Beginning word sounds digraph matching game printable

Use this printable digraph game to help your child learn the skill of recognising beginning word sounds.

 

 

Beginning word sounds digraph matching game 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.

Sometimes a letter beginning sound is represented by a single letter, and sometimes by a digraph. We need to know which words are which. 

You can use this printable beginning-sound digraph game to practice this skill.

 

 

What are digraphs?

A digraph is a combination of two letters working together to represent one sound. For example, in the word cherry, the first to letters c and h are sounded together as /ch/.

 

 

When we’re learning to read and write we need to learn which words have a beginning sound that’s represented by a digraph. This is a step on from being able to recognise individual beginning letter sounds, such as apple begins with a. If your child is still working with individual beginning letter sounds you can find a printable for them here. 

 

 

How to use this digraph printable

Print the digraph letter sounds cards and cut out the individual tiles.

Print on thick card so there’s no need to laminate – less plastic!

 

 

 

:: Shuffle the cards and lay them out face upwards. Invite your child to pick a picture card and say its name out loud. Focus on the sound at the beginning of each word. Can your child find the letters card that matches the sound at the beginning of their word?  Can they match up every picture with its beginning sound letters?

:: If they like to compete, they can time themselves matching up all the pictures and letters. See if they can complete the picture and letter matching faster each time. 

:: Place the cards face down and use them to play memory. Shuffle the cards and place them face downwards. Take turns to flip over two cards. If you reveal a matching pair, you get to keep them. If they don’t match, you place them back, face down. Keep playing until all the pictures have been matched with their beginning letters. If you like to compete, the person with the most matching pairs can be the winner. This game continues to work on matching skills, but also on visual memory skills too, as you try to remember which pictures and letters are hidden where.

 

:: You can add the digraph cards to a sensory tub and see if you can fish out the pictures and corresponding letters.

 

 

:: Use the digraph cards alongside a writing tray and practice writing the pairs of letters.

 

 

 

More literacy printables

Use these great literacy printables from NurtureStore’s archive of letter activities too:

:: rainbow upper and lower case matching cards

:: animal syllable cards

:: car alphabet cards

:: feed the monster letters game

:: beginning sounds clip wheels