Initial Sound Sorting Games

As teachers we want to make learning letter sounds as fun as possible so we are constantly thinking of great games to get children excited about learning to read.

This blog contains some great ideas to introduce learning initial sounds through play.

Every child learns in a different way and we hope that you can find something in this blog that works for your child. All the games have the same learning objective.

This week we have focused on sorting 3 letter sounds (phonemes) 's' 'a' 't' as they are the first sounds children are introduced to at school.

We find children love a challenge or adventure so, dressing up or giving them a prop - is usually a fail-safe way to create a great learning environment:

I am a sound sorter....

Sort the sounds into the right houses

This can be done with:

1/ objects

2/ pictures

3/ children's drawings…

...a little bit of sand often works wonders with reluctant learners...

Monster Bins

We found this idea on line and have adapted it for inital sounds.

This can be played with 2 sounds such as ‘a’ and ‘t’.

Children LOVE this game!

The monster's eyes are really easy and quick to make and this game can also be played with a carton or container...

Monster letter box

Post the pictures beginning with 's' through the monsters' mouth...

If you have time - you can stick your monster to a shoe box...

Water sounds

Collect and sort all the objects that begin with the same initial sound and put in the correct containter. This child played this learning game 5 or 6 times and after a couple of times he decided on his own sorting categories.

Egg sounds

This games is a winner for all children and especially engages unenthusiastic sound learners. The games is to open the eggs and see which letter is inside and then sort the letters into a container, cup, basket or box…

These eggs can be used for lots of learning games and they are easy to find on places like amazon. They are brilliant for developing fine motor skills and you can adapt the game and hide folded up pictures or small objects to sort...