Tactile Letter Sound Practice: Mess Free and Fun! -

Learning letter sounds, letter formation, and building words is an important skill. When done in a tactile and hands on way, students are more likely to remember the skills. It can also help them learn faster. And, of course, it’s simply more fun!

We all know that many students benefit from tactile input when learning and reviewing new skills. However, sometimes those options are very messy. I’m all for messy learning, but there are also times that’s just not practical! So, today, I want to share a fun, FREE, tactile letter sounds activity that your students are sure to love!

I’d like to thank Steps to Literacy for sponsoring this post. I received compensation for this post, but all opinions, ideas, and thoughts are mine. I only share about resources, products, and companies that I use and believe, in, and believe will be beneficial to you as well!

Tactile Foam Magnet Letters

Before we get to the activity, I want to share the letters I recommend to use. These Tactile Foam Magnet Letters that are exclusively available from from Steps to Literacy are such a fantastic tool for learning. The full tactile surface on each letter provides the kinesthetic feedback many students need for reinforcement of letter recognition and handwriting skills. They’re also very sturdy, light weight, and nontoxic. I also love that the consonants are blue and the vowels are red. This makes it so much easier for students to quickly find the letters they’re looking for. They come in lowercase, uppercase, or a set of both lower and uppercase. The nice, sturdy tub they come in has a handle and is perfect for easy storage as well.

These letters can be used for any activity in which you’d use magnetic letters, but with the added benefit of extra tactile input. I recommend having students trace the letters with their fingers after identifying letters or building words to reinforce the skill.

Beginning Sounds Letter Match Up

As an intervention teacher, I spend a lot of time with my kindergartens and even early first graders on letter recognition and letter sounds. Once students have a firm grasp of letter recognition, we move on to letter sounds. I created this FREE letter match up game to specifically use with the Tactile Foam Magnet Letters so that my students can trace the letters after matching up the letter to the word.

The activity is super simple, but great reinforcement. Students pick a card and say the picture word. They listen for the beginning sound, and then pick up the letter and place it in the empty box. Since the letters are magnetic, you can have students stick the completed cards on a white board on your wall. This allows you to give a quick glance up to see if they’ve gotten the letter correct if you’re working with other students.