About this activity
Twelve short words for two early sounds: toe, tea, ten, top, two, tap for /t/; day, door, dot, duck, dig, dad for /d/. The two sounds are made in the same place and differ only in voicing, which makes them a natural pair — and a child who has one usually has the other.
How to use it in a session
Put a hand on the throat for the voicing contrast. /t/ and /d/ are identical apart from whether the voice is on, and feeling the difference is far more effective than hearing it at this age. Contrast the pairs that differ only in voicing — top and dot are close, ten and den if you have it — since minimal pairs make the distinction consequential. Six minutes covers the twelve.
What to listen for
Listen for voicing errors rather than placement ones. Dop for top is a voicing substitution and the child has the tongue in the right place; a /k/ or /g/ substitution would be a placement issue and a different pattern entirely. Watch two and toe, where the following vowel is rounded and the /t/ can be slightly obscured.
Carrying it home
Dad, door, duck and top are among the earliest words a child says. Modelling clearly and responding to whatever comes back is the right approach — correction at this age tends to reduce how much a child talks.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Preschool through first grade. /t/ and /d/ are early-developing sounds.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve cards play with no account.
- What is voicing?
- Whether the vocal folds vibrate during a sound. /t/ and /d/ are made identically apart from that, which is why a hand on the throat shows the difference better than listening does.