Are you looking for a fun way to review letter sounds with your preschooler, kindergartner, or first grader? Try Beginning Sound Blackout!
Recently I saw a great idea for learning letter sounds at Stay at Home Educator. She created her own Initial Sound Blackout game for preschoolers. When I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for my Four!
I created eight boards. Each board has pictures for 16 letters. I was careful to make all 128 pictures unique, so your child will get a lot of practice if you rotate among the boards! My Four chose his playing board.
If you play this as a review game for first graders, they will likely speed right through it. But it’s a much slower process for a preschooler. After I chose a letter card, my Four had to go through each picture, one by one.
Truck…. heart…. cake…”
Sometimes he missed the picture he needed, so I would give him a clue.
Whoops, you missed it! It’s in that last row.
I had a board too. Sometimes I missed my picture, and my Four helped me find it. I nearly missed this one, but my Four caught it.
Mom, you have a mailbox for letter m!
Poker chips would be great for covering the pictures. I couldn’t find ours, so we used a hodge podge of rocks, shells, and gems.
We played until one of us had a board entirely covered. My Four won. (And those are some seriously dirty fingernails. We try not to neglect hygiene, but my Four loves to work in the garden every chance he gets!)
He really enjoyed this game, and we look forward to playing it again. It’s challenging enough that his older brother (going into kindergarten) would enjoy it too. If you’re looking for a simpler way to practice beginning sounds, check out my beginning sound match mats.
And if you’d like a stepping stone to this game, try an easier version first. You can learn how to make it yourself over at Stay at Home Educator.
P.S. Would you like to learn more about teaching the alphabet?
I’ve written a free e-mail series just for you!
You’ll learn
- The pros and cons of Letter of the Week
- 7 Tips for making Letter of the Week work for you
- Answers to common questions about teaching the alphabet
- What Letter of the Week should look like
- The best activities for learning letters and their sounds
Just click here or on the image below to sign up!
Check out my other beginning sound printables:
More activities for learning beginning sounds from Stay at Home Educator:
- Beginning sound and picture matching
- Beginning sound picture sort
- Beginning sound matching activity with magnetic letters
Let us save you hours on Pinterest. Grab our letter of the week curriculum!
Get more resources!
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What great resources to help recognize those beginning sounds! Pinned!
Thank you.
It’s a really great idea for learning letter sounds! Thank you very much for sharing!
I could not download the beginning sounds mats. I tried from both of my computers and I have not had any problems printing anything from your site in the past. Any suggestions?
Many thanks for all you have done!! It is a huge blessing.
I’m sorry you’re having trouble, Katy. 🙁 They come right up for me. Did you check the troubleshooting post? My #1 tip is always to use Google Chrome, and #2 is to right click and save to your computer, then open. This post has other ideas too:
https://www.themeasuredmom.com/how-to-download-free-files/
finally got it. number #2 idea worked for me!
Hurray!
Hi Anna,
Thanks so much for making amazing activities for kids. Could you help give keys for the pictures? Many thanks!
Hi Katy, I’m afraid I don’t have time for that right now, but if you have a specific question about a picture I can answer that for you.
Hi Anna, would you mind to correct the keys I have listed for all the pictures? Here are the keys:
Page 2: Apple, ? , jelly fish, ? egg, ?, ball, lamp, penguin, fan, car, zip, watermelon, ?, horse,
Page 3 : I have no trouble with page 2
Page 4: ?, zebra, ?, doughnut, ?, ?, scisssors, dog, goal, dinosaur, clown, koala, bug, ?, guitar, ellepant,
Page 5: moon, ?, and the last row: rope, ?, lion, spine
Page 6: the second row: ink, elevator, croccodile, ?
and the last row: ?, yogurt, dice, ?
page 7: the first row: car, heart, candle, ? banana, kangaroo, rake, ?
?, newspaper, zucchini, emu, mop,?, ice cream, ?
Page 8: ?, ?, dice, hamburger, flower, key, jam, trolley
mask, paint, spoon, rhinoceros
tape, ?, ?, hot
Page 9: monkey, helicoper, ? ?
?, ?, ice cream, piano
ink, necklace, dress, spider, cow, eraser, kettle, flag.
Thank you very much Anna. I would appreciate your help a lot!
page 2: Apple, nail , jelly fish, yarn, egg, volcano, ball, lamp, penguin, fan, car, zip, watermelon, top, horse, quilt
Page 4: ant, zebra, olives, doughnut, wagobm feather, scissors, goat, net, dinosaur, clown, koala, ladybug, magnet, violin, elephant
Page 5: moon, gumballs, and the last row: jumrope, karate, lion, X-ray
Page 6: the second row: ink, elevator, alligator, watering can
and the last row: unicorn, yogurt, dice, question mark
page 7: the first row: car, heart, candle, garbage, banana, kangaroo, rake, fire hydrant, vase, newspaper, zucchini, ostrich, mop,juggle, popsicle, unicycle
page 8: anchor, cactus, dominos, hamburger, flower, key, jam, lawn mower, mask, paint, spoon, rhinoceros
tape,vacuum, whisk, yawn
Page 9: monkey, helicoper, lemon, otter,
quiet, fingernail polish, ice cream, piano
ink, bubbles, dress, spider, cow, eraser, kettle, flag.
Hi Anna,
Thank you very much. My students, my son and I love your blog so much. Thank you for making such beautifully creative things for us.
I am not clear on the directions for the black-out game. Do you cut out the letters,
then pick one letter, say the picture words on the card, and then the child has
to cover the pictures that begin with that sound you just cut out? There are 16 boards, so we just pick any letter we want for the child to find the picture that begins with that sound?
Thank you!
Nancy
Sounds like you’ve got it figured out! 🙂
I WILL TRY TO MY PUPILS..
THANK YOU SO MUCH