Spelling - 'Hangman' with a positive twist...

One of the teachers at our school mentioned the idea of a 'Hangman' game ('Happy Man') with a positive slant, using a smiley face. I wasn't sure how it would work, but experimented with various forms. The end result was 

'Smiley Man':

'Smiley Man' printable sheets (2 per A4 page)

You can use just a pencil and paper, as for hangman, or you can print and copy the sheets above (there are 2 game sheets to a page). Use coloured or off-white paper if possible for children with glare sensitivity. 

The idea of the game, as for Hangman, is to for Player A to think of a word and for Player B to guess the word, by suggesting letters of the alphabet. The aim of Smiley Man is to guess the word and to complete the smiley face.

In Smiley Man, the word is restricted to 5 letters, and there are 16 boxes to write in 'wrong' letters. If Player B suggests a correct letter, it is written in to the word spaces, and one part of Smiley Man's face is drawn in. If the letter suggested is 'wrong' (not in the word), it is written in to the spaces below. 

There are 16 spaces for 'wrong' letters so Player B had a maximum of 16 guesses before he runs out of turns and the game is finished, even if the face is not completed. You may like to let the players finish off/colour in their Smiley Man faces later on (they can add hair etc. too if they wish). 

This game could also be played by teams of 2-4 children.

You can print off the full instructions here...

   Smiley Man Instructions

.... and here is a list of common 5-letter words to help with ideas for the game!
                                           

 List of Common 5-letter Words for Smiley Man Game