Activities to teach letter sounds

Letters and Sounds: Practical Ideas for Parents

By: Texas Education Agency

Provide your child with the opportunity to learn that written words are made up of letters that match the sounds in spoken words.

Children can be taught to match the sounds with letters in an orderly and direct way. For example, the letter n matches the /n/ sound in nurse).

Here are some activities to try:

• Make letter-sounds and have your children write the letter or letters that match the sounds.
• Play word games that connect sounds with syllables and words (for example, if the letters "p-e-n" spell pen, how do you spell hen?).
• Write letters on cards. Hold up the cards one at a time and have your children say the sounds (for example, the /d/ sound for the letter d).
• Teach your children to match the letters in their names with the sounds in their names.
• Point out words that begin with the same letter as your children's names (for example, John and jump). Talk about how the beginning sounds of the words are alike.
• Use alphabet books and guessing games to give your children practice in matching letters and sounds. A good example is the game, "I am thinking of something that starts with /t/."
• Write letters on pieces of paper and put them in a paper bag. Let your children reach into the bag and take out letters. Have them say the sounds that match the letters.
• Take a letter and hide it in your hand. Let your children guess in which hand is the letter. Then show the letter and have your children say the letter name and make the sound (for example, the letter m matches the /m/ sound as in man).
• Make letter-sounds and ask your children to draw the matching letters in cornmeal or sand.
• Take egg cartons and put a paper letter in each slot until you have all the letters of the alphabet in order. Say letter-sounds and ask your children to pick out the letters that match those sounds.

Adapted from: Beginning Reading Instruction: Practical Ideas for Parents. Texas Education Agency.

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Try These 10 Fun Phonics Activities to Teach Letter Sounds to Children

What is phonics?

Phonics is the relationship between letters and sounds as well as the understanding of how those sounds connect to form words.

For instance, the /c/ sound, the short /a/ sound, and the /t/ sound blend together to form the word cat.

What does the research say about teaching phonics?

Research indicates the importance of teaching children phonics as a preliminary step for learning to read.

Research also suggests that systematic instruction which incorporates wordplay (manipulating letters/sounds in words to change the word), writing words, and using manipulatives such as magnetic letters to create words are all effective strategies for teaching phonics.

Additionally, research demonstrates the benefits of applying a multi-sensory approach to phonics instruction.

A multi-sensory approach incorporates sight, sound, touch, and movement into instruction. This helps address a variety of learning modalities, enabling students to better absorb the information.

Ten Fun Research-Based Phonics Activities to Teacher Letter-Sounds

1. Play the game “I Spy.”

In the game “I spy” you pick something that you see and don’t tell the child what it is. The child has to guess what you see.

Here is how you can use “I Spy” to teach letter sounds (phonics):

Let’s say you see a book in the room: You can say: I spy something that starts with the letter B or I spy something that ends with the letter K.

After your child guesses what “you spy” have them tell you the sound the letter makes. If your child cannot guess what “you spy” or does not know the letter sound, provide them with assistance.

You can also do the same thing using letter sounds. For example, if you see a book, you can say “I spy something that starts with (make the sound for b)” or “I spy something that ends with (make the sound for k).

After your child finds the object, have them tell you what the first letter (or last letter) of the object is. Take turns with your child. First you spy, then they spy, or vice versa.

2. Put letters on flashcards for a fun activity.

Put one letter on each card as shown below (create upper case and lower case cards):

Here is a sample activity:

Pick three to four-letter words and scramble them up. For example, if the word is pig, put the letters out-of-order (e.g., ipg) on the table in front of your child.

Put the letters one to two feet in front of your child so she has room to work. Next, give them a sheet of paper with three (or four) spaces for letters on it, like so _ _ _.

Then tell them the word or show a picture of the word and give the instruction (e.g., “I want you to make the word pig on the lines below, using the letters above).

If you have Magnetic Letters, you can use these as well. You can also encourage your child to write the letters in with a pen or pencil.

You can do word families to help your child understand that many words are spelled the same way, with only the first letter different. So after pig, try big, wig, and rig.

Rhyming practice is another helpful strategy when teaching kids about letter sounds.

3. Play letter-sound Go Fish.

Make doubles of flash cards. Each player gets five cards and the rest of the cards go in a pile in the center of the table.

Player 1 calls out a letter-sound and asks if player 2 has a match.

If they don’t have a match, tell them to “go fish” which means to choose from the pile. See more detailed rules for how to play Go Fish here.

4. Make your own phonics Bingo game.

Draw a grid or make one on the computer like the one below. (You can also print out a large version of the one below here). You can find more blank grids here).

While the grid above has 25 boxes, you can play phonics Bingo with 9 or 16 boxes also.

Here are four options for getting pictures into the boxes:

Option 1 – Draw something simple in each box. 

Examples of simple drawings for each letter of the alphabet include an apple, a banana, a comb, a door, an egg, a feather, a girl, a hat, an ice-cube, a jar, a kite, a light bulb, a mitten, a nose, an orange, a pan, a queen, a ring, a spoon, a table, an umbrella, a vase, a worm, a xylophone (that one might not be so easy to draw), and a zipper.

Use colors to make it look fun.

Option 2 – Get images from Google Images, print them, cut them out and glue them in the boxes.

Option 3 – Go to Google Images, copy each image by hitting “control c’ or by right-clicking on the image and selecting copy, then paste each picture into each grid box by right-clicking in the grid and clicking paste or by hitting “control v.”

Option 4 – Find and print out ready-made Bingo grids by doing a search for Kids Bingo Grids

You can play the Bingo game four ways:

1 – Call out a letter sound. If your child has a picture on her Bingo card that starts with that letter sound, have her put a coin, checker piece, or small piece of paper over the picture (you can cut index cards into small pieces.

This will work better than regular paper because the pieces will be heavier and stay on the Bingo card better).

2 – Call out a letter. If your child has a picture on her Bingo card that starts with that letter, have her cover the picture.

3 – Call out a letter sound. If your child has a picture that ends with that letter sound, have her cover the picture.

4 – Call out a letter. If your child has a picture that ends with that letter, have her cover the picture.
When your child fills up a row, up, down, or diagonally, she gets Bingo (she wins).

5. Make flashcards with a picture on one side and the letter the picture starts with (or ends with) on the other side

You can draw the pictures yourself or make flashcards using pictures from Google Images.

To make a flashcard from Google Images, go to the Image, copy it, “right-click” on it and click copy or hit “control c.” Then go to a word document and paste (right-click and click paste or “hit control v.”).

Then print out the pages, cut out the picture, and write the corresponding letter on the back.

If you know how to insert tables, you can put several pictures on the page in table boxes, print the page, cut out all the pictures, and put the letters on the back. Here is an example:

Show your child a picture and ask them to tell you the letter (or letter sound) it starts with (or ends with). If they are correct, let them know and show them the back of the card. If they are not correct, give them two more tries.

If they do not get the letter or sound, show them the back of the card and tell them the letter and sound (then enunciate the sound as you say the word), have them say the letter/sound back to you twice and shuffle the card back in the pile. Repeat.

6. For children who have a lot of energy, turn a phonics lesson into a movement activity.

Tape four letters onto the wall as shown in the image below:

Call out a letter sound and tell your child to run to the letter that makes that sound, touch it and run back. Spice it up. Here are some examples:
-Hop to the letter that makes the sound
-Skip to the letter that makes the sound
-Tip Toe to the letter that makes the sound

7. For another movement activity, put tape on the floor, with a letter on each piece of tape.

Tell your child to start with their feet on a certain letter (e.g., start on letter A), then tell them to jump to different letters, using the letter sounds.

For example, “Jump to the letter that makes the sound (insert letter sound).”

See an example below:

As your child becomes more independent with his letter sounds, you can make the letters spell actual words. For the word cat, have three pieces of tape, C, A, T.

Tell your child to start at the C, then jump to the next letter in Cat, and then the last letter.

To make it more challenging, have your child spell the word backwards, by starting with the last letter and jumping in order until they get to the first letter.

Mix up the game with upper and lower case letters. The example above has three letters, but you can use as many pieces of tape and letters as you want.
Start out with a few and add more if your child is making good progress.

8. Make a worksheet, using words and pictures with your child’s favorite characters, foods, animals, etc.

You can draw the worksheets by hand or use tables in Microsoft Word.  For a three-letter word, make a table with five columns and one row.

Put the picture of the word in the first box of the table (you can draw in the pictures or copy and paste them from Google Images). Put the letters in the other boxes, but leave one letter out. Have your child fill in the missing letter.

Here is an example of the worksheet:

Click here to print out your own version of this sheet.

For children who may have trouble solving this worksheet, try providing them with a letter bank to see if that helps.

See an example of a worksheet with a letter bank below.

Click here to print out your own version of a phonics worksheet with a letter bank.

9. Have your child paste letters on paper as you call out the sounds.

You can use the letter flashcards you made, like in number 2.

You can use this activity to teach your child how to spell words. Draw lines or boxes on the paper so your child knows where to paste the letters.

You can give your child the exact number of letters in the word, or throw in some extra letters to make it more challenging.

Call out the first sound in the word, have your child pick the correct letter, and paste it on the first line.

Then have them do the next sound, and so on, until the word is complete.

Supervise the activity, providing assistance as needed.

When your child is done, hang up their work to show them that you are proud of their effort.

You can also use this idea to teach a child how to spell their name, such as the sample in the image below.

10. Sing the alphabet sound song.

The tune is similar to the traditional alphabet song.

Here is a great example by Kidstv123. You can make up your own version as well.

What else can you do to help your child learn letter sounds?

If your child is significantly struggling with learning letter sounds or acquiring other academic skills, despite consistent practice and guidance, talk to your child’s school and/or doctor.

They can refer you to the appropriate professionals to determine what might interfere with your child’s progress and if additional strategies could help.

Additional Information About Teaching Phonics to Children

Keep in mind that the activities in this article are recommendations. Please do not try to pressure a child into participating in any of these activities.

This can lead to your child feeling frustrated, and possibly shying away from phonics (letter-sound) practice.

Remember to always stay calm when working with a child or student, even if you think they should be getting something that they are not getting.

If you get frustrated with them, they may start to feel anxious, angry, inferior, stupid, etc. which will lead to a less productive learning session.

Keep practice sessions short (2 to 10 minutes for younger children or children who get easily frustrated and 10 to 15 minutes for older children or children who can work for longer periods without frustration), unless the child is eager to keep going.

For suggestions on ways to encourage children to complete tasks or assignments they do not want to do, read the following articles:

• 3 Ways to Use Timers to Encourage Homework and Chore Completion 
• How to Use Schedules to Improve Children’s Behavior

Video Presentation

Education and Behavior – Keeping Us on the Same Page for Children.

Rachel Wise

Rachel Wise is the author and founder of Education and Behavior. Rachel created Education and Behavior in 2014 for adults to have an easy way to access research-based information to support children in the areas of learning, behavior, and social-emotional development. As a survivor of abuse, neglect, and bullying, Rachel slipped through the cracks of her school and community. Education and Behavior hopes to play a role in preventing that from happening to other children. Rachel is also the author of Building Confidence and  Improving Behavior in Children: A Guide for Parents and Teachers.

“Children do best when there is consistency within and across settings (i.e., home, school, community). Education and Behavior allows us to maintain that consistency.”

www.educationandbehavior.com

Letter sounds. Words and sounds. | Plan-summary of a lesson in teaching literacy:

Sounds of a letter. Words and sounds.

Purpose: To immerse children in the world of sounds, develop interest in them, draw their attention to the sound (external) side of speech. It can be heard and spoken; the word can be short or long. Make it clear that words are made from sounds.

Material. Green stripes are long, red are short.

1. The wise Owl offered to go on a long journey to the country of the ABC, where letters live. But the way to the country of the ABC lies through the country of sounds. This country is invisible, but it surrounds us everywhere, because sounds are everywhere, they cannot be seen. They can only be heard or spoken.

-Close your eyes and listen. What sounds will you hear?

- Say how the car honks, how they laugh, how the wolf howls, how the dog barks, how the cat meows.

- So, all that we have now said and heard is the sounds. And sounds are considered everything that can be heard and pronounced. During our journey, we will find out what speech sounds are, how they arise, how they are pronounced, how they are friends with each other. We also learn that sounds are represented by letters.

- Where are we going with you? (to the country of the ABC).

- Which country do we have to pass before we get to the ABC (the land of sounds).

- Are you ready to travel to the land of sounds?

- Then blow like a tu-tu train.

- How the wagons choo-choo-choo rattle

- Here we are in the land of sounds.

Game What sounds did you hear.

(children imitate cows, horses, etc.)

2. - Animals make these sounds, and people make speech sounds. Words are made from them. It turns out the sounds originate in the mouth.

- What is in each of our mouths? (teeth, tongue).

- And if we close our mouth, what prevents us from seeing teeth and tongue? (Lips and cheeks.)

- Try to close your mouth tightly and say "Hello" without opening your mouth.

(Children try to pronounce this word with their mouth closed.)

- Were you able to pronounce the word "hello" correctly with your mouth closed? (No)

-Is it possible to speak without the help of lips, cheeks and teeth? (Not allowed)

- Listen to the tale of a cheerful tongue and repeat after me all the movements of the tongue.

Once upon a time there was a cheerful tongue in the world. He had his own house - his mouth. Walls are cheeks (children puff out their cheeks), windows are lips and teeth (children smile and show teeth). The tongue is very neat. Every day he put things in order in his house: he cleaned the walls - cheeks (children run their tongue along the inside of the cheeks), the ceiling, which is called the palate (along the palate), washed the floor - the lower jaw (on the inside of the lower jaw), wiped the windows (children open the mouth wide and run the tongue over the upper and lower teeth).

One day Merry Tongue got bored. He opened the window (they open their mouths wide), looked out into the street (stick their tongue out), looked around (movement of the tongue in different directions), up, down. I saw a crow and got scared, hid in my house (the children put their tongues inside) and closed the windows (they close their mouths).

3. While I was telling you a story, Wise Owl put 2 strips. - How do they differ?...

Words can also be long and short. There are many sounds in long words, so they are pronounced for a long time. For example: te-le-vi-zor, speed-in-rod-ka. And in short words there are few sounds. For example: poppy, house. These words are pronounced briefly. I will name the words, and you must determine the short or long word and show the corresponding strip. (nurse, gnome, fan, garden, hairdresser, smoke)

Physical education session

“Short - long word”

(dandelion, salad bowl, chair, gladiolus, varnish, bus station)

- Name the long (short) words yourself. (if children find it difficult to use pictures)

4. What new did you learn at the lesson? What have you learned?

- Listen to the tale of the Merry Tongue and repeat after me all the movements of the tongue. (mirrors go out).

Once upon a time there lived a Merry Tongue. He had his own home - his mouth. Walls - cheeks (children puff out their cheeks), windows - lips and teeth (children smile and show their teeth).

The tongue was very neat. Every day he put things in order in his house: he cleaned the walls - cheeks (children run their tongue along the inside of their cheeks), the ceiling, which is called the palate (along the palate), washed the floor - the lower jaw (on the inside of the lower jaw), wiped the windows (children open the mouth wide and run the tongue over the upper and lower teeth).

Once the Merry Tongue got bored. He opened the window (they open their mouths wide), looked out into the street (stick their tongue out), looked around (movement of the tongue in different directions), up, down. I saw a crow and got scared, hid in my house (the children put their tongues inside) and closed the windows (they close their mouths).

“Journey to the City of Letters and Sounds”

Summary of the frontal lesson on teaching literacy (in the preparatory group) Topic: “Journey to the city of letters and sounds”

Speech therapist Salina Svetlana Viktorovna, Trans-Baikal Territory, Petrovsk-Zabaikalsky

Goals and objectives of the lesson

Correctional and educational: continue to teach sound analysis and word synthesis; to fix the graphic image of letters, visual attention; to consolidate the skill of reading syllables and words.

Correction-developing: to develop phonemic and speech hearing, to form an orientation in the sound system of the language; develop visual perception, attention, memory; enrich vocabulary, practically introducing antonyms.

Correctional and educational: create a good mood, cultivate accuracy, kindness, the ability to follow the rules of the game; desire and ability to work in a team, encourage activity and independence

Equipment: map, easel, rebus, didactic games “Collect flowers” ​​ and “Fisherman” , envelopes with assignments, handouts (sound chips, noise) , sun, pictures elephants, wolves) , pebbles, shells, letters, binoculars.

Activity in progress.

Organizational moment.

(Children stand in a circle, greet each other with the help of a toy sun.)

Speech therapist. With its warmth, the sun radiates goodness and conveys it to people who hold it in their hands. We will pass it with our right hand, addressing each other by name and wishing good morning.

(Soothing melody sounds.)

Introduction to the topic. Problematic situation.

(A voice from a magic box sounds.) “I am the Queen of Grammar, the mistress of the Sound Kingdom, the Letter State, I ask you for help. An evil wizard, the Book-eater, made his way into my country and bewitched all its inhabitants, and now we have anger and confusion. He keeps his spell in a magic word. By collecting all the letters, you will be able to recognize this magic word, and then the witchcraft will disappear along with the one who cast it.0097 .