Sound Play Activity
Sound Play Activity: *When doing this activity, remember to teach your child to think in “sounds”, not letters. For older children, as you go through the activity, remind your child that sometimes a word may sound one way, but it may be spelled differently than the way it sounds (e.g., walked sound like walkt not walk-ed…but we don’t spell it that way!). *There are three different types of sound play activities: substitution, deletion and addition of sounds. Below you will find examples of each. Focus on one type of sound play activity each time you practice with your child. Once all three are mastered, you can mix it up! Make it a game! *For this activity, use colored index cards, chips or blocks to represent the sounds. * Choose specific colors to represent each of the specific “sounds”. Remember, once a sound is designated a certain color within a sequence, don’t change it! You can change it once you change the sequence. Remember, the blocks represent sounds, not letters. STEP 1: Substitution Substitution is when a child changes one sound for another in the sequence. Begin with CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words such as sat, fin, or hen. Start by having your child change (substitute) one sound for another in the beginning of the word. See next page for example/visual.
Example of Substitution: “If this says pat, change pat to sat.�
The child then changes the beginning color to a new color. Reminder: The new color cannot be blue (p), red (a) or green (t). Continue this pattern until your child masters it!
*Note: If your child does not change the correct sound or does not seem to understand, show them by modeling the task yourself! After your child masters the beginning of the word, have them change the end of the word. See next page for example/visual.
Example: “If this says cat, change cat to cap.�
The child then changes the ending color to a new color. Reminder: The new color cannot be yellow (c), orange (a) or purple (t). Continue this pattern until your child masters it!
*Note: Again, if your child does not change the correct sound or does not seem to understand, show them by modeling the task yourself! After your child masters the ending of the word, have them change the middle of the word. See next page for example/visual.
Example: “If this says hit, change hit to hat”
The child then changes the middle color to a new color. Reminder: the new color cannot be white (h), black (i) or blue (t). Continue this pattern until your child masters it!
*Note: Again, if your child does not change the correct sound or does not seem to understand, show them by modeling the task yourself! As your child masters the CVC level, move to consonant, vowel, consonant, vowel words (CVCV) such as “papa”. Then begin with consonant, consonant, vowel, consonant (CCVC) such as “stop”. You can even work on consonant, consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant words (CCVCC) such as “steps”. As the sequences get more difficult, remember to represent the sounds in a word, not the letters. For example, in the word seat, there are four letters, but only three sounds. The letters are s-e-a-t. The sounds are s/ea/t. Therefore, there would be three blocks, one for /s/, one for /ea/ and one for /t/.
STEP 2: Deletion Deletion is when a child removes a sound from the sequence. Again, begin with CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words such as sat, fin, or hen. Start by having your child remove (delete) one sound in the beginning of the word. Example: “If this says hat change hat to at�
The child then changes the beginning sound by removing it. Reminder: There should now only be two of the original remaining colors (the middle and ending sounds). Continue this pattern until your child masters it!
*Note: Again, if your child does not change the correct sound or does not seem to understand, show them by modeling the task yourself! After your child masters the beginning of the word, have them change the end of the word. See next page for example/visual.
“If this says top change top to to (pronounced ta)”
The child then deletes the ending sound by removing it. Reminder: There should now only be two of the original remaining colors (the beginning and middle sounds). Continue this pattern until your child masters it!
*Note: Again, if your child does not change the correct sound or does not seem to understand, show them by modeling the task yourself! As your child masters the CVC level, move to consonant, vowel, consonant, vowel words (CVCV) such as “papa”. Then begin with consonant, consonant, vowel, consonant (CCVC) such as “stop”. You can even work on consonant, consonant, vowel, consonant, consonant words (CCVCC) such as “steps”. STEP 3: Addition Addition is when a child adds a sound to the original sequence. Again, begin with CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and have the child create new words by adding a sound. Start by having your child add (addition) one sound at the beginning of the word. See next page for example/visual.
Example: “If this says top change top to stop�
The child then changes the beginning by adding another sound (color). Reminder: There should now be one additional color at the beginning of the original sequence because you have added a sound. Continue this pattern until your child masters it!
*Note: Again, if your child does not change the correct sound or does not seem to understand, show them by modeling the task yourself! After your child masters the beginning of the word, have them add a sound at the end of the word. See next page for example/visual.
Example: “If this says pet change pet to pets�
The child then changes the ending by adding another sound (color) at the end. Reminder: There should now be one additional color at the end of the original sequence because you have added a sound. Continue this pattern until your child masters it!
*Note: Again, if your child does not change the correct sound or does not seem to understand, show them by modeling the task yourself! *Once your child has mastered this level, you can begin using colored index cards with the letters written on them. Put vowels in a different color and have your child create novel words and/or nonsense words using the following short and long vowel combinations: Long Vowels Short Vowels a as in cape a as in cat e as in meet e as in pet i as in kite i as in kit o as in note o as in cot u as in huge u as in hut *See next page for example/visual.
Example: Give your child these letters written on index cards (vowels on colored index card or written in a different color) in random order on the table and have him/her make a word (nonsense words are fine too!).
h
u
t
Now, place the remaining vowels on the table (a,e,i,o) and ask your child to make a new word by switching out the middle sound. Again, non-sense words are fine! Example:
h
a
t
h
i
t
h
o
t
Next add a silent “e� at the end of the word to make long vowels and have your child change the second sound (vowel) to create new words.
k
i
t
e
k
a
t
e
k
o
t
e
*Once your child has mastered this level, you can begin using index cards with diphthong combinations (two vowels together). Examples: oa as in boat ee as in feet ai as in bait ea as in seat oo as in boot
Ask your child to make new words with different diphthong combinations. Example:
b
oa
t
b
ee
t
b
ai
t
*The goal is to teach your child they can play with sounds in all different ways to create new words and new rules for sounds! Make it a game to motivate and make learning fun!