Summer is officially here, but that doesn’t mean that the learning stops in preschool! Help your kindergarten-bound little one be prepared for this fall with these summer themed letter recognition games and beginning sound activities that will pair perfectly with your preschool phonics lesson plans!
This printable features 26 alphabet clip cards to help teach your preschoolers letter-sound correspondence with a sun-loving, summer theme!
Children who are learning to read require a lot of exposure to the alphabet. These can be supported by fun, thematic activities like these beginning sound activities. Since thee are clip cards, preschoolers also get extra practice in hand strength and fine motor skills.
These clip cards are completely free, but if your preschooler is really loving them, then they are really going to love our Beginning Sound Clip Cards Bundle. This set of clip cards feature eight different cards for each letter, which means preschoolers can get all that important exposure.
Teaching Beginning Sounds
Initial sounds are the first sound in a word. They are also referred to as beginning sounds. When students understand that words are made up of sounds, they’re able to transfer this knowledge into their reading and writing and even learning sight words.
Sounds are not all learned at once, and it is easiest to teach beginning sounds because those come in the very first session. They are particularly important because they are the first step in teaching children how to listen for sounds in a word.
Teaching beginning sounds to preschoolers requires offering a lot of practice and hands-on activities. Activities for teaching beginning sounds should be highly visual. Be consistent when teaching the sounds, so students can take learned skills and quickly move from one sound to another.
Letters of the alphabet have varying degrees to difficulty in both listening and speaking. When introducing my preschoolers to beginning sounds, the Daily Lessons In Phonics Curriculum start with the letters and sounds that occur most frequently in the English language. These are easiest for children to learn due to their frequency, but also allow children to behind basic decoding drills if ready.
Initial Sounds Activities
These beginning sound clip cards can be used in so many different circumstances. Keep them in a basket in your literacy preschool center, or put them in a pencil box for a quick on-the-go activity.
What’s Included
When you download your freebie, you’ll get all twenty-six letters of the alphabet. Each beginning sound picture card features an iconic summertime picture, from flop-flops and picnics to campfire music and lemonade.
Additional Materials Needed
These beginning sound cards don’t require much. All you need is something your preschooler can use to identify their answer. I like to use clothes pins, but you can also use paper clip, bag clips, or even something as simple as glass floral pebbles.
Summer Beginning Sound Activities for Preschoolers
These clip cards teach initial sounds marked by clothes pins. That’s the traditional way to use these cards. But also consider using them in these ways, too:
- sensory bins
- scavenger hunts
- search the classroom activities
- circle time activities
- with alphabet songs
How to Use Beginning Sound Picture Cards
The idea behind these clip cards is simple.
- Select a card from the pile.
- Identify the picture on the card and its initial sound.
- Find the matching letter at the bottom of the card and use a clothing pin to clip it.
Using the clothes pin also help preschoolers develop their fine motor skills. They pair perfectly with our Fine Motor Task Boxes.
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12 Fine Motor Task Boxes$10.00
Preschoolers may need help hearing all the sounds in words, and for this activity they really need to hear the beginning sound. This is a skill that requires practice for most children. Sometimes, small groups are necessary to review center activities and allow supervision for practice.
Each card has the name of the picture in the upper left hand corner. It’s written in small, light gray print, so most children won’t even notice it. The words are there to help guide the teacher. For example, on the letter x card, there is a picture of a box, since the /ks/ sound is only found at the end of a word.
The box is cleverly drawn on, which is a very summer-y thing to do, though. My kids are always keeping out boxes during summer vacation to make spaceships and tanks out of them. Right now, my son has a pool noodle duct taped to a box he has painted.
Summer Activities for Preschool
I like to add these beginning sound clip cards to our summer preschool lesson plans. They help preschoolers continue to solidify their letter knowledge throughout the summer months, while keeping learning fun and engaging.
Since these cards include all different preschool summer themes, they fit into any of your preschool summer learning activities! Counselors even print and laminate these for use at summer camp!
Initial Sounds Examples
Learning initials sounds and how they correspond to the letters of the alphabet is part of teaching preschool phonics in a systematic way. Here are some initial sound activities that feature loads of examples so your preschooler can get all the practice she needs!
Beginning Sound Matching Cards
With these beginning sound matching cards, children work on phonics skills by identifying the picture name and then the associated beginning sound. The beginning sound is left blank for the children to fill in with letter manipulatives, or if the cards are laminated, with dry erase marker so they can also work on letter formation.
Beginning Sound Worksheets
In the download, you’ll get one page for every letter of the alphabet. Each initial sound worksheet page focuses on a single sound, even for letters which have two sounds (a, e, i, o, u, g, and c).
Initial Sound Alphabet Puzzles
These free initial sound animal alphabet puzzles are so cute, and like any other free printable on my site, I’m sharing with you five different ways to use these puzzles, so you have tons of ways to use them in your literacy program.
Letter Sound Matching Game
This letter sound matching game is just an alphabet mat with beginning sounds and you use a letter manipulatives to to make the match!
Alphabet Sensory Bin with Beginning Sounds
Ever made an alphabet sensory bin? They are fantastic for introducing letters of the alphabet and their corresponding sounds, as well as reinforce those skills after they have been taught. With just a few materials, preschoolers can have a complete sensory experience while learning their letters!
Activities for Beginning Sounds
If you’re looking for ways to teach beginning sounds in preschool more consistently, then I highly recommend my beginning sound preschool centers!
Get Your Free Beginning Sound Clip Cards Here
Think you need to add these cards to your favorite summer activities for kids? No need to conduct a science experiment! Your little one will love them!
Just fill out the form below and they will be sent to your inbox. Then keep reading for more summer activities for preschoolers.
I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
