Beginning sound word wheel game free printable

Use this printable beginning-sound word wheel game to help your child with their first steps to reading and writing.

 

 

Beginning sound word wheels free printable

 

A vital part of learning how to read, write, and spell is being able to identify what sound a word begins with.

A child needs to be able to hear the sound at the start of their word and know which letter(s) of the alphabet correspond to that sound.

You can use these printable beginning-sound word wheels to practice this skills.

 

 

How to use this printable

Print the letter sounds printable (see below) onto card and cut out each wheel.

You might like to laminate each wheel for extra durability.

You will also need a set of clothes pegs/pins which your child will use to show their answers. Use a permanent marker to write a letter on each wooden clothes peg. Pegging on the clothes pegs to the letter-sound wheels is also a great finger gym activity to boost children’s fine motor skills. 

For the simple letter sounds wheels, make a set of 26 pegs, one for each letter of the alphabet.

For the digraph letter sounds wheel you can also include a set of digraph pegs including ch, st, cr, sh, and tr.

 

How to play the beginning sound word game

There are three letter-sound wheels included in the printable. Two focus on simple first letter sounds and the third offers the option to focus on digraph sounds (ch, st, cr, sh, and tr.)

 

 

Set out the wheels you want to use along with your letter pegs. 

 

 

Invite your child to look at a picture on their wheel. What can they see?

Have them say the name of the thing they see out loud. What sound is at the beginning of that word?

 

 

Then have them find the clothes peg with the matching letter on it and peg it over the first picture.

Look at all the other pictures on their card and find each peg that matches the beginning letter sound for each picture.

 

You can include this in a finger gym station or a centre in your classroom and have your children rotate to it as part of your activities or you can use it as a one-to-one activity with an individual child.

Children might like to work in pairs and have their partner check to see if all the pegs are in the right place.

You can also send the letter-sound wheels and pegs home so children can show their parents and care-givers how to play.

 

 

More hands-on spelling activities

You can find many more hands-on spelling activities in NurtureStore’s archive of literacy activities, including:

:: my printable syllables game

:: my magic rainbow writing tray

:: my printable rainbow writing sheets

:: my ABCs and 123s resource, full of hands-on, playful math and literacy lessons that build number, letter, and shape skills.