4 Pics 1 Word - A literacy warm up game?

Whilst playing the app last night, my 5 year old son started getting invloved and he did quite well, this got me thinking could I use the app in class? After tweeting the idea a number of tweeps thought this possible so.......

So I created a dropbox to share photos of the game and started copying photos of appropriate questions. I haven't used this in class yet so don't know how successful it will be, but through the dropbox we are hopefully going to share ideas and build a library of clues.

Teaching Points
What is a homophone?
What homophone are these pictures showing?
Which is a verb / noun?
Can you see any spelling patterns?
Can you see any letter which go together to help you guess the word?


When discussing on twitter I virtually met Alex Weatherall @A_Weatherall who had a similar idea last month and created a recommended powerpoint frame for 4 pics 1 word. See his blog here
 http://a-weatherall.tumblr.com/post/44166582039/four-pictures-one-word-i-downloaded-4pics1word
Thanks for your input Alex 

Why use it?
-A useful app on individual devices to reinforce spelling.
-The child uses visual skills to aid spelling.
-A whole class literacy warm up.
-It develops thinking skills.
-Group work on homophones.
-Talk for learning describing the word without saying it.
-Every second counts activity during registration.
- For engagement it is current and their parents are probably playing it!

Looking at similar apps, I also found Pictoword which is the same sort of app but based around compound words. I believe it could be used the same as 4 pics 1 word


App links

4 pics 1 word - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/4-pics-1-word/id595558452?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2

Pictoword - haven't found in app store but available via iPad/iphone app store

If you like the idea and want to get involved collaborating teaching ideas contact me via the blog or twitter @andygfarsley and I'll send you details of the dropbox.