This letters and sounds game is a fun and effective way to practice identifying the beginning sounds in words.
Today I’m thrilled to welcome Danielle from Mom Inspired Life! She’s sharing a guest post today while I catch up on some behind-the-scenes blog work. I encourage you to sign up for her newsletter so you don’t miss any of her creative learning activities and printables!
Here’s Danielle…
Lately, we have been playing a lot of board games. My son loves them! So I have been developing games that will teach him the alphabet and letter sounds.
When we play alphabet board games, he has a blast and doesn’t even realize how much learning is taking place. I have found that they are very effective at teaching and reinforcing letter identification and letter sounds.
Letter and Sounds Game
This game moves on from simply identifying letter sounds to identifying the beginning sound in a word. Alphabet picture cards lend themselves perfectly to this game because pre-readers can use the picture to identify the word and then move on to identifying the beginning sound of the word.
Materials needed:
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- Mom Inspired Life’s Alphabet Game Board
- Alphabet Picture Cards
- Black marker
- Little toys or figurines to serve as game pieces
How to set up the game:
1. Print the picture cards for the letters you would like to work on with your child. I picked three letters that Evan needed more practice with. After playing the game, I think 4-6 letters would be ideal.
2. Print the game board from Mom Inspired Life.
3. Write the letters on the game board using your black marker. You can repeat them in a certain order or mix it up like I did.
4. Shuffle the alphabet picture cards and place them face down in a pile next to the game board.
How to Play the Beginning Sounds Game
1. The first player will draw a card and identify the word that is represented by the picture.
2. Next, he should identify the beginning sound and determine which letter makes that sound.
For example, the alphabet picture card shows a picture of a pumpkin. The player should identify the beginning sound and determine that the “p” makes that sound.
3. Finally, the player will move their game piece to the next instance of that letter on the game board.
4. The second player now goes through the same steps as listed above. This repeats back and forth until one player reaches the end of the game board. You can keep drawing cards until a player lands on the last letter on the game board or you can choose to the end the game when the last instance of a letter is landed on.
This was a great addition to our games! My son loved it. He played it with me and then wanted to play with his dad too. We will continue playing this to practice all the other letters in the alphabet.
Here are some other alphabet games we enjoy!
Alphabet Battle Letter Learning Game
Letter Blast Off! Alphabet Game
Rainbow Hop Letter Sounds Game
Danielle is a former elementary school teacher, a mom of two, and the writer at Mom Inspired Life. She enjoys doing playful learning activities with her kids and sharing them with her readers. You can connect with her by subscribing to her newsletter or following her on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter.
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Rachel Kaylynn says
What a terrific game idea!I It is great that it can be adapted to specific child’s needs. Going to print one out to play with my two youngest this week. Also sharing on Pinterest.
Danielle says
Thank you! I am so glad you like it! 🙂
Holly B. says
Love it! My 3 1/2 yo does, too! I love that I can change the letters as needed! Thanks for sharing!!!
Anna Geiger says
So glad you can use it, Holly!
Carla says
I loved it. I’m portuguese só I’ll adapt it to our language and I’m sure my 3 1/2 boy will love it too. Thank you for sharing.
Anna Geiger says
You’re very welcome, Carla! I’m glad you can make this work for your language.
Afsary says
We (me and my son) love u Anna.. your website is full of love for children education..All of pages are useful for parents and teacher .. 🙂 success fr u always..
Anna Geiger says
Thank you so much, Afsary! I really appreciate your kind words. 🙂
Ilona English Freak says
Thank you for the idea – it’s excellent. I’ll surely use it 🙂
Anna Geiger says
You’re very welcome!
Daisy says
Hi Anna. Your web site is SUPER amazing! You have wonderful quality in terms of your materials, content and even the various stages of learning! I am a former elementary teacher. I have been running my own in home preschool for children ages 2-5 since I had my 4 yr old. I would like to print one or more of your activities to use in my school. I do however, post pics of children engaged in activities on facebook at times. Wanted to run it by you first to see if you are comfortable with that? I want to make sure it’s ok to do that seeing as I am not well versed in all the legal jargon and stipulations you have posted.
Anna Geiger says
Yes, totally fine, Daisy! I just ask that you not share links to my files, only to the blog posts themselves. You do not have to share a link to the blog post when you are sharing on FB – only if you choose to. 🙂
Thank you for all your kind words – blessings on your teaching!
Pristine says
Thank you so much for sharing! Your printables and activities are incredibly useful for teaching ESL children. I was wondering , for the Rainbow Dot Game Board, do you use a permanent marker to write on the dots? I would like to change the letter sounds by using only one game board.
Thanks again for your ideas!
Anna Geiger says
Hi, Pristine! This was a guest post by a friend of mine, but I think she used a Sharpie to write the letter names. You could probably use a magic marker too. If you want to reuse the game, laminate it and use dry erase markers. Just test the dry erase marker first. I’ve found that some erase easily from laminate, and some don’t.
Ashwini says
Thank you so much for the resources. they are very unique and helpful
Anna Geiger says
You’re very welcome!