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Learning Activities with Letterland Word BuildersabcLetterland Word Builders provide an appealing, hands-on tool to help children learn and practice atmultiple levels of language: Letter shapes Letter sounds Listening for beginning sounds in words Blending letter sounds to read words Segmenting words into individual sounds to spell Learning about rhyming words and spellings Learning more advanced spelling patternsHere are some ideas for each of these important steps in learning to read and write. Suggested teachertalk is printed in dark blue.Letter Shapes and SoundsSaying letter sounds in isolation can be tricky. To be sure the sounds you are teaching them accuratelygo to www.letterland.com/parent-guide/alphabet-sounds at the Letterland website. Click on the letter tohear its correct sound.1

Activity 1: Find My LetterLet’s play ‘Find my Letter’.How to: Place the 5 to 26 letters randomly around the board. Children match the magnetic letters tothe Letterlanders. They can place them over the characters or just under them on the rainbow. Havethem name the Letterlander and say the sound as they place the letter, e.g. “Eddy Elephant, ĕ.”Support• If the child has not learned any Letterlanders, start with just a few plain letters on the board. Point toa Letterlander and tell them the character’s name and sound. The child then places the plain letteron the rainbow just below the character, and says the Letterlander’s name and sound. After placingfi ve or six letters, scramble them again and take turns replacing them and saying the Letterlander’sname and sound.• For a child who doesn’t know certain letters, ask him or her to point to them for you to say theLetterlander’s name and sound. Then the child repeats both the name and sound, and moves themagnetic letter in place below the matching Letterlander.• If children know the Letterlander but not the sound, help them to do the ‘Sounds Trick.’ Say theLetterlander’s name, start to say it again, but stop at the fi rst sound, e.g. “Sammy Snake, sss.”• To help children learn the shapes and how to write them, have them trace the magnetic letter withtheir forefi nger, using the same starting-point and strokes as used for handwriting (see HandwritingSongs audio CD.)Activity 2: Who says?Let’s play “Who says?” I’ll say the Letterlanders’ sounds and you tell me who says them.How to: Cover some or all of the Letterlanders on the board with their magnetic letters (or place themjust below the character on the rainbow). Say a sound and have the child repeat it, e.g. p. Then ask,Who says p? The child says the Letterlander’s name and pulls the letter down into the sky area on theboard. End by counting how many letters the child has now done correctly, and give praise.Variations• Start with the letters in the sky area. Say the sounds, and have the child move them into place on topof the matching Letterlander.• Take turns. You say a sound, the child repeats it and moves the letter to cover the Letterlander. Thenreverse roles, so the child says a sound and you move the letter.• Point to a magnetic letter. The child says the sound and covers the Letterlander with it.Support• If the child has not yet learned to connect the sound with the character name, tell them to repeat thesound. Then ask, Who’s name are you starting to say? (e.g. “Mmmmmmunching Mike”). (This willwork best, at fi rst, with the letter sounds that can best be prolonged: a, e, f, h, l, m, n, o, r, s, u, v, w,and z. As soon as the child catches on, the same thing can be done with all the other letter sounds.2

Activity 3: What’s my sound?Now let’s pretend the magnetic letters are magic buttons. When you press on them, they say theirsounds—only, like all Letterland magic, we have to make it work ourselves.How to: Place several letters around the rainbow with their Letterlanders. The child presses on eachletter and makes the sound. (This can be a good quick warm up before you do some of the blending andsegmenting exercises below.)Variation: Place the letters randomly on the magnetic board. Children press the letter, make the sound,and then move it into its place on the rainbow. Or you and the child take turns pressing letters, sayingthe sounds and moving them.Beginning Sounds in WordsActivity 4: Who am I?Let’s play ‘Who am I?’ The Letterlanders like words that start with their sound. For example, Golden Girllikes to grown green things in her garden, and she has a goat and some geese for pets.How to: Place 5-26 letters on the rainbow below the corresponding Letterlander. Say, for example, I likegoing fi shing. Who am I? The child moves the letter f over the pictogram and says, “Firefi ghter Fred.” Letthe child take turns saying, “I like_____. Who am I?” Then you fi nd the Letterlander.Activity 5: Beginning Sound BingoFor two players each with a Magnetic Word Builder board. Use with ‘Beginning Sound Pictures’ from theTeacher’s Guide CDs or any other set of a-z pictures. When you pick up a picture word that starts with aLetterlander’s sound, fi nd that magnetic letter and move it on top of the character.How to: Shuffle the Beginning g Sound Picture cards and place in a pile face down between the twoplayers. Each child places a set of a-z letters randomly in the sky below their rainbow. The fi rst childtakes the top card, says the word, says its beginning sound, and moves the letter into place on top of theLetterlander. Children take turns until both have covered all the Letterlanders.3

Activity 6: Blending Sounds to Read WordsMake it, Blend itThe Letterlanders love it when you make their sounds and blend them together to make some words.Let’s try it with this word.How to: Make one of the words from the Short Vowel Word Bank below. Have the child follow thesesteps to blend the sounds and read the word:Blending Steps1. Touch each letter and sayits sound.1.sss, ă, t2.sssăăă2. Slide your fi nger underthe fi rst two letters andsay the sounds withoutstopping between them.(blend)s a ts a t3. Touch the fi nal letter andsay the sound.3.t4 & 5.sssăăăt,sat4. Now slide your fi ngerunder all three letters andblend the three sounds.s a ts a t5. Say the word again.Then you or the child say a sentence or phrase with the word to make sure the meaning is understood.Next change one letter to make a new word. (See the sequence of words in the Word Banks below.)VariationRather than making the word for the child, say the separate sounds in the word and have the child buildit. For example, you say the sounds in hat, ‘h’…’a’…’t’ with a pause between each sound. The child setsthe letters out in order and blends them to discover the word. Saying the sounds will work well with shortvowel words like those in Word Banks 1, 2 and 3.For children at a later stage, working with words such as in Word Banks 4, 5, 6 and 7, call out the letternames for the child to build the word. For example, if you want the child to make the word boat, youwould say bee, oh, aye, tee. The child lines up the letters and blends the word.SupportIf a child has difficulty blending without pausing between sounds, show how to do one step at a time.Have the child imitate what you have done, then move on to the next step. If the child doesn’t catch onat fi rst, do a few words, and then try on another day. Children often surprise us by picking up an ideaafter a few tries, if we are patient and positive.As the child progressesOnce the children can blend the sounds easily, they may not need to say each sound separately beforeblending. Instead, they may be able to simply slide their fi nger beneath and quickly blend the soundswithout pausing between sounds.4

Activity 7: Segmenting Sounds to Spell WordsLet’s learn about word stretching The Letterlanders all love to say their sounds in words – but they saythem quickly, making it tricky to hear each one of them. If you want to spell a word, the best thing to dois to say the word slowly – stretch it out – and listen for the Letterlanders’ sounds.How to: Word Stretching. First pretend that you have a big rubber band wrapped around your handsholding them together. Put your palms and fi ngers together in front of you.Now let’s pretend we are slowly stretching that rubber band out. We have to go slowly because it is areally strong rubber band. Move your hands apart slowly to about your own shoulder width.Then we have to put our hands back together slowly and quietly because we are going to be listening forthe Letterlanders’ sounds. Use your muscles to make sure you don’t clap your hands together.Next we are going to say a word very slowlywhile we stretch out our rubber band again.We are going to stretch out the sounds inthe word while we slowly move our handsapart. Let’s start with the word sip, like asmall drink of water. Say, sip… Now, let’ssay and stretch the word with our rubberband, ssssssiiiiiiiip. (Prolong all but the lastsound ‘p’ which cannot be stretched).sipsssssiiiiiiiipPractice stretching the word sip a few times.Now let’s stretch sip out again, but we aregoing to stop as soon as we’ve made thefi rst sound. (Stretch the word by movingyour hands slightly apart as you say, ssss.)sss,Sammy SnakeWho’s sound did you hear?... Yes, SammySnake says ‘ssss’. So put his letter in placefi rst. (Child moves s into the sky on themagnetic board.)Now let’s stretch sip a little farther andsee if we can ‘jiggle out’ the middle sound.Pull your hands apart a bit further saying,Ssssiiii. Then jiggle you hands in smallback-and-forth movements as you repeatthe vowel sound, iii…iii…i. Who says thatsound?... Yes, Impy Ink. (Child places the iafter the letter s.)Let’s stretch sip one more time and see ifwe can hear the last sound. Pull your handsslowly apart and emphasize the last sound,sssssiiiiip. (Jiggle you hands back andforth at shoulder width this time, while yourepeat the fi nal whispered sound, p…p…p.Who says ‘p’?... Yes, Peter Puppy. (Childmoves the last letter into place to spell sip.)ssssiiii...i...i...,Impy Inksssiiip...p...p,Peter Puppy5

Once children have learned the word stretching technique, follow these steps for spelling each word:Segmenting and Spelling StepsThe teacher or parent says the word, uses it in a brief sentence, and repeats the word. Then the child:1. Repeats the word.2. Stretches the whole word.3. Starts to stretch the word again and jiggles out each sound.4. Makes the word on the magnetic board.5. Blends the word by sliding a fi nger beneath to read it and to check the spelling.Leave the previous word in place, and call out the next word which you have chosen from one of theWord Banks below because it only differs by one letter from the previous word. Child follows steps 1-5with the new word.s ips i pBlending and Segmenting Activity VariationsChildren in pairs Give one child a word list to call out the fi rst three words, one at a time, to a secondchild who builds the words. Then the second child calls out the next three words for the fi rst child tobuild, etc.Make-a-rhyme: Make a word that has many rhyming words with the same spelling pattern (e.g.pet, net, set, let, bet, wet). Have the child read the word. Then the child makes a rhyming word bychanging the fi rst letter. If the child makes make a nonsense word, have him or her pronounce it. Thenhave the child keep changing the fi rst letter until they make a real word. Then you change the word tomake another rhyming word and so on back and forth. List the real words you make for the child to readthem all when you are fi nished. Children can also play this way in pairs. They can compare the numberof real words they make with other pairs of children.Change-a-word: Make a word for the child to read. Then the child changes any one letter to make anew word. They must change red letters (vowels) to other red letters, and blue letters (consonants) toother blue letters. They may try several changes until they make a real word. Then you change one letterto make another word and so on. List each real word as you make it for reading later. For extra practice,each time you do another word, read together all the words listed so far.Quick Words: Place on the board 6 to 10 letters. Include at least two vowels. Children make wordsusing the letters. Write down each real word they make and then count to see how many they made. Youcould time them and see how many words they can make in three minutes. Children could work in pairsto make and write the words.6

Using the Word BanksThe Word Banks 1–7 are listed from beginning to a more advanced level. You can start with any word inthe list and move from left to right. Tell the child that they will only need to change one letter at a time(or occasionally two or three). Be selective, choosing 5 to 10 words from these sequences for practice.Move on to more advanced words as soon as you judge the child to be ready.VariationTurn a bug into a cat: Choose a word to start with. Then look across the list fi ve to ten words alongand tell the child, for example, that they will be turning a bug into a cat. Then follow the usual steps tobuild each word from bug to cat. You can use this activity for blending (where you make the words, orfor spelling (call out the words for the child to build).Word Bank 1: Short Vowelssad → sap sip sit sat mat man pan pin pigbig wig wag bag bug rug rag rat cat cancap lap lip dip did dad had hat fat fi tfi n fan ran tan ten hen pen pet jet netwet yet yes us bus bun fun run rub tubtug tag tap tip tin win kin kit lit lidled leg log dog jog job jot lot let betbed bid but nut not hot hop top mop mapmat met yet yesWord Bank 2:Short Vowels with Consonant Digraphback bath path pack peck pick pill will well shelltell ten then than that chat chap chop shop shipchip chin thin thing wing ring rang hang ban henhem hum them when whip whiz with math path bathWord Bank 3:Short Vowels with Adjacent Consonants (Blends)nap snap sap slip sip tip trip trap tap capcab crab grab grass glass glad lad lap fl ap fl ipfl op fl oss loss lost list last blast black back sacksnack stack tack track trick tick stick stock stop step7

Word Bank 4: Magic etap tape take tack back bake lake late gate gotnot note vote cone bone bin fi n fi ne line pinepane pan can cab cub cube tube tub tuck trucktrack trade grade grave brave pave plane plan fl ap fl akeWord Bank 5: The Vowel Men Out Walkingtea sea seat neat sneak speak peak heap cheek weekweed wheel steel feel foal coal coat goat groan grainsprain brain rain train true glue blue clue clean claimaim ail pail fail jail mail main may day layplay loan moan moat boatWord Bank 6: The Vowel Stealersart dart dark park spark mark smart start star storemore shore core for born torn north horn corn doorfl oor letter better wetter winter never ever over other brothermother mister sister summer number lumber slumber hummer hammer stammerWord Bank 7: Other Vowel Spellings and Soundslow slow blow glow grow grown know snow show sightnight light right fi ght fright bright boo boot boom broomroom zoom zoo too tool fool food foot took lookhook shook stood saw law claw draw paw pause saucefault fl ew blew new knew grew drew cloud count soundfound frown crown clown now how cow coin join jointmoist noise point oil boil boy joy toy air chairfair stair pair ear dear fear clear near spear hear8