Learning to identify and isolate initial sounds in words is a beneficial skill that supports early literacy development. Once kids are able to hear a word and orally identify the inital sound (focusing on the phonemic awareness aspect) and they know some letters and the sounds associated with them, we can begin to focus on the phonics aspect of initial sounds. Here kids are matching a letter to an object that starts with that sound. This is the phonics aspect of initial sounds, and that’s exactly what we’re doing in this free printable superhero initial sounds activity. Read on to learn more about teaching initial sounds and how to use this free printable.
More Phonics Initial Sounds Activities to Try
Find real objects around the home or classroom in this fun initial sounds shopping activity.
Go on a dinosaur egg scavenger hunt and match beginning sounds.
More about Phonemic Awareness and Phonics
Read more about the role of phonemic awareness and letter-sound identification here in The Threads of Reading.
Read more about phonics in this article about Phonics and Word Recognition Instruction from Reading Rockets.
Free Printable Superhero Initial Sounds Activity
FIND EVEN MORE SUPERHERO THEME ACTIVITIES IN OUR PRINTABLE SUPERHERO LESSON PLANS.
Before introducing this activity to preschoolers and kindergarteners they should:
- Be able to orally identify the initial sound in a word (i.e., correctly identify /c/ as the beginning sound in cat when they hear the word cat or see a picture of a cat (with no letters present)
- Know a fair amount of letters and the letter sounds associated with each
To set up this activity as a phonics initial sounds activity:
- cut out the initial sounds cards with the letters attached (laminate if desired)
- cut out the superheroes and attach them to clothespins
- Optional: Gather objects that match the objects on the shields and use them to introduce the activity. Have kids orally identify the beginning sound of each object during small group or one-on-one instruction as a phonemic awareness review.
Have kids match each superhero to the letter that matches the initial sound of the object pictures on the shield.
To extend the activity, have kids think of additional words that start with the same sound.
What if your kids are not ready for phonics just yet?
No worries! You can still use the freebie, but we’ll switch it up a bit.
If your kids are still working on phonemic awareness skills, cut the letter section of each card, leaving only the shield. Then orally identify a sound and have kids zoom their superhero and clip it to the corresponding shield.
For example, you might say:
“My superhero’s shield has something that starts with the /p/ sound (saying the sound, not the letter name).”
Kids will then clip a superhero to the pumpkin card.
Continue identifying initial sounds until all shiled have a superhero.
GET YOUR FREE Superhero Initial Sounds Activity
MORE SUPERHERO FUN WITH PRINTABLE SUPERHERO THEME LESSON PLANS
Save time and get right to the playful learning with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, and we’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.
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Also available on Teachers Pay Teachers.