Silly Sentences Game
To develop syntactic awareness and vocabulary through creating and identifying silly vs sensible sentences.
- Framework: EYFS
- Unit: EYFS Literacy
- Learning area: Literacy
- Level: EYFS 3-4
Objectives
- Distinguishes silly from sensible sentences
- Explains why sentence is silly
- Creates own silly sentences
- Shows syntactic awareness
Materials
- Silly/sensible cards (tick and cross)
- Sentence picture cards
- Puppet for delivering silly sentences
- Whiteboard
Instructions
Use a puppet to deliver sentences: 'My puppet is a bit silly sometimes! Listen carefully and tell me — is this sentence SILLY or SENSIBLE?' Hold up tick/cross cards.
'The cat sat on the mat.' Children: 'Sensible!' 'The cat sat on the elephant.' Children: 'SILLY!' The absurdity makes children listen carefully to meaning.
Gradually increase subtlety: 'I put my socks on my feet.' Sensible! 'I put my socks on my hands.' Silly! Children must process the meaning to judge correctness.
Invite children to create their own silly sentences: 'Can you make a REALLY silly sentence? The sillier the better!' This production task requires syntactic competence.
Write the funniest silly sentences on the whiteboard. Read them back. 'Listen to Oliver's silly sentence: The fish drove the car to school! Isn't that silly!'
This activity builds syntactic awareness — understanding how sentences work — which is essential for both reading comprehension and writing composition.