Learning to read is a foundational part of early education. But many parents are unsure of how to teach this important skill to their young children. I want to reassure you – you can do this! And you don’t have to have fancy credentials or expensive phonics programs to give your child a strong foundation in this essential skill. Through my free phonics program (Fun Phonics!), I will walk you through the whole learning process, and I think you will be amazed at how easy and enjoyable it can be! Read on to get started with the first step to teaching your child to read AND lots of fun activities for teaching letter sounds that you can enjoy with your child.
How to Teach Letter Sounds
The first step to teaching your child to read is super simple and easy – just teach the sounds of the letters of the alphabet! For now, we, are going to focus on the most common individual sounds of the letters, and save letter combinations for later on. You can spend less than five minutes a day on activities for learning letter sounds, and your child will master the sounds of the alphabet in no time at all!
To begin, teach the simple consonant sounds and the short vowel sounds. A pet peeve of mine is phonics books and toys that use words like owl to teach the sound of O, ink for the sound of I, or giraffe for the sound of G. Those are not the simple sounds for those letters and they should not be introduced to a young child first. Many of the letters in the alphabet stand for several different sounds, but it is a good idea to learn the most common sounds first, which is what we will do in this program. In this post I will give you lots of options for fun ways to teach letter sounds. I will also give you some really simple activities for learning letter sounds that require almost no prep and very little time. But first, let’s refresh our memory on the most common letter sounds!
A Guide to Alphabet Letter Sounds
It’s been a long time since we adults learned to read. You might even be trying to teach your child to read in English even though it’s not your first language. So sometimes a little refresher on the sounds of the alphabet letters is helpful. The consonants (all the letters that are not vowels) you will likely know, just be careful of C and G. Teach C with the hard C sound, as in cat, NOT with the soft C sound, as in ice. Teach G with the hard G sound, as in good, not the soft G sound found in giraffe. The video below goes over all the simple alphabet sounds in case you are uncertain.
Here is a guide to the short vowel sounds (the primary sounds made by the vowels, which are the letters a, e, i, o, and u):
A – beginning sound of apple
E – beginning sound of elephant
I – beginning sound of in
O – beginning sound of octopus
U – beginning sound of umbrella
One more tip – try not to add a vowel sound at the end of the consonants while teaching your child. This is hard to avoid, but it is important because if your child is used to adding a vowel sound at the end of a letter, he will have a hard time when he tries to sound out words.
When to Start Activities for Teaching Letter Sounds
I usually start doing activities for teaching letter sounds when my children are about three years old. If they aren’t interested at that age (or if you aren’t interested!) wait until age four or five to start letter sound activities. Start with just one or two letters and work your way through the alphabet.
Super Simple Activities for Teaching Letter Sounds
One of the most simple activities for teaching letter sounds is to put them on display and review them daily. A great way to do this is to use fridge magnets (I really like the magnetic letters from Learning Resources! They are nice and big and chunky – great for little hands!).
Note: You can also use printable letter cards or alphabet flashcards in place of the fridge magnets, just be sure the letters are clear and there is nothing distracting on the flash cards.
To use fridge magnets for learning letter sounds, put a single letter on the fridge and keep it there until your child knows its sound. I use uppercase letters for this because some of the lowercase letters are easy to mix up (b,d,p for example).
Note: You can pair the capital letters with lower case letters later on to help your child with lowercase letter identification.
Go over the sound of the letter for a minute or two at a meal time once or twice a day. Don’t worry about teaching your child the name of a letter, just the sound. Your child will pick up on the letter names naturally as you go.
For example, start with A. The script goes something like this:
“A says ă like apple (emphasizing the a sound). What does A say?”
Once the child starts to become familiar with the sound, just ask,
“What does A say?”
Do this every day until the child knows the sound every time you ask. Add in letter B when your child is ready, and if your child is catching on quickly, you can practice two or three letters at a time. Once your child has mastered the letters she is practicing, move on to a new letter or letters. You may want to go in alphabetical order as you are teaching letters to make it easy to keep track of which letter sounds you have taught.
The most simple way to practice is to just point to the letter of the alphabet on the fridge, but it can be a great idea to switch it up and let your child engage with the letters in different ways. Allow him to put the various letters on the fridge when it is time to practice, or have him hop to the fridge with the letter, making the sound of the letter each time he hops. Keep it simple, or make it into a fun activity, whatever you prefer! The best way is the way that works for you and your child. Don’t overdo it – your child will likely get tired of excessive drilling. Just ask the sound of the letter once or twice a day. And that’s it! Work your way through the alphabet until your child knows the sounds of all the different letters.
Make sure to review the letters you have already covered from time to time. If you like to mix things up, you can use an alphabet puzzle, foam letters in the bath, and alphabet books to reinforce or add variety to the routine. Make sure to keep it light, keep it fun, and keep it short.
If you have time and energy for more involved activities for teaching letter sounds, read on for other fun ways to teach letter sounds!
Fun Ways to Teach Letter Sounds
Fun Ways to Teach Letter Sounds Outside
These activities for teaching letter sounds are simple and fun and they can be done outside! They can be done with an individual child or in small groups, so they are great for a co-op or preschool setting. Most of them are multi sensory learning activities, so they are a great way to help young learners learn the letter sounds quickly and easily.
Walk-On Letters
- Draw letters on the sidewalk with chalk and practice the sounds. You can have your child help you draw the letters by holding his or her hand while you draw, or by giving instructions for making the letter shape. If your child is just beginning to learn some of the letter sounds, draw one or two letters on the sidewalk, remind your child of the sound (or introduce the sound), and point it out a couple of times while you are playing outside. If your child is familiar with a few letters, you can draw the letters in a path down the sidewalk. Your child can say the sounds as he or she jumps on each letter. For example, you might make a pattern such as A, A, B, A, C, B, A, B, B, C, C, C, A down the sidewalk and instruct your child to jump from letter to letter and say the sound as she lands on each one. You can also spread the letters out a little more and have your child ride a trike or a scooter along the letter path. He will stop at each letter and say the sound along the way.
Nature Letters
- Make letters with rocks or sticks while playing outside and practice the sounds – this is also great practice for the fine motor skills! Give your child instructions on where to place the rocks and sticks and help her build the letters. This is easiest with letters that are made of straight lines, A, E, F, H, I, L, M, N, T, V, W, X, Y, and Z, but you can make the more curvy letters with lots of little pebbles. The hands-on nature of this letter formation is a great way to get the letters stuck in your child’s brain! This is a great activity to do while you are out hiking or doing nature study. A great option for people who love to learn in nature!
Sand Letters
If you have access to a sand box, you can do letter sound activities in the sand! You can draw or build the letters in the sand and practice the sounds, or you can invest in a set of alphabet cookie cutters or sand molds. Use the cookie cutters to make the shapes of the letters in the sand, and then remind or ask your child the sound that the letter makes. A more fun way to practice the letter sounds in the sand is to bury the alphabet letters that your child is learning and have him or her search for the letters.
You can do these activities while doing other sand play. They can go right alongside whatever else your child likes to do in the sandbox. Make it playful and make it fun!
Alphabet Fun in the Pool!
If you have access to a swimming pool or a wading pool, I highly recommend this letter sound activity! You will need either some foam alphabet letters or some diving letters (the ones I know of are called Dive n’ Spell and they are great fun!).
Helpful hint: If your child can’t get to the bottom of the pool because they are in a floatie, then you will want the foam letters. If your child can dive down to the bottom of the pool, or you are using a wading pool, diving letters make alphabet activities so much fun!
Once you have the letters, all you have to do is throw them in the pool! Only throw in the letters that your child is practicing, or if you are using this activity to introduce a new letter sound, throw in the new letter only. Have your child swim for the letters and bring them to you, then tell you the sound.
Alternatively, you can throw a few different letters into the pool and ask your child to bring you a letter that makes a specific sound. For example, you can toss several different letters into the pool, then ask your child to find the letter that makes the sound “b” (say the sound that the letter b makes to your child). Make sure not to overwhelm your child. If your little one is very young or just starting out, only throw in a few letters at once so he doesn’t get discouraged and give up. Make sure he can find the correct letter easily.
You can do so many variations of this activity. Your child can pretend to be a shark that eats letters that make an “f” sound like fish, or a mermaid that likes to collect letters with an “m” sound. Your child can use a net and “fish” for letters and then tell you their sounds. There are so many activities for letter sounds that you can do in the pool!
Letter Sound Activities for Inside
The directions for these activities for letter sounds are written for one child, but all of them can be done with small groups of children as well. These activities for teaching letter sounds are great for teaching a child at home, or for a preschool or kindergarten class.
C is for Cookie!
For a deliciously fun way to teach letter sounds, make cookies! You will need a set of alphabet cookie cutters and a roll-out cookie recipe, or store bought dough. Choose a letter or a few letters that you would like your child to practice. Let him or her help you make and roll out the cookie dough, then cut out the letter or letters using your alphabet cookie cutters. Make sure you repeat the sound of the letter each time your child cuts the shape into the dough. For example – each time your child presses the letter A into the cookie dough, you can say – “The A says “ă like apple.” After you have said this several times, you can then ask, “What does the A say?” Or, you can say, “The A says …” and pause for a moment to see if your child can complete the sentence with the sound of A. Make sure to keep it enjoyable, don’t make it a drill.
Once you have cut out and baked your cookies, keep some in the freezer so you can pull one out every day or so and have your child practice letter sounds while having a snack!
Play Dough Letters
This is similar to the activity above, only this time you don’t eat the letters, of course! You will need alphabet cookie cutters, and just play play-dough with your child. Work some alphabet letters into your play and casually practice their sounds. A fun interactive way to teach letter sounds!
Fish for Letters
I don’t know a child that doesn’t like fishing games! For this activity for learning letter sounds, you will need the Alphabet Fish Printable (below), some paper clips, and a toy fishing pole (a magnetic hook tied to a string will also work). Print out the Alphabet Fish, laminate them for durability if you would like, then put a paper clip on each of the fish. You can make a paper pond for the fish if you want to get extra fancy. Lay the fish on the ground (or in the pond) and let your child go “fishing”! When he catches a fish have him say the sound of the letter on the fish. Remind him of the sound if he doesn’t remember. You can also use this game to introduce a new letter sound.
Let’s Build a Letter!
For this letter sound activity you will need a finger food such as pretzels or chocolate chips, and the printable letters below. Choose a letter and print it out, then have your child make the shape of the letter on top of the printable letter using her pretzels, chocolate chips, marshmallows, or whatever you choose. While she is doing that, practice the sound of the letter. This is a great activity for introducing a letter of the week. As a bonus, it’s a good way to practice fine motor skills!
Color a Letter
If your child enjoys coloring, then this is the letter sound activity for them! You can practice the letter sounds while coloring the letters of the alphabet! You can even get really silly and creative and make the letters into letter creatures by adding eyes, teeth, limbs, etc.. You can use the free printable letters below.
Alphabet Fun in the Bathtub
This activity is pretty much the same as Alphabet Fun in the Pool (see above for the description), but you can do it in the bathtub instead!
Letter Sounds Activities With Movement
These fun ways to teach letter sounds are great for any child, but especially great for the wiggly kiddos, kids with lots of energy, and children with ADHD.
Letter Scavenger Hunt
For this letter sound activity, you will need the printable Alphabet Cards (below). Cut out the Alphabet Cards and choose the letter or letters that you want to practice. You can print multiple sets so that you have multiples of each letter. Alternatively, you can use fridge magnets or other letters for this activity. Choose a room or small space, and tell your child that you are going to hide some letters, and have him close his eyes. Hide the letters and ask your child to find them. When he finds the letter, have him tell you what sound it makes. You can make this an extra high-energy activity by setting a timer and making it into a race!
Please note: these cards are free for you to use at home or in the classroom, but they are not to be reproduced or sold in any way. By printing or downloading these PDF files, you agree to these terms.
Catch a Letter
For this letter sound activity, you will need alphabet bean bags. Toss the bean bags to your child and when she catches the letter ask her what sound it makes. Make sure you say the letter names as you do this so she can naturally connect the sound with the name AND shape of the letter.
Alphabet Ball
For this activity, you will need a medium sized ball. An inflatable beach ball works really well for this activity for learning letter sounds. Write the letters that you would like your child to practice on the ball. If you use a dry erase marker, you can change the letters as your child masters some letter sounds and is ready to practice new letter sounds. Toss the ball back and forth and have your child say the sound of one of the letters when he catches it. When you catch it, point to a letter, say the name of the letter, and then say the sound it makes. For example, “The B says “b” like boy.” Keep tossing the ball and practicing for a few minutes, or until your child gets tired or bored. Remember to keep it fun – don’t push!
Activities for Learning Letter Sounds with Alphabet Dots
For these letter sound activities, you will need a set of Alphabet Dots. You might even want a couple of sets in order to have duplicate letters. You can find the free printable and instructions here.
There are lots of fun letter sound activities that you can do with the Alphabet Dots!
Action Alphabet Dots
For this activity, you will need the Alphabet Dots and the Activity Dice (free printable and instructions below). Spread the Alphabet Dots of the letters that your child is learning on the floor. You can add in one or two new letters. Put the Alphabet Dots on one side of the room. Your child will be on the other side of the room. Have your child roll the dice. Let’s say the dice landed on “hop.” Your child will hop to the letter that makes the sound that you choose. So, if you choose the sound “s,” you will instruct your child to hop to the letter that makes the sound “s” like at the beginning of snake. Have your child take as many turns as she would like. If she is uncertain about a sound, help her as much as she needs. When she gets tired or bored, you are done!
To assemble the dice for use with letter sound activities, cut around the outside edge of the shape. Fold on the inside lines to make a cube and tape the edges together. That’s it! Now you’re ready to roll!
The Floor is Lava
This letter sound activity is super simple and fun! It is best for a child who knows several letter sounds, but it can work to practice just one or two letter sounds if you have multiple sets of Alphabet Dots. Lay out the Alphabet Dots around the floor. Tell your child he needs to get from one end of the room to the other without touching the “lava” (the floor is lava!). But in order to step on an Alphabet Dot, he has to say the sound of the letter first. Help him as much as he needs. If you have to remind him of a letter sound, just make sure he repeats it after you. This activity is great motivation to practice new letter sounds!
Alphabet Dot Freeze Dance
This activity requires just the Alphabet Dots and something that plays music. Select the Alphabet Dots with the letters that you would like your child to practice. Place the Alphabet Dots in a circle on the floor. Tell your child that while the music plays she will jump from one Alphabet Dot to the next. When the music stops, she must “freeze” on whatever Alphabet Dot she is on. Then she will say the sound of the letter on her Alphabet Dot. Help her with the sound if she doesn’t remember. This is a great way to get some repetition in to practice the letter sounds!
For more fun activities for learning letter sounds, see my post on Alphabet Dot activities!
As you learn and practice the sounds of the letters, observe your child carefully. We want to keep learning enjoyable and easy at this early stage, so if your child seems frustrated, overwhelmed, tired, or uninterested, it’s time to stop for the day. Remember, only a few minutes (between one and five) of practice are needed at this early stage. There is no need to make this complicated – most children will learn just fine by simply going over the fridge magnet letters a couple of times a day. If you and your child enjoy fun activities for learning letter sounds, do them! It’s a great way to bond with your child and help her learn effortlessly. But if it is hard or overwhelming to get around to doing activities for learning letter sounds, feel free to keep it ultra simple. Your child will still learn! The key is to do just a little practice every day.
If your child consistently acts uninterested or overwhelmed, either stop and come back to the letters in a few months, or change the approach. For example, if your child is very active, try using movement in your teaching. Or if your child loves to color, teach him the letter sounds while he colors big letters on paper. Choose a letter of the week to focus on if your child needs a slow pace. Most children respond well to a multi-sensory approach, so the more senses you can engage in your letter sound activities the better! Tune into your child and learn what style of learning works best for him or her. Knowledge about your child’s learning style will be a big asset to you as you continue to teach your child! Keep it light, gentle, fun, and interesting and your child will learn all the letter sounds before you know it!
I hope you and your child have enjoyed these letter sound activities! If you tried any of these fun ways to teach letter sounds, please let me know how it went!
Thank you for visiting! Please come back soon for more fun ways to help your child learn!
