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ErinParks's avatar
ErinParks
Community Member
2 months ago

Popcorn Words Game (sight words)

My 5-year old is learning to read.  He was struggling to focus on memorizing a list of sight words (which they call popcorn words).  When he could focus, he would memorize the words in order and wasn't recognizing them outside of the context of the list. 

I created this game to make the learning more fun, and used a bit of Javascript (with help from my computer programmer husband) to randomize the list of words.  The Javascript also makes it easier to add in new words each week.

I used AI to create all the graphics and the audio, which made the job quicker.  And honestly, the little popcorn characters turned out pretty great!

Now he's recognizing popcorn words in bedtime stories, signs etc.  

I would welcome any advice for improvement. For example, I need a way to make the letter sounds come closer to natural letter sounds.  (For letter N, "nnn" not "nuh".)

You can check out the game on this website.

Popcorn Words! 12/16/2024

 

  • ErinParks, this is so cool! As someone with two engineer parents myself, this is so something I can relate to :) Just curious, do you just use these tools at home (if so, how cool!), or do you work in E-Learning, too? 

  • ErinParks's avatar
    ErinParks
    Community Member

    Noele_Flowers I have informally done various aspects of learning design and facilitation in previous corporate jobs.  After completing instructional design courses and teaching myself to use tools like Storyline, I am in the process of launching an instructional design business. 

    Completing projects like this has helped me hone my adult learning, instructional design and storyline skills. 

    • Noele_Flowers's avatar
      Noele_Flowers
      Staff

      Oh how awesome! I was previously a freelancer too, definitely see how this could be great for a portfolio. I wonder if any folks can think of any other applications for something like this?