Looking for a simple, low-prep activity to help your child learn beginning sounds? Here you go!
(This post contains affiliate links.)
Today I’m sharing a set of low-prep printables that will help your child or students master beginning sounds.
Each sort asks your child to sort pictures into 2, 3, or 4 groups based on their beginning sounds.
Simply cut out the headers and the pictures. Glue or place each header at the top of a column, and have your child say the name of each picture. After he names the picture, he glues or places it in the appropriate column.
You’ll get a total of eighteen picture sorts (pictured above) in the download.
Tips for using these picture sorts
- Make sure your child knows the names of the pictures before asking him to do the sort. You’ll find a picture key at the front of the download.
- If you are doing these with a young preschooler, do all or most of the cutting for your child – no need to wear him out before he begins!
- If your child is just starting to learn letter sounds, go through the sorts in order. They progress from easy to hard (based on the recommended order from the book Words Their Way). Do just one sort per day, and review what you’ve learned through fun alphabet activities before working at a new sound.
- If your child struggles with a sort, store the pieces in a plastic bag and review the same sort until you’re ready to move to the next one.
- If you feel that your child already knows most of his letter sounds, use these as a review before moving on to a beginning reading curriculum (this is our favorite free program for preschool and kindergarten).
My middle son enjoyed these when we did them a year ago (it’s taken me this long to get them on the blog, whoops!). But when I pulled them out for his younger brother (4 1/2) he resisted them (that’s a nice way to say that he called them boring and refused to do them).
Despite his resistance, I’m still pulling these out for my preschooler because the review is good for him. (And because I’m mean like that.) It won’t be a strong focus, though, because he knows his letter sounds quite well after our letter of the week activities.
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Free Alphabet Printables
Join our email list and get this free sample of alphabet activities from our membership site! Students will practice identifying and forming letters, matching upper to lowercase, and identifying beginning sounds.
What an awesome resource you are providing Anna!
Thank you, Katie!
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful ideas with us.
You’re welcome, Maria – thanks for reading!
Thank you very much for all your freebies and wonderful ideas. I am using them in my classroom.
I’m so glad to hear that, Arminda!
I love your resources and use them often in my kindergarten class! It’s so generous of you to provide so many of them for free! My kinders would have trouble cutting out the pictures on this activity without the dotted line boxes around them. The activity I printed dos not have the boxes. Could you please provide one? Thank you so much!
Make sure you save the file to your computer and then open and print with the free Adobe Reader. You’ll find this tip in the troubleshooting link underneath the download link. It usually solves printing errors, but let me know if it doesn’t.
We are implementing the Words Their Way system for spelling in our first through fourth grade classes at our small private school. I am working with two first graders in the late emergent stage. These sorts are perfect because it will give my two little guys something to cut out when the others get to cut their words. Thanks so much for all the work you put into this. They wanted to know when they could cut something. I did have one problem printing them. The dotted lines around the pictures did not print. Might this be a problem on my end or do you have any ideas why. The lines show up in the .pdf document but they did not print. I have printed tons of .pdf documents before. So I think I am doing it correctly.
Are you printing with the free Adobe Reader? If you save the file to your computer (choose right click and save file as) and then open and print with Adobe Reader, it should solve the problem. Let me know if it doesn’t!
Printed fine at home. Thanks again for the resource and your help.
Glad to hear it!
Anna, I am a Mema to 3 precious grandchildren, and I have been following your blog for probably 2 years now. I have used so many of your worksheets with them. One has just started Kindergarten, one is in 1st grade, and then my big guy is a 3rd grader this year. Do you think that the beginning sound picture sort would be challenging to the Kindergarten-er or would this be something more for preschool age? I think that it would just be good reinforcement.
I taught public school for 31 years, am retired, and still love doing “learning” with my grands because of people like you who share so much. I did not teach little children; I taught 4th and 6th grade for 9 years; then I moved up to 8th grade to teach language arts; I completed my career with 9th graders teaching (trying) to teach them English. I love grammar and sentence which they did not, but have come back to tell me they were glad I did.
Sorry to go on and on!!
I appreciate all your time, concern, and effort….and love for teaching.
Blessings,
Mema Jeanne
Eden, NC
Hello! I think that these are probably better suited to kindergartners rather than preschoolers because of the cutting involved and the difficulty of the latter sorts in the pack. But I don’t have a kindergartner right now. 🙂 They would even be good for first graders who are struggling to remember letter sounds.
Thank you for the free resources. They are so helpful!
You’re very welcome, Wanda!
Thank you so much for this awesome resource!
You’re very welcome, Jamale!
Won’t open/download. So looking forward to it
Did you see the box that says “Is the file not downloading or not printing correctly”? It has tips that work 99% of the time.
These are going to be so helpful with my grade 3 student who speaks no English and has never been to school before.
Yay – I’m so glad you can use these, Cathie!
I love the beg sort mats and use with my prek class. I wish you had the vowels included but great set.
I don’t include the vowels in this set of beginning sorts because there are hardly any pictures for words that begin with short vowel sounds. For example, for short u you have umbrella, underwear, and up. However, I do have long and short vowel mats which focus on MIDDLE vowel sounds, which makes more sense this is how kids hear them in most words anyway: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/free-sorting-mats-for-short-and-long-vowels/
Anna,
Thank you so much for your wonderful site and for all of these resources. I am a former primary teacher and now stay at home mom. I use your site weekly when working with my own children. I like to supplement what they do in school in an organized fashion. I couldn’t do that without your help. After seven years away from teaching, I’m returning to the classroom as a part time K5 assistant this fall. I’ve already told the teacher about your site!
Thank you!
Catherine
Yay – I’m so glad you’re finding resources here, Catherine, and thank you for passing along my site!
thank you for your amazing site – you have helped me so much!!!
It makes me so glad to hear that, Glenda!
Thank you so much, I am just preparing for my class and these sorts will be very helpful. I really appreciate it.
You’re very welcome, Heather! Thank you so much for the kind words!
Thank you for your amazing site and information. I’m using your printables for my speech students who have articulation issues. Pictures are big, love the game format etc.
Thanks for sharing
You’re very welcome, Sharon! I hope you find many helpful resources on my site.
Thank you!! 🙂 I’m a teacher of K and my students and I have benefited from your hard work for a few years now! Thanks again! 🙂
You’re very welcome! I hope you find many helpful resources on my site.
Love this activity. Thanks for sharing!!!
You’re very welcome, Katrina!
Thank you very much for the freebie!
You’re very welcome, Elena!
You’re awesome! Thank you so much!!
You’re very welcome, Rhonda!
Love these Anna especially at the end of the school year because they know the sounds of the letters ,thank you very much!
You’re welcome, Kusum!
Lovely resource! I really like the clip art. Do you mind telling me where you got it? I find it so hard to find child friendly clip art like that!
I get nearly all my clip art on Teachers Pay Teachers; I think most of this set is from Whimsy Workshop Teaching.
Wonderful ideas Anna…thank u for sharing…I’ll definitely be using it for my class activities
I’m so glad you can use these, Deloris!
Thank you very much!
You’re welcome, Rhena!
Hello Anna,
Its very awesome! You are a great resource to the society. Will you be blessed!
Maseye Joseph Kevins.
Thank you so much!
I like this set. I think I’ll put Velcro stickers on the header and pictures and on the board. My daughter thinks Velcro is fun. This is a great resource, though. Thank you so much.
I’m glad you’ve got a way to make this work for you, Erica!
Amazing! Thank you so much! Money is so tight in school so I find it hard to find things unless I’m signed up monthly and paying. These resources are wonderful. 🙂
I’m so glad you’re enjoying my freebies, Jo! 🙂
Thank you so much for all the wonderful freebees that you send out!! My grandson loves these and have helped him with starting out in Kindergarten!
You are amazing!!
You’re very welcome, Annette!
Thank you so much for the FREE PRINTABLES. My classroom will enjoy the new games that you allow me to printable for their enjoyment.
You’re welcome, Sheba!
These are a lifesaver in my kindergarten classroom! Thanks so much for creating such quality resources to share. Would you ever consider organizing these by individual letter sounds so I could mix and match based on the needs of my students? For example I am working with a group that needs help distinguishing between g and d beginning sounds.
I’ll put that on my “to do” list as a subscriber freebie. 🙂 If you’re not already receiving the newsletter, make sure you sign up so you get the notification when it’s ready.
My Kindergartener has been struggling to keep up with her older classmates. I’m so glad I found your site! Your letter activities have been so helpful!
I’m so glad this helped you, Liora!
I am so thankful for these resources! I’m excited about teaching Guided Reading more than ever! About to start the new year in Australia…
I’m so glad you like them, Kaystey!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! I can say on behalf of myself and several teachers I know that we are so grateful for your willingness to share such fabulous resources! The world is better because you are in it!
You’re very welcome, Katie!
Hey!
This is amazing work! I used it to do an activity in my current nursery while of course giving this website full credit and forwarded this website to many of fellow Early Years practitioners!
Needless to say, you have been a great place for resources!
Thanks a ton,
Maria
Studying to become a nursery teacher!
Thank you so much, Maria!
I absolutely love this! I use Words Their Way at my school, but found this beneficial as having a second resource encourages kids to discover the beginning sound instead of memorizing where each picture should go. Thank you so much for enhancing instruction.
Your resources are soooo amazing! I recently decided to stay home with my kids after my youngest was born and I want to get a good start for my older son before kindergarten. Not being a child educator by profession makes it harder to make sure I am going about teaching in the best possible way. Your resources are a extremely helpful in guiding my approach! Thank you so much for sharing!
This is so wonderful to hear, Allison! Thank you so much for your comment!
Your resources are simply amazing! I always know you will have EXACTLY what I am looking for on your site. I can’t help but share your website with whatever teacher or homeschooling mom I am collaborating with. Whenever someone asks me where I found my materials…9 out of 10 times it is The Measured Mom. Thank you for all the hard work you put in to every email, post and resource!
Thank you, Lauren … that is so kind of you to say!