Halloween Beginning Sounds Clip Cards

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I’ve created these FREE Halloween Beginning Sounds Clip Cards, with some of the pictures that are traditionally part of the Halloween theme, but also familiar to your preschoolers, which probably have described with detail their Halloween costumes for the parade, and where they are going to “trick or treating” on Halloween night by now. Right? This will give you the perfect opportunity to use their enthusiasm to introduce new activities related to the theme.

Let’s be real….. you and I both know that you will probably do the same type of activities you do throughout the year because we know that you have to use constant repetition for them to be able to learn. The trick is that when you change how these activities look and give them a theme, children will think that they are doing something completely new and will get excited and ready to learn all over again.

When you do this, you encourage your children to get engaged, and interested in the new activity you are presenting, and this will give meaning to their learning process.

When you plan your Halloween theme, always take into consideration not to bring something scary. Even when you use things like witches, ghosts, bats, and spiders, children find them fun but just using pictures with smiles and sweet faces.

This activity will allow preschoolers to practice their object recognition or identification, match the picture with its beginning sound, one-to-one correspondence, fine motor skills, and pre-writing skills. It doesn’t require too much preparation and is super fun and educational. It can also be used in the classroom or at home.

Make sure to grab your FREE set at the end of this post!

How to Prepare Your Halloween Beginning Sounds Clip Cards

Print each page using white cardstock to make the cards strong enough to support daily use. Cut them out and laminate them to make them last longer. Place them on a basket with clothespins, for easy use.

This activity comes with three pages with six cards each using different pictures, for a total of 18 cards, using the letters s (for spider and skeleton), g (for ghost), j (for jack-o-lantern), c (for candy corn, cauldron, candle, cat and castle), m (for mouse), w (for witch and web), h (for hat), o (for owl), m (for moon), b (for bat and broom), and t (for tree).

How to Use The Clip Cards

As I always say, it is a good practice to print out multiple copies of the activities and place them in different centers, to encourage your preschoolers to use them. That way you can use them as:

Small group activity
Literacy center option
Writing center
Take home game
Quiet area option

Begin by introducing them to your preschoolers as a phonemic awareness activity, having your kiddos identify the picture, and then reviewing beginning letter names and sounds.

After you finish this activity, give the child the cards and clothespins. Instruct them to pick one card at a time, name the object, and place the clothespin on top of the correct letter that represents the beginning sound.

Extension Activities

To extend the activity and make it more interesting, you can:

Add in manipulatives such as mini erasers, buttons, pom poms, mini figurines, or any other materials, and have the children mark the beginning sound with those manipulatives instead.
Have the children trace the letters using dry-erase markers, or copy them on a white paper using pencils, markers, or crayons.
Match each letter with plastic, wooden, or foam letters.
Draw their favorite pictures.
Combine it with my FREE Bats Castle Alphabet Cards and my Friendly Ghost Counting Mats activities.

Halloween Related Storybooks

I cannot avoid telling you about the importance of reading to your children. Studies have demonstrated that children who are exposed to stories every day develop a more extensive vocabulary, imagination, pre-writing, and pre-writing skills among other benefits. Books are also a great way to get the children involved with the theme you are using and get more motivation and readiness to learn.

These are some stories you can use for this theme. You can find them at your local library, used book store, and on Amazon. If you click on the titles my affiliate links will take you directly to the Amazon page, where you can purchase your favorites.

Noelle and the Haunted House: A Children’s Halloween Book by Mikaela Wilson. This is the perfect book to showcase children using their creative thinking and ingenuity to design and implement their own Halloween fun, encouraging creativity and mental development, fostering resourcefulness and imagination, and promoting ownership and follow-through of a project.

The Spooky Wheels on the Bus by J. Elizabeth Mills. Count from One Spooky Bus up to Ten Goofy Ghosts as this Halloween ride races through town picking up a few unsuspecting passengers along the way! Eye-catching art and a bouncy, countdown rhyme is sure to make this a read-aloud favorite!

The Night Before Halloween by Natasha Wing. Little monsters and goofy goblins take center stage in this silly, spooky spin on Clement C. Moore’s beloved poem. But what will happen on Halloween when the monsters come face to face with human trick-or-treaters in this fun-filled book?

Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell. This gentle story and beautifully detailed illustrations give an intimate look at the cycle of life, as a pumpkin named Jack begins to rot when Halloween is over. Tim set it out in the garden and watched it change.

Corduroy’s Best Halloween Ever! by Don Freeman. Halloween is almost here, and Corduroy is going to have a party. He and his friends will carve a jack-o’-lantern, bob for apples, and go trick-or-treating! But there is one problem-Corduroy needs to choose a costume. What will he wear?

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 it to your Literacy and Halloween Pinterest boards, so you can have it available when you need it.

I hope that you and your students enjoy this Friendly Ghosts Counting Mats printable, and help learn or review their numbers and counting abilities! Don’t forget to grab your FREE printable, by clicking on the link below.

Are you looking for more Halloween ideas and activities, similar to do at home or in the classroom? If so, check out some more ideas on the links below and my site’s Holidays page.

Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.

Love,

P.D. Please let me know if these clip cards worked for you, or if you think I need to add or replace something. My goal is to help you in any way I can and I don’t like anything better than to post something that you might find useful. Also, if you came up with different ideas and want to share them, I would love to post them as well.