Identifying Cause and Effect Game

Every story is full of things that happen and the reasons they happen, and the Identifying Cause and Effect Game turns that big second grade reading skill into a game kids want to play again. In this cause and effect game, children read short, everyday sentences and find two parts in each one: the effect, which is what happened, and the cause, which is why it happened. Spotting the cause and the effect helps young readers understand stories, explain events in their own words and make smart predictions about what will happen next.

The game takes place in a rainy paper cut-out village with a rainbow on the way, and Funzy is there to help. Kids get two markers. They tap the blue marker and swipe across the part of the sentence that tells what happened, then tap the red marker and swipe across the part that tells why, and press Check. A guided example comes first, so children see every step before they play. Then two rounds bring ten cause and effect sentences, like “The dog barked loudly because it heard a knock at the door” and “It rained all morning, so the soccer game was canceled.” Funzy reads every direction out loud, and a speaker button reads the sentence aloud for children who are still building their reading. If an underline is not quite right, Funzy gives a friendly hint, the wrong line wipes away and the right part stays, so kids fix just what they missed. Streak cheers, stars and a five-star finish make every right answer feel like a win. Play it in your browser on a phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.

What’s Included

• Online game that plays in any browser on desktop, tablet and phone
• Included with every Have Fun Teaching membership
• A guided example, then 2 rounds with 10 cause and effect sentences
• Voice directions, read-aloud sentences, gentle hints, streak cheers and a star score at the end
• Teachers can assign it in Classroom with one class link and see when each student is done

Here are three reasons this cause and effect game helps kids learn. First, the blue and red markers give the effect and the cause their own colors, so children can see how every sentence splits into what happened and why it happened. Second, the sentences use both “because” and “so,” and the cause comes first in some and last in others, so kids learn to think about meaning instead of word order. Third, hints that keep the right part and wipe away only the wrong part let children correct their own thinking, and the streaks and stars keep them coming back for more practice.

Teachers and parents can keep the learning going after the game. Play “Why did it happen?” at snack time: say an effect, like “The floor is wet,” and take turns thinking of causes. Flip a sentence from the game, so “We put on our coats because the wind was cold” becomes “The wind was cold, so we put on our coats,” and notice that the cause and the effect stay the same. For practice on paper, print the matching Identifying Cause and Effect Worksheet and grab a red and a blue crayon.

Related Resources

• Also available as a printable worksheet: Identifying Cause and Effect Worksheet
• Cause and Effect Resources
• Cause and Effect Worksheets
• Cause and Effect Sequencing Activity
• Cause and Effect Song (Have Fun Teaching)