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Syllable clip cards

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Today I’m sharing a free syllable count activity for your preschooler.

This free syllable activity is great for kindergarten! Just have your students clip the number on the syllable cards. For 1, 2, 3, or 4 syllables.

Syllable.

How would you definite it?

Just yesterday I was having this conversation with my Seven.  As she said, “Well, I know what syllables are. They’re so easy! But I don’t know how to say what the word syllable means. That’s kind of hard.”

She’s right, I think!  Here’s one definition:

Syllable.

“a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the whole or part of a word.”

And this is a skill for preschoolers?

Thankfully, kids don’t need to know that lofty definition or even the difference between vowels and consonants to understand syllables.  They’re actually quite simple.

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This free syllable activity is great for kindergarten! Just have your students clip the number on the syllable cards. For 1, 2, 3, or 4 syllables.

To introduce syllables to my Four, I used his name.  I don’t share my kids’ names on this blog, but I’ll show you what I mean using some of their middle names.

“Every word has syllables.  It’s a chunk in a word that you can count.  Words can have 1, 2, 3, or even more syllables.  How many syllables are in your name? Let’s clap them.  Ste-phen.  (clap/clap)  How many did you count?

“Two!”

“That’s right!  Let’s try Emilie.  Em-i-lie.  (clap/clap/clap)  How many syllables?

“Two.”

“Let’s try again.  Em-i-lie.  (clap/clap/clap)”

“Three.”

“Great! How about Joel?  Joel (clap).”

“One.”

This free syllable activity is great for kindergarten! Just have your students clip the number on the syllable cards. For 1, 2, 3, or 4 syllables.

He enjoyed working through a stack of cards.   As he clapped the syllables for each one, his baby sister looked on with interest.  Clapping is a skill she mastered just this week! 🙂

A tip: If clapping and counting is hard, have your child put his hand under his chin.  He can count how many times his chin lowers as he says a word.  Or use a mirror. “How many times does your mouth open when you say that word?”

Finally… if your child can’t bear sitting at the table, show him the cards and have him JUMP the syllables!  Then let him clip the syllable count before moving on to the next one.

This free syllable activity is great for kindergarten! Just have your students clip the number on the syllable cards. For 1, 2, 3, or 4 syllables.

So what’s the point of learning syllables anyway?  When I was in school we learned it later (early elementary). I remember pages of counting syllables in words in my reading workbook.  Boring, but easy.  I never understood the point.

The fact is that pre-readers don’t need to learn to count syllables before we teach them to read. In fact, skills like phonemic awareness are much more important for reading. 

But syllable counting will be useful down the line. 

    • When kids can chunk words into syllables, they can read longer words more quickly, accurately, and fluently.
    • Beginning spellers do better when they can break words into pieces.

Why not start having fun with syllables a little early? No pressure – just fun.

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Syllable Activities

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This bundle includes a fun variety of TEN different activities for counting syllables!

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You May Also Enjoy These Episodes:

Why is rhyming important? What is the science of learning? – with Dr. Nathaniel Swain An introduction to Morphology – with Michelle Sullivan

Reader Interactions

57 Comments

  1. julieta marmolejo cajiao

    Buenas noches, que bueno que los comentarios estuvieran abajo lo antiguos y arriba los nuevos, así no tendría que bajar tantas paginas.

    mil gracias por sus espectacular trabajo, pero me gustaría saber como funciona el tema de los pagos
    si es en dolares y yo pago y me envían al correo la actividad para yo bajarla y hacer la respectiva impresión, por favor me comentan, muchas gracias . y felicitaciones.

    soy maestra de tercer grado de primaria en colombia,

    Reply to this comment

  6. Carol Eason

    The most precise definition of a syllable is: ‘a word, or part of a word, with one vowel sound.’

    Another reason for knowing syllables helps when students are learning to print words– they often forget the vowels, especially in syllables like ‘er’, ‘pull’, shov-‘el’, gard’en’, etc..

    Reply to this comment

  8. Faye

    I think I am going to enjoy this information. I told you in my e-mail that I am volunteering as a tutor for two adults in the local literacy program. I am always looking for material that I can adapt. One student is on a k/1st grade reading level (LD) and the other one is on a 2/3rd grade level.

    Reply to this comment

  13. Stacey

    Hi,

    Below is an easy definition of a syllable for kids.

    “A syllable is a word or part of a word with 1 vowel sound’. I teach this with hand actions. I learned it from the Orton-Gillingham program.

    Reply to this comment

  19. Terri

    Thank you so much for all these resources. My 7 year old is a struggling reader who has been resisting learning because of her delays. Added to that the anxiety because her 4 year old brother has taken to reading like a duck to water. But they love playing games together and these resources across your site have brought back the fun for her – we are making baby steps again!

    Reply to this comment

    • Anna Geiger

      Oh, I’m so happy to hear that, Terri! It’s definitely hard when a younger siblings picks things up sooner. I hope you find a lot of resources here to make learning fun for your daughter!

      Reply to this comment

  22. Sharon

    These syllable cards are wonderful. I noticed on motorcycle that the second /c/ is missing. Thank you for all your posts. I’m a Head Start teacher in my first year of teaching. Your site has been most helpful.

    Reply to this comment

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