Baan Dek

The Sound Game

Montessori Activities

Here are a few little tips on how to implement Montessori at home, by using The Sound Game.

In order to help children hear the sounds that make up words, we play “The Sound Game” in class. It can be played any time, any place, and can take as long or as short as you need it to.

Say, “I’m thinking of something in the car (on the table, on the floor, in the room, etc.) that begins with the sound ‘m.’ What is it?”

If your child is struggling, you can give more clues (move the object, say “m, like ‘monkey’.” etc.)

You might be thinking of one object, and your child might come up with several others you hadn’t even noticed!

As literate adults, we “see” words, but children see objects. If you’re thinking of the sound “j” as in “jump,” and your child comes up with “giraffe” or “gem,” this should not be corrected, since the sound is identical, and we focus on sounds at this age in the Montessori classroom (spelling is a function of literacy and comes later), but try to have your examples be spelling-accurate; the child can come up with “j” like “giraffe” and “gem,” but adults should try to come up with “j” like “jump” and “jewel.”

“As your child becomes more comfortable with hearing the first sounds in words, you can progress to more levels. ”
      “I’m thinking of something in the car that starts with c and ends with t”. “Do you hear other sounds in that word?” As needed, give your child more clues, hints, information.

Here’s a helpful guide as to how to pronounce the sounds:

a short as in ant, astronaut

b as in bug, barn

c as in cup, camp

d as in duck, dance

e short as in elf, egg

f as in fish, fan

g as in gas, gum

h as in hat, helmet

i short as in it, igloo

j as in jam, jump

k as in kick, kite

l as in light, lion

m as in mom, milk

n as in nose, night, run

o short as in olive, octopus

p as in pin, pants

q as in queen, quick

r as in red, ribbon

s as in sun, sand

t as in tummy, toe

u short as in up, umbrella

v as in visit, violin

w as in window, white

x as in box, fox

y as in yellow, yes

z as in zoo, zebra

Written by:

Baan Dek

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