Free Printable Beginning Sounds Alphabet Mats

These beginning sounds alphabet mats provide a hands-on way for kids to practice identifying beginnings sounds of words while reinforcing letter recognition. This would be perfect for a literacy center!

My son really enjoyed these beginning sounds alphabet mats! This hands-on literacy activity is perfect for parents and teachers who are teaching kids to read.

We love using alphabet beads for all kinds of fun and learning – like using them in play dough, putting them in a water sensory bin and excavating them from ice. This time I used them to reinforce beginning sound recognition with these cute mats.

This set includes 5 printable beginning sounds mats so it allows you to change up the letters and beginning sounds you are working on each time.

Setting up the Alphabet Mats

Supplies Needed:

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*I love letter beads and highly recommend them, but if you would like to use an alternative you could use letter tiles, scrabble tiles, water bottle caps with letters written on them, craft gems with letters on them or even pieces of paper with letters written on them.

  1. Print the initial sounds alphabet mats on cardstock for durability. You can also laminate them afterward.
  2. Gather a large variety of letter beads, making sure to have at least two instances of each letter.

Alphabet mats for teaching beginning sound identification to kindergarten students.

Using the Beginning Sounds Alphabet Mats

I placed a mat and a pile of letters beads on the table. Then I showed my son how he could look at an object on the mat, determine which beginning letter sound the word starts with and then find the corresponding letter bead.

Teaching kids to identify beginning sounds in words and moving beyond learning letter sounds.

Teaching letter sounds to children and using manipulatives to do so.

He then got started with me walking him through each step. He enjoyed hunting through the letter beads to find the one he needed. This alone was a great way to engage with and think critically about the alphabet.

Literacy center idea for kindergarten. A hands-on way to learn letter sounds.

He went through each item on the mat and did this. Much to my surprise he asked if he could do another mat. Of course, I was all for that.

A fun activity to use when teaching children to read.

He did another mat and was ready to move on. I wouldn’t expect your child to do more than a mat or two at a time, but this is a great, quick alphabet activity to pull out when you want to work on letter sounds and beginning sounds recognition.

I think it would be a wonderful addition to a preschool or kindergarten literacy center. I plan on adding it to our literacy learning station when I begin homeschooling my son this upcoming school year.

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For more ways to teach the alphabet, check out this big list of awesome alphabet activities your kids will love!

I also think you would love these Letter Sounds Alphabet Mats. They go perfectly with this set and there is one mat for each letter!

These fun beginning sounds alphabet mats are an excellent way to teach letter sounds and initial sounds.