, with removable letter tiles.

[0021] Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view, taken along line 2-2 in Fig. 1.

[0022] Fig. 3 is a top view of a letter tile.

[0023] Fig. 4 is a side view of a letter tile.

[0024] Fig. 5 illustrates replacing one tile with another by pushing the replaced tile upward to fall off the associated tray.

[0025] Fig. 6 shows a rack set up with tiles including digraph tiles, and an associated setup card.

[0026] Fig. 7 illustrates a method of solo play involving a sequence of word transitions. Fig. 8 illustrates a method of solo play involving a two-step word transformation. Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

[0027] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] Beginning with Fig. 1, a literacy teaching game 10 includes a rack 12 that can be rested on a horizontal support surface. The example rack has three raised trays 14, each slanting upward from a lip 16 at a lower edge 18 of the tray. Each tray is shown carrying three individual letter tiles 20 of an associated set of letter tiles. The tiles can be arranged on the trays in any desired order, as all tiles are of the same size. As shown, the letter tiles on each tray are arranged to form a three letter word: in this case, the words HOT, PIG and BED. Each tray is of sufficient length ‘L’ (along the tray and along the word) to accommodate three letter tiles 20 disposed side by side against the lip 16, with their displayed letters are aligned to form the word. Fixed vertical dividers 22 along each tray are positioned to divide the tray up into tile-sized segments. The trays are supported by fixed connections at their ends to vertical side walls 24,26 of the rack 12. A rear brace 28, a front knee wall 30, and a tile catch shelf 32 (see Fig. 2) also connect the vertical side walls to form a stable rack structure.

[0029] Referring also to Fig. 2, each tray 14 is angled to be inclined at an angle 0 of between about 10 and 20 degrees (in this case, 14 degrees) with respect to a horizontal support surface 34 supporting the rack 12 during play. As shown, there are three trays 14: a lower tray, an upper tray, and an intermediate tray. The intermediate tray is disposed at a higher elevation than the first tray, and the upper tray is disposed at a higher elevation than the intermediate tray. The trays are also spaced apart in the fore-aft direction, such that the intermediate tray is disposed rearward of the lower tray, and the upper tray is disposed rearward with respect to the intermediate tray. This allows all trays to be accessed by the child during play, for placing tiles on the trays. Each tray is of a width ‘W’, measured perpendicular to the lip 16, selected such that when a tile is added to the tray to displace a tile already on the tray, by pushing the tile already on the tray away from the lip and up the tray, the tile already on the tray falls from a back or upper edge of the tray onto the tile catch shelf 32. In other words, the width ‘W’ of each tray is sufficient to accommodate only one tile at a time in each tray segment. Once a displaced tile has fallen onto the tile catch shelf 32, it is out of play.

[0030] Referring also to Figs. 3 and 4, each tile 20 is essentially a square, flat tile of a thickness ‘f that is preferably greater than a height of the lip at the bottom edge of each tray, to facilitate pushing a tile off of the tray by motion of a subsequent tile. For example, the tile thickness ‘f can be 8 millimeters and the lip height can be 3 millimeters. As noted above, each tile displays a letter 36 of an alphabet (in this example, a lower case ‘b’) on a broad upper side 38 of the tile, opposite a broad lower side 40 of the tile. Some of the individual tiles are vowel tiles 20a (see Fig. 1) each displaying an alphabet letter associated with a vowel sound, and other of the individual tiles are consonant tiles 20b each displaying an alphabet letter associated with a consonant sound. This example game uses letters from an English alphabet, but other versions of the game can use, for example, letters from a Cyrillic or Arabic or Hebrew alphabet. Preferably, the displayed letters 36 of the vowel tiles are of one color and the displayed letters of the consonant tiles are of another color, to help teach the distinction between vowels and consonants and to aid in letter replacement games as discussed below. Each of the tiles also displays an orientation indicator 42 (in this case, a line) indicating a lower edge of the tile to be placed against the lip of the tray.

[0031] Referring next to Fig. 5, to replace an existing letter tile with another, the player pushes the existing tile off of the tray by pushing against the lower edge of the existing tile with the upper edge of the new tile. In this illustration, the letter ‘b’ of the word BET is being replaced with a letter ‘s’ to form the new word SET. This type of play helps to teach word structure and the association of letters with sounds. One method of game play for two players includes first pre-arranging letter tiles on the trays to form three words according to an tile setup card, as discussed below with respect to Fig. 6. The players each draw a predetermined number of letter tiles and then take turns replacing single tiles on the rack with a tile from their drawn set of tiles. Each tile replacement must result in an actual word. For example, following the first player replacing ‘b’ with ‘s’ as shown in Fig. 5, the second player may replace the ‘o’ on the upper tray with ‘a’ to form the word HAT. The first player can then replace the ‘h’ on the upper tray with ‘b’ to form the word BAT, and so forth. If a player cannot use a tile from their drawn set to make a new word, they must draw a new tile. Play continues until one player has exhausted the tiles from his or her drawn set.

[0032] Referring to Fig. 6, in some cases some of the individual tiles 20 of the set are digraph tiles 20d each displaying a pair of letters associated with a digraph. In this example, three digraph tiles are shown: ‘sh’, ‘qu’ and ‘ck’. Due to the presence of digraphs, words longer than three letters can be formed. The digraph tile letters are preferably displayed in a third color, different from the colors used to indicate consonants or vowels. For example, the consonants can be red, the vowels blue, and the digraphs purple. The orientation indicators on each tile can be of a color matching the letter graphic.

[0033] Fig. 6 also shows the use of a tile setup card 44 illustrating an initial arrangement of tiles on the rack to start play. The trays of the rack have been set up to start with the words SHIP, MEN and QUACK, as shown on the setup card.

[0034] The game can include different cards for solo play that also teaches word structure and progression. For example, Fig. 7 shows a word transition card 46 illustrating a sequence of graphics 48 associated with respective words. The graphics are arranged such that the words associated with any two adjacent graphics of the sequence differ by a single letter. In this example, the words associated with the graphics are, in order from top to bottom along a diagonal line 50 along which the graphics are arranged on the word transition card, are FUN, RUN, BUN, BUD, BED AND RED. The play sequence with this word transition card would start with the player arranging letters on one of the trays to form the word printed at the top of the sequence of graphics (FUN), and then sequentially changing one letter of the tray to move through the progression of words to arrive at the word printed at the bottom of the sequence of graphics (RED). This solo play reinforces basic spelling as well as association of words with graphics. As another example, Fig. 8 shows a word transformation card illustrating two words (in this case, JET and PEN differing by two letters, and associated graphics. A blank space between the words indicates that there exists a third or linking word differing from each illustrated word by a single letter, such that there is a two-step letter replacement sequence to transform the first word into the second word. In this example, the linking word is PET, such that a first step of the transformation involves replacing the ‘j’ with a ‘p’, and the second step involves replacing the ‘t’ with an ‘n’. This transformation play is somewhat more advanced than the word transition play described with respect to Fig. 7, and represents a means of providing alternate learning modes through which the child progresses as literacy increases. The difficulty of the transformation play of Fig. 8 can be increased even further by adding a second linking word, such that three progressive letter replacements are required for the transformation. Blank cards can be included for making additional word sequences as the child progresses.

[0035] While a number of examples have been described for illustration purposes, the foregoing description is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the scope of the appended claims. There are and will be other examples and modifications within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A literacy teaching game, comprising: a rack restable on a support surface and having a raised tray slanting upward from a lip at a lower edge of the tray; and a set of individual letter tiles, each tile having broad opposite upper and lower sides, the upper side of each tile displaying at least one associated letter of an alphabet; wherein the tray is of a length sufficient to accommodate at least three letter tiles disposed side by side against the lip, such that their displayed letters are aligned to form a word; and wherein the tray is of a width, measured perpendicular to the lip, selected such that when a tile is added to the tray to displace a tile already on the tray, by pushing the tile already on the tray away from the lip and up the tray, the tile already on the tray falls from a back edge of the tray.

2. The literacy teaching game of claim 1, wherein each tile is of an overall thickness, measured between the upper and lower sides, that is less than a height of the lip.

3. The literacy teaching game of claim 1, wherein the tray is inclined at an angle of between about 10 and 20 degrees with respect to a horizontal support surface supporting the rack during play.

4. The literacy teaching game of claim 1, wherein the raised tray comprises vertical dividers dividing the length of the tray into segments, each segment of a length to accommodate a single letter tile of the set.

5. The literacy teaching game of claim 1, wherein each of at least several of the individual letter tiles of the set displays a single associated alphabet letter.

6. The literacy teaching game of claim 1, wherein at least one of the individual tiles of the set displays a pair of letters associated with a digraph.

7. The literacy teaching game of claim 1, wherein some of the individual tiles are vowel tiles each displaying an alphabet letter associated with a vowel sound, and other of the individual tiles are consonant tiles each displaying an alphabet letter associated with a consonant sound.

8. The literacy teaching game of claim 7, wherein the displayed letters of the vowel tiles are of a first color and the displayed letters of the consonant tiles are of a second color.

9. The literacy teaching game of claim 8, wherein other of the individual tiles are digraph tiles displaying pairs of letters associated with digraphs, and wherein the pairs of letters are of a third color.

10. The literacy teaching game of claim 1, wherein each of the tiles also displays an orientation indicator indicating an edge of the tile to be placed against the lip of the tray.

11. The literacy teaching game of claim 1, wherein the raised tray is a first tray of the rack, the rack also comprising a second tray slanting upward from a lip at a lower edge of the second tray, and wherein the second tray is disposed at a higher elevation than the first tray with the rack resting on the support surface during play.

12. The literacy teaching game of claim 11, wherein the second tray is disposed rearward of the first tray with the rack resting on the support surface during play.

13. The literacy teaching game of claim 11, wherein the rack further comprises a third tray disposed at a higher elevation than, and rearward with respect to, the second tray with the rack resting on the support surface during play.

14. The literacy teaching game of claim 11, wherein the first and second trays are supported by vertical side walls of the rack at opposite ends of the trays.

15. The literacy teaching game of claim 14, wherein the rack further comprises a tile catch shelf connecting the side walls of the rack and spaced below the first and second trays to catch tiles pushed from the trays during play.

16. The literacy teaching game of claim 1, further comprising a tile setup card illustrating an initial arrangement of tiles on the rack to start play.

17. The literacy teaching game of claim 1, further comprising a word transition card illustrating a sequence of graphics associated with respective words, the graphics arranged such that the words associated with any two adjacent graphics of the sequence differ by a single letter.

18. The literacy teaching game of claim 17, wherein the graphics are arranged on the word transition card along a diagonal line.

19. The literacy teaching game of claim 1, further comprising a word transformation card illustrating two words differing by two letters, and for which there exists a third word differing from each illustrated word by a single letter.

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