Activity
Play Letter-Sound Hopscotch!
It's not shiny or digital, but hopscotch is classic fun for little kids. You probably remember playing it with numbers from one to ten, but have you tried a variation with letters? As your child prepares for reading, try getting creative with movement and letters with this fun game. Here are two variations of “letter-sound” hopscotch that can build your child's phonics skills and help them jump right into reading.
What You Need:
- Piece of sidewalk chalk
- Small rock
- Perhaps a friend or sibling or two!
What You Do:
- “Letter Blend” Hopscotch Game: Find a nice blank section of pavement—on a playground, sidewalk, or driveway—and use your chalk to draw twelve large square boxes with letter sounds in a hopscotch formation (check out this activity for an example). Kids start by hopping on one foot at a time, and say the name of the letter they land on. But when they land on the squares that go two across, one foot on each, they need to say the sound that the two letters make together. So, for example, a kid would start by hopping on one foot on “C,” and saying it out loud. Then they'd hop on one foot to “H,” but then land on the “crossbar,” in which the left foot is on “C” and the right foot is on “H.” Now the letters combine, and your child should shout the sound “CH”! Once they've got the hang of it, they are ready to play with the rock; they'll throw it onto successive boxes, hop around it while saying the letters, and then try to pick it up without losing their balance.
- “Vowel Sound” Hopscotch: In early elementary school, kids will learn the difference between vowels—a,e, i, o, u (and sometimes y)—and consonants. They'll learn how every word in English has a vowel in it, and they'll practice finding vowels in words. What’s often tough, however, is that every vowel has not one but two possible sounds! In technical terms, we call these the “long” and “short” sounds. The “a” in “apple,” for example, is the “short” a sound, while the “a” in “cake” is the long one. Want to help your child jump into first grade vowels? Try this: Use your chalk to make simple hopscotch squares, but instead of labeling them with numbers, label them with vowel names. You have ten hopscotch squares to work with, which means you have space for both long and short vowel sounds for a, e, i, o, and u. Either you or your child can write a letter in each box; on top of the letter, though, write the symbol for long or short. So the “a” in “apple” (short sound) should look like a with a u on top, but the “a” in “cake” should have a straight line on top.
- As your child hops on each box, have them say the letter sound correctly in order to advance. Invite a friend or two, and you've got a friendly game going; miss the sound and you go back; say it right and you jump ahead…not just into hopscotch, of course, but into important parts of the primary grades curriculum!
Related Guided Lesson
Based on your interest in Play Letter-Sound Hopscotch!.
Short A 2
7 games
1 interactive story
5 printable worksheets
Grade
First grade
Subject
Reading and writing
Long A/Short A
Related learning resources
Letter B Sound
Worksheet
Letter B Sound
The first step in learning to read and write is learning the different letter sounds. This worksheet focuses on the letter B sound.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Letter Sound Assessment
Worksheet
Letter Sound Assessment
Assess your students’ letter sound knowledge using this quick alphabet assessment.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Letter Sounds
Worksheet
Letter Sounds
Assess student understanding of letter-sound correspondence with this worksheet.
1st grade
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Circle That Sound
Worksheet
Circle That Sound
Help your kindergartner learn about letter sounds using this fun letter sound matching activity.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Letter Sounds: Beginning Sounds
Interactive Worksheet
Letter Sounds: Beginning Sounds
On this worksheet, kids get phonics practice as they look at each picture, then circle the letter that makes the same beginning sound.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Interactive Worksheet
Long "O" Vowel Sound
Worksheet
Long "O" Vowel Sound
The long "O" vowel sound makes the same sound as the letter "O"! Help your little reader sort out his vowel sounds with this fun worksheet.
1st grade
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Letter Sounds: Writing Words
Worksheet
Letter Sounds: Writing Words
Here's a worksheet that's packed with letter learning. Not only do kids sound out the letters, they also write out their own words that start with each letter!
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Ou Sound
Worksheet
Ou Sound
Did you know the "ou" sound has more than one sound? Get to know this vowel blend a bit better with a match-the-sound activity.
1st grade
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Letter Swap Quiz
Game
Letter Swap Quiz
Kids play with onsets and rimes in this letter swap, word-building game.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Game
Play Beanbag Letter Blend Toss
Activity
Play Beanbag Letter Blend Toss
Help your first grade reader master those letter blends like "ch" and "sh" with this memorable and hilarious beanbag toss game.
1st grade
Reading & Writing
Activity
Ending Letter Sounds
Worksheet
Ending Letter Sounds
All about a variety of letter sounds, this worksheet is just what the reading doctor ordered.
preschool
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
Letter Sounds: The Letter A
Worksheet
Letter Sounds: The Letter A
More than just another coloring page, this worksheet also teaches kids about the letter A.
kindergarten
Reading & Writing
Worksheet
See this activity in a set:
Phonics