Word Ladders

A word ladder is a sequence of words formed by just changing one letter at a time, for example CAT becomes DOG through the following sequence:
CAT ---> COT ----> DOT ---> DOG.
The number of words in the ladder is dependent on how many levels there are on the ladder or as many words are required to get from the beginning word to the end word. This activity is good for trial and error, as the first attempt may fizzle out and not quite work. Some people choose to work from the end and go backwards as well.
Lastly, this activity can be differentiated by the length of the start and finish words and the number of levels on the ladder. The example given above only has three letters and four levels, so would be ranked as an easy game.
Below are some more for your class to get stuck into. After a while, you may be able to create your own or even ask the children to create some for their friends. Enjoy!
CAT ---> COT ----> DOT ---> DOG.
The number of words in the ladder is dependent on how many levels there are on the ladder or as many words are required to get from the beginning word to the end word. This activity is good for trial and error, as the first attempt may fizzle out and not quite work. Some people choose to work from the end and go backwards as well.
Lastly, this activity can be differentiated by the length of the start and finish words and the number of levels on the ladder. The example given above only has three letters and four levels, so would be ranked as an easy game.
Below are some more for your class to get stuck into. After a while, you may be able to create your own or even ask the children to create some for their friends. Enjoy!
Above: a good resource/display idea although the example in the picture doesn't really follow the principles of the Word Ladder activity. If you had the time and the energy, you could create a set of letters as well as images that represent what the words for each level would be. The CAT to COT to DOT to DOG ladder would be easy enough to replicate. Alternatively, you could create a SMART Interactive Whiteboard version of the above display.
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