3 Summer Theme Beginning Sound Activities for Preschoolers
During summer is a great time to transition preschool literacy knowledge from letter identification and letter sounds to more beginning sound work. Make your summer preschool theme extra fun with these popsicle beginning sound activities for preschoolers.
Beginning Sound Activities for Preschoolers
When the weather turns consistently warm, there are two things my sons are always asking me for.
Can we build a fort and sleep downstairs?
and
Can we have popsicles for breakfast?
I know, that last one sounds a little nuts, but it’s true. My kids ask for popsicles for breakfast and I let them. It’s always such a treat, even if I basically say yes every day.
Now, I know this doesn’t fit in with my ever so popular food and nutrition preschool activity pack. But before you get too worried about what I’m feeding my kids, let me tell you a little more.
Their “popsicles” are typically made up of bananas, protein powder, plain yogurt, and peanut butter. They are rich in flavor, calorie dense, and the perfect way to start a hot, hot summer day.
But the real upshot is that I get to say yes to my kids having a popsicle! Even for breakfast.
Now my kids are obsessed with popsicles. Once my kinder son asked why ours are always “whiteish-brown” and not brightly colored like those in the stores. Sometimes I add spinach and then they turn a green, which is fun, but after his comment I started adding berries to make them colorful, bright, and still inviting.
Just like these beginning sound popsicles. But these popsicles are just one of many fantastic beginning sound activities for preschoolers. (Our breakfast popsicles can’t claim that).
They are brightly colored, have inviting pictures, and teach beginning sounds in a fun way perfect for any summer theme.
And summer is just the time to be teaching beginning sounds because most likely you’ve spent the school year working hard on all the letter names and letter sounds as well as other pre-literacy skills. So now your preschooler is really, really ready for the phonics piece that comes with beginning sound knowledge.
If you’re wondering how I teach letter names and sounds, check out my phonics lesson plans, and also take a look at my phonological awareness activities. And this link has a ton of hands-on printable alphabet activities that also include beginning sound activities for preschoolers.
Beginning sounds is just one of many pre-literacy skills kids need to become good readers, and usually right around summer time is when they are really, really prepared to learn beginning sounds if they haven’t already.
Be sure to read to the end of the post to grab your free popsicle printable as well as more beginning sound activities for preschoolers.
Beginning Sound Activities for Preschoolers to Fit Your Summer Theme
These beginning sound activities for preschoolers are too fun, and make a great addition to your summer theme. I’ll feature the traditional way to use these puzzles, but then keep reading for even more ideas on how to use this exact same printable for other activities.
Materials
- beginning sound printable (free at the end of this post)
The Set-Up
Print your popsicle beginning sound puzzles on heavy cardtsock. Cut out the popsicles. You can cut them out completely or leave the white background for easiest cutting. It doesn’t matter. Your preschoolers won’t care. But be sure to laminate because these little puzzles are going to get a lot of use! They are so fun!
So, cut apart the popsicle however you’d like, then place the pieces in a few piles. I like to organize them by top, middle, and bottom to make the puzzle pieces a bit easier for my preschoolers to find.
How to Teach Beginning Sound Activities with these Popsicle Puzzles
Being able to even hear the beginning sound in a word is a developmental milestone in the reading process. Some preschoolers don’t hear the beginning sound right away and they need a lot of exposure to those sounds. You can offer extended exposure in really simple ways, and throughout your daily activities.
Do you want to read a book with me? /b/, /b/, /b/, book starts with the /b/ sound. Do you hear the /b/ sound in book?
If you have preschooler who is just beginning to pick up on hearing beginning sounds, then these popsicle puzzles will be a good fit. The popsicles come in a few different colors, so either pull out only one color set so as not to overwhelm your preschooler, or only pull out the most familiar letters.
Don’t forget to grab your own copy of these beginning sounds popsicle puzzles at the end of this post.
If you have multiple preschoolers working on the puzzles, then you can also assign colors to each preschooler. James can put together all the blue puzzles pieces while Kent can do yellow, Corinne can do green, and Juliette can put together the pink pieces.
More Ways to Teach Beginning Sounds with these Popsicle Puzzles
You absolutely can simply use the printable as the puzzles they were designed to be. That said, it’s fun to use the same printable in more than one way. Try some of these activities.
- Challenge your preschoolers to find objects in the home or classroom that begin with the same letter and sounds and make a collection of materials surrounding the popsicle puzzles.
- Create mixed-up popsicles and then challenge your preschoolers to put them back together the correct way. This makes a fun and quick circle time activity.
Even More Beginning Sound Activities
If you like the popsicle puzzles, then you’ll love these other beginning sound activities.
Try this Valentine’s Day Sensory Bin with Beginning Sounds, too.
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Want These Beginning Sound Popsicle Puzzles?
You can grab a free download of these beginning sound activities by clicking the image below. Then, keep reading for even more beginning sounds activities for preschoolers.
Beginning Sound Printable Activities for Preschoolers
Theses printable beginning sound activities are in my preschool literacy centers each month. They save me a ton of time while targeting all the skills my preschoolers need.
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.
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