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Learning Experience

This awesome phonics tool is highly motivating and easy to use—a great confidence builder! It helps children internalize the phonetic concept of beginning sounds, a preliminary reading skill. My kids love these!

Material

• Heavy cardboard
• Old magazines, calendars, stickers, etc.
• Scissors
• Black marker
• Hole punch or electric drill
• Glue (fabric or craft glue works well)

Construction

1. Cut heavy cardboard into rectangular cards about 8½ x 5½ inches.
2. At the bottom of the card make three holes spaced evenly apart and large enough for a finger to be poked through. You can use a hole punch like I did at first, but an electric drill works much better.
3. Cut out a bunch of colorful small pictures from old magazines, junk mail, or advertisements. Each picture should have a strong beginning sound (e.g., leaf, ball, dog, cat, pencil, pen, house, horse, angel, etc.). Try to get a picture for every letter of the alphabet.
4. Glue one picture to the top of the card in the middle.
5. Over each finger hole write an alphabet letter, making sure one of the letters is the proper beginning sound of your picture.
6. On the back of the card print the name of the picture above the correct letter hole.
7. Make as many as you want. I made about 30 for my kids.

Application

Place the stack of cards on the table. The child chooses one card and looks at the picture. He puts his finger through the hole that he thinks has the correct beginning sound. He turns the card over immediately and self-checks. He’s correct (and very proud) if his finger is in the hole with the picture name printed over it. He gets to keep that card. If incorrect, place that card at the bottom of the stack and repeat. When finished count the number of correctly answered cards (and be amazed at how ingenious your child is!).