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Fun Syllable Count Activity

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Today I’m sharing a free syllable count activity for your preschooler.  (This post contains affiliate links.)

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.

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.

There are good reasons this skill has shifted down to pre-readers.

    • 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.

 

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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.

 

 

© 2014 – 2018, Anna G. All rights reserved.

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Comments

  1. I got some more great activities from your sight. The ideas are much appreciated. Above…”define” rather than “definite”:)

    Reply

  2. 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

  3. Thank you for the freebie! Here’s the definition of a syllable I was taught: A small word or a piece of a word that has at least one vowel (or a vowel sound).

    Reply

  4. I just wanted to say thank you for your generosity. These clip cards are wonderful! The kids are really going to enjoy them. Bless you!

    Reply

  5. 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

    • 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

  6. Thank you so much for sharing all these wonderful ideas. I am extremely busy and I always find awesome ideas on your site. Thank you.

    Reply

  11. 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

  16. 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

  18. 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

  19. Thanks, I am teaching 2nd grade for the 15 year, plus this is my 29th year and I have two non-readers. The materials will really come in handy.
    Thanks,
    Betty

    Reply

  22. Wow! That’s all I can say about your website. You are sooooo generous with your, time, your generosity and your talent.
    Thank you
    Jill

    Reply

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