If you’re teaching kids how to identify beginning sounds, these board games are a fun way for them to show you what they know! Use them as literacy centers, small group activities or homeschool games.
For more preschool learning, try our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack where you can get all of our pre-K centers in one spot!
Getting Ready
To prep, I simply printed the board games (below) on cardstock to give them extra durability and grabbed a die and some counters kids could use to move around the boards.
Note: If you’ll be using the cards in a classroom, you may also want to laminate them.
Teaching Beginning Sounds
Since I wanted the kids to practice beginning sounds, I had them focus on the first sound that each letter made rather than the letter name. So for /a/, I focused on the sound /a/ as in apple, /b/ would be /b/ as in banana and so on.
Before dismissing the kids to work in small groups, I pointed to each letter on the board and invited the class to say the sound it made. The extra reinforcement helped my newest readers review the letter sounds before setting off to work independently.
Then, working in small teams, each player took turns rolling the die and moving their counter that many spaces. When they landed on a spot, they named the letter sound plus a word that started with it. For example, if when one child rolled the die and landed on d, she said “/d/… dog begins with a /d/ sound”.
Roll after roll, players moved along the alphabet path. The first player to land on the finish won the game.
Then the group moved all of the counters back to the finish line and started round two.
Grab Your Copy
Ready to play?! Click the blue download below to grab your free game boards and then save time searching for preschool activities by snagging our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack!
Thanks so much for the free letter-sound game. Perfect for a 4 year-old new student of mine. Cute and fun!
Thank you~ Very useful~
So glad you’re enjoying it!
Warmly,
Ashley // Happiness Ambassador
This is a lovely website. So generous of you to share your ideas and work like this. I cannot thank you enough.
Thank you.
Thanks so much for sharing your game boards. They are just what I need for my kindergarten students struggling with letters/sounds.
Thanks Cindi, I’m glad they are helpful. 🙂
I like the games! So easy and fun to teach beginning sounds.
Thanks for sharing,
Alesia
Thanks Alesia, I’m glad you love the games. 🙂
Thank you! My 4yo will love these!
Thank you for the free game-board. I love it and will be sure to use it with my Kinder students.
Thank you very much!
Welcome! I hope you find hours of fun and inspiration for you and your class!
Warmly,
Kimberleigh // Happiness Ambassador
Thank you so much for all these wonderful worksheets! They’re a big help with my ESL kids.
You are very welcome, Lauren!
We consider it a privilege to give back!
Warmly,
Ashley // Happiness Ambassador