• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Member Login

The Measured Mom

Education resources for parents and teachers

  • Alphabet
  • Reading
    • Structured literacy
    • Printable Books
    • Pre-Reading
    • Phonics
    • Sight Words
    • Comprehension
    • Fluency
    • Vocabulary
  • Writing
    • Grammar
    • Handwriting
    • Spelling
    • Writing in Pre-K
    • Writing Workshop in K-3
  • Math
    • Counting
    • Number Recognition
    • Addition & Subtraction
    • Colors, Shapes & Patterns
    • Visual Discrimination
    • Time, Money & Measurement
    • Place Value
    • Graphs
    • Multiplication & Division
    • Fractions
    • Problem Solving
  • Book Lists
    • Letter of the Week
    • Early Childhood Themes
    • Pre-Reading Skills
    • Math Concepts
    • Writing Mentor Texts
    • Versions of Familiar Tales
    • Holidays and Seasonal
    • History
    • Leveled Book Lists
  • Join Membership
Home
  • Shop
  • Blog
    • Alphabet
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Math
    • Book Lists
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Membership
  • Contact

PSPKK123May 31, 2016 •  4 Comments

“Stack a word” phonics activity

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

You’ll just need a few supplies from around the house to do this fun phonics activity!

stack a word activity

(This post contains affiliate links.)

Is your child ready to sound out words?  Teaching kids to “sound it out” is tricky.  I like to do a lot of playful decoding activities with my preschoolers before taking on the more serious work of decoding words in books.

Here’s a hands-on way to introduce your child to sounding out words.  It’s an adaptation of one of many brilliant learning activities in the new book,  100 Fun & Easy Learning Games for Kids.

stack a word 1a

To begin, gather your supplies. You will need:

  • at least three cans from your pantry
  • construction paper cut into strips (mine were 9 1/2 x 4 inches)
  • a marker
  • tape
  • a list of CVC words for reference, if desired

stack a word 1b

If you do the activity as we did, you’ll use just three cans and three strips of paper.  Write four different letters on each of the three strips.

  • On one strip, write letters we often see at the beginning of 3-letter words, such as c, b, d, f, h, m, n, t, or p.
  • On the next strip, write vowels.  I chose to use a, e, o, and i.
  • On the last strip, write letters commonly found at the end of 3-letter words, such as b, d, m, t, p, g, or n.

stack a word 1c

Tape each strip around a can, and you’re ready to play!

stack a word 1

My Four knows his letters and most of his sounds, has a good understanding of concepts of print, and is starting to recognize sight words.

He is also learning to play with sounds in words.  In fact, just the other day he had brought me a piece of paper on which he had written cat and mat.  “Look, Mom, M— (his brother) showed me how to spell cat, and I spelled mat!”

I knew he was ready for a playful introduction to sounding out words.

To begin, I showed him that I could stack the cans to make a word.

“See?  Let’s start at the top and say the sounds.  /h/ /a/ /t/.   /h/ /aaaaaa/ /t/.  What word did we make?”

“Hat!”

stack a word 3

“Can you turn the top can to make the word pat?”

stack a word 4

“Now turn the top can to make cat!”

stack a word 7

After working with short a words, I decided we’d move on to short o words.  Next to short a, I’ve found that the short o sound is easiest for kids to remember of all the short vowels.

This time, I tried something different. I created words, helped my Four sound them out, and asked him to tell me whether or not they were real words.

Full disclosure here: this wasn’t easy for him.  And it never is, the first time.  The trick is to help kids drag out the sounds that can be sustained.

“Let’s say these sounds!”

“I don’t want to.”

“I’ll help you!  Look.  What sound does h make?

“/h/.”

“What sound does o make?”

“/a/?”

“O says /o/.  Ahhhhhhhhh. And what sound does n make?”

“/nnn/.”

“You got it! Let’s say the sounds.  /h/, ahhhhhhh, nnnnnnnnnn.  Hon. Does that sound like a word?”

“(giggling) No!”

stack a word 8

By turning around the last can, we were able to make and read a real word: hot.

We played around with other vowels and consonants and created at least fifteen words before he’d had enough.

I can’t wait to try some of the other hands-on learning activities in 100 Fun & Easy Learning Games for Kids.  This book, from the brilliant duo at The Educators’ Spin on it, is packed with 100 simple learning games for kids ages 3-7.  It would make a fabulous gift for parents, teachers, grandparents, and caregivers!
fun and easy learning games for kids

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: General

You May Also Enjoy These Posts:

Learning to write letter U A peek at our week: Letter B Activities Free Letter A Printable: A is for Apple
15 Audio books for family road trips
The best books about teaching writing

Primary Sidebar

Grade Level Key

  • PS Preschool (ages 2-3 years)
  • PK Pre-K (ages 4-5 years)
  • K Kindergarten
  • 1 1st grade
  • 2 2nd grade
  • 3 3rd grade

Teach your child a foreign language in just 5 minutes a day!

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED

Hello, I’m Anna!

Welcome to The Measured Mom. I’m so glad you’re here!

Meet Our Team

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Shop Our Newest Resources

At The Measured Mom®, our mission is to share high quality educational resources that are engaging for students and easy for educators.

Decodable Books & Lessons for CVC Words & Common Digraphs

$18.00

Ultimate Collection of Phonics Word Lists

$15.00

Sound Wall Printables

$18.00

Shop All Resources

Members get more!

The Measured Mom Plus is the perfect online membership for Pre-K to third grade educators.

Learn More

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Join our online courses and get the tools you need to teach every learner in K-2!

Confidently teach every reader in your classroom. Still have time to live your life.

Learn More

Get everything you need to teach writing well, including over 200 ready-to-use lessons.

Learn More

Listen and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher

Check out these recent podcast episodes:

  • From balanced to structured literacy: A conversation with Lindsay Kemeny
  • From balanced to structured literacy: A conversation with Heidi Jane
  • From balanced to structured literacy: A conversation with Christina Winter
More Episodes

Check out these FREE email courses...

Get strategies and tools to teach a particular topic with a free 5-day email series! Just click an image to sign up. We recommend signing up for just one at a time.

For Pre-K Educators

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

Learn my must-follow tips for teaching the alphabet in this free 5-day email series!

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

Learn how to develop this important pre-reading skill with a free 5-day email series!

How to teach preschool math

How to teach preschool math

Learn exactly what to teach your preschoolers in this free 5-day series!

For Kinder & 1st Grade Educators

How to teach kids to sound out words

How to teach kids to sound out words

Learn my top strategies for teaching kids to "sound it out"

How to teach sight words

How to teach sight words

Get strategies and tools for teaching sight words to young learners!

Tips for teaching phonics

Tips for teaching phonics

Sign up for our free 5-day email series to learn what phonics skills to teach and how to structure your phonics lessons!

For 2nd & 3rd Grade Educators

How to build reading fluency

How to build reading fluency

Learn smart strategies for helping your learners become fluent readers with this free 5-day series!

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

Learn the most important writing skills to teach to 2nd & 3rd graders in this free 5-day series!

How to build reading comprehension

How to build reading comprehension

Discover the essential reading comprehension strategies for 2nd & 3rd grade and how to teach them!

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” –Matthew 6:33

Copyright © 2022 The Measured Mom •  All rights reserved  •  Privacy & Disclosure Statement  •  Site Design by Emily White Designs