Activity
Play Beginning Sounds Clothespin Match-Up
Kindergarteners are alphabet experts! By the end of kindergarten, children know most or all of the capital and lower-case letters, and their associated sounds. The idea that letters represent sounds is called phonological awareness, and is a key ingredient to success in reading.
Kindergarteners develop phonological awareness skills in a variety of ways, including lots of fun, hands-on games. Here’s a fun, albeit “roundabout” way to get your child to listen to beginning alphabet sounds and match them with their letter symbols.
What You Need:
- digital camera and printer paper
- clothespins
- fine point permanent marker
- a 7-inch circle, cut from card stock
- scissors
- glue or tape
- paper lunch bag
What You Do:
- Assist your child in taking individual pictures of family members. Print the pictures, and cut out the faces. (Note: You’ll want the pictures to be small – no more than 1 square inch each.)
- Glue (or tape) these faces around the outside of the card stock circle, and allow to dry.
- Ask your child to point to each face, and say the person’s name. Ask her to tell you the sound she hears first in that name. Then ask her if she knows what letter represents that sound. Use a permanent marker to write the letter on the closed end of a clothespin. Repeat until you have one clothespin per person.
- Now have your child clip each clothespin to the circle by matching the initial consonant sound to the person whose name begins with that letter.
- Make a game of this activity so the fun can last. Put all the clothespins in a lunch bag. Add some extra clothespins to the bag, labeled with letters she doesn’t need. Have her pick one clothespin at a time, and decide if it should be clipped, or not clipped. See how many tries it takes her to finish clipping all the pictures on the circle. Have her try to beat her score the next time.
- Store the pieces in the lunch bag for repeated practice.
- As your child gets better at this, make it more challenging for her by varying the information on the clothespins or on the circle. For example, play “Clap ‘n Clip!” On the other side of the clothespins, write the number of syllables in each person’s name. Have her clap each person’s name (for example, JENN-EE = two claps) and match the numbered clothespin to the number of syllables in each name. Now you have two match-up games in one! For another variation, flip the circle over, and have her add pictures of common household objects. Label a new set of clothespins for her to match to the objects.
Related learning resources
Beginning Sounds Match-Up
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds Match-Up
Practice letter sounds by matching pictures with the same beginning sound.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds Match-Up: Sounds Like...
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds Match-Up: Sounds Like...
Get your preschooler ready for reading by practicing matching up pictures with the same beginning sound.
preschool
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds Match-Up: Put It Away
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds Match-Up: Put It Away
Start your preschooler on the road to phonics success with this worksheet that asks her to match pictures with the same beginning sound.
preschool
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Beginning Letter Sounds
Worksheet
Beginning Letter Sounds
Go over beginning sounds with your kindergartener with this handy review sheet that asks him to match letters and sounds.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds: P to T
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds: P to T
Kindergarteners will match pictures to sounds in this P through T beginning sounds worksheet.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds: A to E
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds: A to E
Match pictures to beginning sounds in this letters A through E phonics worksheet!
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds Matching
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds Matching
On this worksheet, kids sound out the words pictured here, then match them up with pictures that start with the same beginning sound.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Letter Sounds Match-Up
Game
Letter Sounds Match-Up
Help this little robot make new friends -- literally -- in this game that works on beginning sounds.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Game
Review Beginning Sounds
Worksheet
Review Beginning Sounds
This worksheet, which challenges your child to review a smattering of beginning sounds.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds: K to O
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds: K to O
Match letters to sounds with this K to O kindergarten phonics worksheet.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds Coloring: Sounds Like Dog
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds Coloring: Sounds Like Dog
Try this beginning sounds coloring page to help your child learn the sound of the letter D.
preschool
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds: F to J
Worksheet
Beginning Sounds: F to J
Connect beginning sounds to letters with this F through J phonics worksheet!
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet