CVC Blending Practice
Blend three-phoneme CVC words letter-by-letter into a whole word.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Say the sounds with less and less pause between them rather than repeating them at the same speed. That gradual compression is what produces the blend, and a child stuck on three separate sounds usually needs the gap closed rather than another repetition. Start with the words whose first sound can be held — /m/, /s/ — because a continuous sound gives the child something to run into the vowel. Ten minutes covers the fourteen.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentSay the item and wait 5 seconds for the student's answer.Log as correct
- Stretch itSay the word again slowly, stretching the sounds or tapping the syllables.Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two answers, the right one not always second.Log as cued
- ModelDo it yourself, tapping as you go, then the student does it after you.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use pictures, fewer items, and words with fewer sounds.
Take the pictures away, or move on to segmenting a word into its sounds.
Matching IEP goal
Given spoken words, Student will blend spoken sounds into a word in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one repetition.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Fourteen words shown as separate sounds and then blended: /m/ /a/ /p/ makes map; /s/ /u/ /n/ makes sun; /c/ /a/ /t/ makes cat; /b/ /e/ /d/ makes bed. Blending is one half of the phonemic awareness pair — pushing separate sounds together into a word — and it is the half that reading depends on most directly.
What to listen for
Watch for the child repeating the sounds back instead of blending them. Saying /m/ /a/ /p/ correctly is the input, not the answer, and some children learn to echo it fluently without ever producing map. Notice which position breaks: children usually blend the first two sounds and lose the final consonant, which is why the last sound is worth stretching.
Carrying it home
Blending games need nothing. Say a word in sounds — /c/ /u/ /p/ — and ask the child what it is, then let them do one for you. Thirty seconds while pouring a drink is a real practice session.
What's in this activity
- /m/ /a/ /p/ → map
- /s/ /u/ /n/ → sun
- /c/ /a/ /t/ → cat
- /d/ /o/ /g/ → dog
- /p/ /i/ /g/ → pig
- /b/ /e/ /d/ → bed
- /h/ /o/ /t/ → hot
- /r/ /u/ /n/ → run
- /l/ /e/ /g/ → leg
- /t/ /o/ /p/ → top
- /c/ /u/ /p/ → cup
- /n/ /e/ /t/ → net
- /b/ /u/ /s/ → bus
- /m/ /o/ /p/ → mop
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Kindergarten and first grade, where blending is a core early reading skill.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all fourteen words play with no login.
- My child repeats the sounds but doesn't blend. What now?
- Shorten the gaps rather than repeating. Say the sounds progressively closer together until they run into each other — most children hear the word emerge before they can produce the blend themselves.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.