This is a phonemic awareness activity – click here for info on why these help. You can use a puppet for this activity to make it more fun.

  1. Tell your child that you will be putting some sounds together to make words. Tell him/her that you (or the puppet) will give them a sound and a part of the word and they will have to put them together to make a word. For example: You say: /n/…eedle. Your child says the word “needle”.
  2. Remember that the goal is for your child to blend sounds together orally, not to be able to read these words. So don’t be afraid to use big words – it’ll really add to their listening/speaking vocabulary!

Samples:

/t/…iger

/d/…inosaur

/m/…onkey

/b/…asket

/t/…elevision

/j/…ungle

/p/…oodle

/m/…idnight

/s/ andwhich