Are you visiting the pumpkin patch with your kiddos this fall?? Here’s a fun way to help them practice beginning letter sounds while pretending they are “picking pumpkins” in a pumpkin patch. This activity is perfect for introducing phonological awareness in preschool or strengthening those skills in kindergarten.
I decided to set this letter sound match center up like a pumpkin patch. I used kinetic sand as the ground and spread it evenly in a deep plastic tray that I purchased at Michaels. Kinetic sand is one of my favorite sensory activity mediums because it isn’t sticky!!! It doesn’t dry up if you leave it out. And if it does fall on the floor, it vacuums or sweeps right up. Kids love it too which is really the most important part.
Next, I cut apart the pumpkin sound cards and positioned them in the “ground” as if they were growing in a pumpkin patch. They are staggered so that they are easy to view for the child sitting at the center. Each card depicts a pumpkin with a different picture in the middle. This activity focused on the beginning sound of each picture. In order for my preschooler, Emmett, to keep track of the letter sounds he found, I printed the letter mat and set it next to the “pumpkin patch” of pumpkin sound cards. This kept Emmett’s sound cards organized as he picked each pumpkin and identified the beginning sound of the picture.
As you can see, the letter mat does not include all 26 letters of the alphabet. I decided to include 16 of the most frequently used consonants in this activity. This is simply because Emmett just started learning letter sounds last month and I did not want to overwhelm him with the whole alphabet. We worked on this activity together as a pair by taking turns. If he came across a picture card that he wasn’t sure about, we talked it out together. On my turn, I purposely picked cards that I knew he would be less familiar with and modeled how to make the beginning sound and match it to the corresponding letter. I also kept his Alphabet Linking Chart handy so that he could refer to it as he worked. He frequently confused the letter sounds with the beginning sound a letter makes when you say it (i.e. He said M makes a short e sound). Having that linking chart handy was very helpful to him!! If you need an alphabet linking chart, click the button below to grab one from my shop. It’s FREE!!!
After we were finished picking all the “pumpkins” from the “pumpkin patch” we took a moment to look back over our finished sound mat. We said the pictures and their beginning sounds aloud again to reiterate the matches. Emmett was very pleased with his success and continued to play with the kinetic sand for another half hour or so.
If you have little learners who are still working on letter identification and are not quite ready for a letter sound matching activity, you can simply print the letter cards twice and have your kiddos match the letters to each other.
Speaking of letter identification and sound activities, you may also be interested in the pumpkin themed literacy activities for preschool and kindergarten from a previous post. These activities focus on phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge and beginning writing. Plus they are super fun and adorable!!
Wait!! Don’t forget to download your copy of the Pumpkin Patch Letter Sound Match Activity for FREE. Just click the button below and it is yours. As always, thank you for stopping by! I appreciate your interest and would love to hear what your kiddos thought of the Pumpkin Patch Letter Sound Match activity when they are done!!
Mrs Mama Bird 