A Floor for 
Games to Go: Blend Sounds Together
Say a word ‘in pieces.’
Help the child to blend the pieces into a whole word.
Wa--ter--mel--on . . . “Watermelon!”
Choose the ‘pieces’ to match your child’s skill.
Compound words are easiest to blend:
base--ball, dog--house, rain--bow, light--bulb,
milk--shake, foot--ball, snow--man, cow--boy, pop--corn.
Syllables are easy to blend:
but--ter--fly, as--tro--naut, pa--ja--mas,
di--no--saur, birth--day--cake, al--li--ga--tor, com--pu--ter,
ba--by, bi--cy--cle, dol--phin, ex--er--cise,
el--e--phant, ham--bur--ger, tel--e--vi--sion, cook--ies,
gir--affe, um--brel--la, yes--ter--day, lol--li--pop,
mos--qui--to, por--cu--pine, spa--ghe--tti, zip--per, mac--a--ro--ni,
Ted--dy--bear, wa--ter--mel--on, ti--ger, re--frig--er--a--tor.
First sounds plus endings are a bit harder:
t--ickle, ch--ipmonk.
TIP: Whisper the ’t.’ Whisper the ‘ch.’
Say t--ickle, not ‘tuh-ickle.’ Say ch--ipmonk, not ‘chuh-ipmonk.
Correct pronunciation for the teacher:
- Whisper ‘p’, ’t’, ‘k’, ‘f-f’, ‘h-h’, ’s-s’, ‘sh-h,’ ‘ch-h,’.
- Don’t say puh, tuh, kuh, fuh, huh, suh, shuh, chuh.
- Avoid adding the ‘uh’ vowel whenever you can.
- Learn to pronounce the sounds correctly.
P--opcorn, ee--ellow (yellow), c--omputer, z--ipper,
d--olphin, c--artoon, c--ookie, b--icycle,
oo--ishbone (wishbone), t--elephone, p--orcupine,
eee--esterday (yesterday), b--irthday,
m--osquito, t--elevision, s--paghetti, h--hamburger,
d--inosaur, l--ucky, t--eddybear, ch--eese, f--an,
l--ook, s--and, n--ight, s--at, r--un, l--et,
ooo-ish (wish), sh--ine, m--ake, z--oo,
eee--es (yes).
Blending individual sounds is advanced.
Begin with words having a ‘stretchy’ beginning sound: m-m-m, o, p.
Use the list of Easy-Blend Words (PDF).
Then try to blend words with short non-stretchy beginning sounds: p-ie, d-o-g.
Phonemic Awareness Games to Play, Free
Next Free Phonemic Awareness Game:
5, Match First Sounds
Playful Sounds, the Sound Foundation for Speech & Reading
Next Topic: Walls for The Reading Treehouse
