4th of July Beginning Sound Clip Cards & Graph for Preschoolers
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Everybody loves the 4th of July, right? It is the perfect opportunity for families to gather and celebrate our nation’s birthday with a fun day of good food, music, games, and laughs, but it’s also a great time to create fun educational activities around the holiday.
Preschoolers need to develop phonemic awareness as part of learning to read and write, and one activity we could do is have our children practice the beginning sounds of words.
4th of July Beginning Sounds Clip Cards & Graph Activity
This low-prep activity helps your preschoolers practice identifying beginning sounds and turns these phonics printables into a fun beginning-sounds learning game.
Use this activity as extra practice in your preschool classroom’s literacy center or at home as a supplement to your homeschool phonics curriculum.
This printable contains two pages, one with a wheel with 8 different 4th of July-related pictures (words), and one with a graph with the pictures and different letters that your children can use to mark the beginning sound of each picture word.
How To Prepare and Use the Activity
Print each page using white cardstock. Cut out and laminate the wheel and the graph to make them last longer. That way you will have your cards available for several 4th of July celebrations.
The materials you need to get this printable ready are few, and I’m pretty sure you already have most of them. You just need a printer, white cardstock, a laminator machine, laminator pouches, scissors, clothespins, patriotic stickers, dry-erase markers, and/or patriotic mini erasers.
This 4th of July Beginning Letter Clip Cards and Graph activity is excellent for identifying the beginning letter sound of each picture’s word, as well as practicing phonics, letter sounds, and vocabulary.
Give a child the cards, clothespins, graph, and a dry-erase marker. The child needs to say the name of the picture (word) in each section of the wheel and place the clothespin on the selected picture. Then the child has to mark the correct beginning letter on that word in the graph using a dry eraser, a round sticker, or any other small manipulative.
This activity strengthens children’s letter-to-sound recognition, concentration, and one-to-one correspondence skills.
They can be used in many ways such as:
- Small group activity
- Writing center option
- Literacy center option
- Take-home game
- Quiet area option
Extension Activities
To extend the activity, you can:
- Add magnetic letters and have the children match each picture’s beginning sound to the correct magnetic letter.
- Have the children try to write the word using foam or magnetic letters.
- Write the beginning letters on white paper.
Enhance Their Learning With Books
An easy way to introduce preschoolers to American history is by reading kid-friendly books. I can recommend several books, but my favorite is “The Story of America’s Birthday” by Patricia A. Pingry because it is specially designed for preschoolers.
- The Night Before the Fourth of July by Nathasha Wing captures all the fun, excitement, and pride of the best summer holiday, when people across the United States get ready for hot dogs and fireworks. Decked in red, white, and blue, a family heads to a parade, hosts a backyard BBQ with friends and family, dodges an afternoon thunderstorm, and, of course, watches a fireworks show.
- The Story of America’s Birthday by Patricia A. Pingry. This story pairs vibrant illustrations with the text to help create a connection between the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, and today’s Fourth of July festivities. This book introduces children to the history and meaning behind Independence Day.
- F is for Flag by Wendy Ceyette Lewison shows in simple terms how one flag can mean many things: a symbol of unity, a sign of welcome, and a reminder that in good times everyone in our country is part of one great big family.
- Curious George Parade Day: Here’s nothing like waiting for something special and magical to happen. Today George is waiting for a parade to start! But before it does, this little monkey manages to find—and make—plenty of mischief.
- It’s Not About You, Mrs. Firecracker: A Love Letter About the True Meaning of the Fourth of July by Soraya Diasse Collell. This wonderfully illustrated children’s book explains what brave Americans did to declare their freedom and equality, and identifies who guided them through it all.
- Daniel’s First Fireworks by Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. This sweet storybook about a first experience is sure to be a hit with Daniel Tiger fans!
- Hello, Fourth of July by best-selling author-illustrator Martha Day Zschock. Parent and child eagles celebrate America’s birthday in this board book for children. The pair spend the day surrounded by red, white, and blue.
- America the Beautiful by Cholena Rose Dare is a gorgeous, non-fiction book that presents maps of official landmarks, national parks, state birds and flowers, and more. It also lets readers learn about American artists, innovations, and foods that are part of American culture. A great way to share facts about our country with our preschoolers.
Pin It For Later
If you are in a rush and don’t have time to read the post and download the printable but want to save it for later, pin this to your Literacy or 4th of July board on Pinterest.
I hope this 4th of July Beginning Sounds Clip Cards & Graph activity helps your kiddos develop their phonological awareness skills a little further this 4th of July month. Don’t forget to get your printable! Just click the link below to download it and start using it.
By the way, check out the other 4th of July activities I created for you HERE. They all have FREE printables for you to use.
Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.
Love,
P.S. Please let me know if this activity works for you. If you would like to see an article or a printable on how to make something specific, please let me know, and I will do my best to create it for you. My goal is to help you in any way I can, and I don’t like anything better than posting something you might find useful.
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