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Looking for beginning sounds worksheets? Try these fun coloring pages!
(This post contains affiliate links.)
A year and a half ago, I created beginning sounds coloring pages for my Three, who was almost four years old. Since he loved to color and had a pretty good handle on beginning sounds, I thought he'd enjoy a set of alphabet coloring pages.

Now that little boy is my five-year-old. He's far past beginning sounds and is reading books like this one as a kindergartner.

But he has a little brother. 🙂

So I updated the pages with funny face letters and better clip art. Plus, I added an uppercase set. We love them, and I hope you will too!

Our current Three (he'll be four in a few months) doesn't have the early reading skills his older siblings had at his age, but he does recognize all his letters and is pretty good at naming their sounds. He is happy to do one or two of these pages at a time.

When we do these coloring pages, he looks at the letter and says its sound. Then he names each picture. "Snake. /s/, /s/, snake. No, that doesn't say uh. Underwear. /u/, /u/, underwear. Yes!"

Let me give my standard disclaimer and say that I don't think you should make worksheets the main part of your instruction with young kids. I suggest using these pages after your child has mastered beginning sounds, or do them alongside your child as you talk about the beginning sounds together.

This is what my original set looked like. When my older son did these as a young preschooler, he wanted to color all the pictures. I didn't expect him to do the pages any certain way as he was so young. But when he was close to four, I told him he needed to first color the pictures that began with a certain sound. Then he could color the rest of the pictures if he wanted.

So do you like the simple old version or the goofy face letters? You're still welcome to download the old version in lowercase. The new version is available in both upper and lowercase.

Enjoy!

P.S. Would you like to learn more about teaching the alphabet?

Have you seen these popular freebies? We use and recommend this jam-packed resource!
© 2015 - 2018, Anna G. All rights reserved.

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Free beginning sounds worksheets (updated!) - The Measured Mom

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Looking for beginning sounds worksheets? Try these fun coloring pages! (This post contains affiliate links.) A year and a half ago, I created beginning sounds coloring pages for my Three, who was almost four years old. Since he loved to color and had a pretty good handle on beginning sounds, I thought he'd enjoy a set of alphabet coloring pages.

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Besides the free word family readers, the Just Swap 1 Spelling Games from Learn to Read have been very popular with readers.

I love how it requires learners to really listen for individual sounds in words {known as phonemic awareness}, which is a very important reading and spelling skill.

*This post contains affiliate links.

Just Swap 1 Spelling Games

The idea is to start at the top and spell the first word with letter tiles. Each time you "move" on the game board, you only swap out one letter, such as cat to can.

Sometimes swap the first letter and sometimes you swap the last letter. Learners have to really pay attention to know which letter gets swapped. With the free Just Swap 1 games, the vowel stays constant for each board.

If your learner really struggles with this activity, it helps to separate the individual sounds in the word, so can would sound like: /k/-/a/-/n/. Ask the child to do it after you so she can "feel" the letter sounds he's making with his mouth.

If she still swaps out the wrong letter, I like to ask leading questions like, "What sound do you hear at the beginning of the word?" or "What sound do you hear at the end of the word?" This can usually help to trigger listening ears. Of course, modeling how to do it before asking the learner to give it a try is always very helpful.

Just Swap 1 Spelling Game Links

You can find 5 free colored Just Swap 1 spelling games, one for each short vowel, by clicking on each of the links below. These Just Swap 1 games only include the three word families studied in that unit of Learn to Read.

For each link, scroll to the bottom of the post and click on the teal download button for the free printable.

Just Swap 1: Short a Game {-at, -ad, & -an word families}

Just Swap 1: Short o Game {-op, -og, & -ot word families}

Just Swap 1: Short i Game {-it, -ip, & -ig word families}

Just Swap 1: Short u Game {-ug, -ub, & -ut word families}

Just Swap 1: Short e Game {-ed, -et, & -en word families}

* Please note: These are THE SAME games that are in my Learn to Read Bundle. If you've bought the bundle pack, you already have all these games!

Because it's been requested multiple times by readers, I've compiled all fourteen Just Swap 1 game boards from the Learn to Read Bundle Pack in one download*. This includes color & blackline word family game boards, single vowel game boards, mixed short vowel game boards, and letter "tiles" you can print & cut for learners.

*Reminder: These are THE SAME games that are in my Learn to Read Bundle. If you've bought the bundle pack, you already have all these games!

Enjoy!
~Becky

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Just Swap 1 Spelling Games - This Reading Mama

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Besides the free word family readers, the Just Swap 1 Spelling Games from Learn to Read have been very popular with readers. I love how it requires learners to really listen for individual sounds in words {known as phonemic awareness}, which is a very important reading and spelling skill.

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Spelling Hack: Teach Phonics Using Pool Noodles - We Are Teachers

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Teach phonics with this dollar store teacher hack that uses pool noodles to create a fun spelling manipulative your students will love.

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It can be hard for pre-readers to hear the difference between single consonants and blends. Try this free Bingo game to help your early reader master blends and digraphs!

Hearing beginning blends is difficult for pre-readers and even early readers. How do you help your child hear the difference between a word that starts with /s/ and one that starts with /sp/?

The best way is through activities that require your child to really listen to the sounds without seeing the actual spellings.

My Four knows his beginning sounds without any trouble, but hearing the two distinct sounds in a blend is difficult for him. When he worked on our beginning blends clip cards, I could see that we needed to take things back a step.

And that brings us to...

Blends and Digraphs Bingo

It's a giant set of 27 free bingo boards to help your child hear the sounds of beginning blends (fr, tr, cl, pr, etc.) and digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh, wr).

I played this with my Four, Six, and Seven. Each time I pulled a calling card I had my Four read the beginning blend. At first I had him read the cards the way I teach letter sounds... without a voiced ending. By this I mean that "sn" would be "sssnn" rather than "snuh."

As we played, though, I began to see that it was easier to hear the blend if it was more pronounced. So "pl" became "pluh" and "sn" became "snuh." While I don't recommend doing this with beginning letter sounds (letter m should be "mmm" and not "muh"), it really helped my Four hear the blend in each word.

If you're playing this game at home rather than the classroom, you'll only need a few boards. You might be surprised at how much older siblings enjoy this game. My Six and Seven were anxious to play and played a few more rounds after my Four had moved on.

If it's just you and your early reader, print two boards and play with him.

My favorite thing about this game is that every single blend and digraph on the calling cards is represented on every single board. This way your child can't give up, saying, "I don't have that one." He'll have to keep hunting, because he knows it's there somewhere.

I hope you enjoy these!

I recommend printing on cardstock. If you expect these to get a lot of use, laminating is a good idea.
Looking for more free printables for learning sounds? Even more fun freebies!
&

© 2015 - 2016, Anna G. All rights reserved.

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Help your child learn beginning blends and digraphs - with BINGO! - The Measured Mom

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It can be hard for pre-readers to hear the difference between single consonants and blends. Try this free Bingo game to help your early reader master blends and digraphs! Hearing beginning blends is difficult for pre-readers and even early readers.

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These bright, hands-on digraph wheels make a wonderful literacy center focused on learning common digraphs such as CH- and SH-.

For more fun with words, check out our best-selling Editable Sight Word Games for endless fun!

Getting Ready

To prep for the activity, I began by printing the digraph wheels on cardstock to give them extra durability. Then, I cut around the outside border of each circle.

I wanted the kids to be able to self check later, so I clipped the correct answers with clothespins, turned each card to the back and colored a small dot to mark the correct clipping spots.

I ran them through my laminator for added strength and filled up a small basket with clothespins.

That's it! We were ready to play.

Digraph Wheels Play

I began by laying out the digraph wheels next to the basket of pegs.

I grabbed the QU- wheel and asked the kids to place a peg on all the pictures that had a "qu" sound. Students quickly spotted the queen picture and placed a peg on it.

I assisted the kids by saying the less familiar words such as "quill" and "quail." They listened carefully to each word and placed a peg on the other pictures that started with a "qu" sound: quilt, quarter and quiet.

Children continued playing with the other digraph wheels until they were finished. Then, they turned over the cards to check their answers.

For those early finishers, I challenged the kids to think of other words that contained each digraph. It was amazing what a long list we made!

The kids in my class loved solving the digraph wheels and the activity became a fast favorite at our literacy center!

Grab Your Set

Click the blue button below to download your free set of the digraph wheels and then grab your Editable Sight Word Games, too!

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These bright, hands-on digraph wheels make a wonderful literacy center focused on learning common digraphs such as CH- and SH-.

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Kindergarten Heggerty Phonics Lesson- Example 1

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Digraphs | Phonics Song for Children | Phonemic Awareness | Jack Hartmann

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Phonics Games for Kindergarten or First Grade // small group phonics activity

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Rehearse matching letter-sounds, blending and segmenting - all within the familiar environment of Teach your Monster to Read.
Launch the Monster Minigames
Use PC or laptop to play

More about the Monster Minigames tool

Covers the following letter-sounds: s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o, c, k, ck, e, u, r, h, b, f, ff, l, ll, ss, j, qu, v, w, x, y, z, zz, ch, sh, th, th, ng, ai, ee, igh, oa, oo, oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi, ear, air, ure, er

Allows selection of specific graphemes that you wish to revisit, teach or practise with your children

A versatile teaching resource drawing directly from the Teach Your Monster to Read environment

Multiple uses

Can be used on a one-to-one basis, with a group, with the whole class, or independently

Can be used in school by the teacher, teaching assistant, children working together, or parents at home wishing to support their children's learning

Can be used at different stages of the teaching sequence for revisiting and reviewing graphemes, teaching new ones, or practising them

Important: Monster minigames is for use on an interactive whiteboard or computer only. A tablet version will be available in 2017.

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Rehearse matching letter-sounds, blending and segmenting - all within the familiar environment of Teach your Monster to Read.

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A fast-paced matching game. The sailors match graphemes to objects whilst the pirates try to scupper their plans.

Educational aim: to rehearse matching graphemes to initial phonemes of words

Location: Hall or playground

Players: 10-30 children

Playing time: flexible (see note at end of instructions about short rounds)
Resources:

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A fast-paced matching game. The sailors match graphemes to objects whilst the pirates try to scupper their plans. Educational aim: to rehearse matching graphemes to initial phonemes of words Location: Hall or playground Players: 10-30 children Playing time: flexible (see note at end of instructions about short rounds) Resources:

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Lalilo by Renaissance | Practice and instruction on Foundational Literacy skills

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Sign up and invite parents remotely for home access to phonics and reading lessons.

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The Learning App Kids Love

Part of HOMER's essential early learning program, HOMER Learn & Grow takes kids on a personalized learning journey that boosts their confidence and grows with them.

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Reading

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Learn & Grow: The Learning & Education App Kids Love | HOMER

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Part of HOMER's essential early learning program, HOMER Learn & Grow takes kids on a personalized learning journey that boosts their confidence and grows with them. Start Your free trial Select a subject for a peek inside!

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Learn the alphabet & vocabulary with cute animals!

[Pinkfong ABC Phonics] is an educational app for preschoolers featuring exciting kids songs, easy writing activities and interactive alphabet games.
You can also take photos using cute frames and stickers!

Develop your reading, writing, speaking and listening skills with this app.

* Features *

1. Videos for each alphabet
- Watch 26 super fun videos for each alphabet.
- Sing-along to each song with the animals & master your ABCs.

2. Learn how to write!
- Trace & draw each alphabet using your fingers.
- Develop your fine motor skills.

3. Play different games!
- Memorize the alphabet by playing various interactive games.
- Master the alphabets & learn animal names in a fun way.

4. Take cute pictures
- Use pretty & colorful frames and stickers to take pictures.

You'll have an unforgettable experience with this app!

* Pinkfong ABC Phonics is all about learning the sound and shape of each letter for the first time. Singing along animated songs of each letter will help young children get familiar with the alphabet.

* The app is FREE, but some in-app content requires optional payment.

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Pinkfong ABC Phonics - Apps on Google Play

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Learn the alphabet & vocabulary with cute animals! [Pinkfong ABC Phonics] is an educational app for preschoolers featuring exciting kids songs, easy writing activities and interactive alphabet games. You can also take photos using cute frames and stickers! Develop your reading, writing, speaking and listening skills with this app.