Contraction Eggs

I couldn't resist buying these plastic eggs at the dollar store the other day.  I'd seen lots of Pinterest pins for using them for number recognition and basic facts for lower elementary, but I figured that they could easily be used to create some fun and engaging activities for upper elementary.

I'd recently been working on a game on identifying and using contractions in sentences, so contractions were in the front of my mind when I bought these plastic eggs and created this game.  It's super easy to set up and fun for your students to play.

Materials needed:

• 12 plastic eggs (they should be able to be split into 24 halves)

• Masking tape (I didn't want to write directly on the eggs so that I could use them for other activities in the future)

• Marker

Preparing the game:

1. Cut 24 small pieces of masking tape and place one piece of tape onto each half of the egg.

2. Write the beginnings and endings of the contractions you'd like to use on each egg.  The beginning of the contraction should go on one half of the egg and the ending of the contraction should go on the other half of the egg.  For example, you could write YOU' on one half and RE on the other half to make YOU'RE when the two halves are put together.  Here are the contractions I used (note that some of the endings had to be duplicated):

• Beginnings: I', YOU', HE', SHE', IT', WE', THEY', THERE', CAN', COULD', WHO', AREN'

• Endings: M, RE, S, S, T, T, D, D, VE, VE, LL, LL

Playing the game:

1. Take apart all of the egg halves and place them onto the table so that all players can see the beginnings and endings.

2. The player with the birthday that is coming up next goes first.  

3. The player chooses two egg halves that can be put together to make a contraction.  The player puts the two halves together and says the full contraction and what it means.  For example, if the player picks up SHE' and LL, he/she will put them together and must say "She'll means she will."  The player puts that egg in front of him/her.

If the player did not choose an actual contraction or if he/she does not say the contraction or the meaning correctly, he/she does not get to keep the egg. Both halves get put back with the others.

4. The next player then takes a turn and tries to put together two more halves.

5. Play alternates until no more contractions can be made.  The player who put together the last possible contraction is the winner! 

• Be aware that sometimes two or more halves will remain that do not match. That's just part of the strategy. Players want to make sure that they are the one to get the final matching contraction, even if some of the halves remain.