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Kindergarten Phonics Worksheets

5 strands5 ready to print299 worksheetsUS Letter or A4

Letter sounds, beginning sounds, rhyming, syllables, short vowels, CVC words, digraphs and blends, with answer keys.

The phonics year, in order

From the first letter to the first sentence. Ready strands link to worksheets; the rest are on the way.

  1. Letters and sounds

    73 sheets ready

    Naming every uppercase and lowercase letter, linking each letter to its sound, and hearing the first sound in a word.

    Letter sounds

    One alphabet sounds page for every letter from A to Z, with pictures to circle, letters to trace and four review pages, all with answer keys.

    30 worksheets

    Beginning sounds

    Say the picture, hear the first sound, find its letter: write the beginning sound, circle it, match it, and cut and sort by sound.

    20 worksheets

    ABC chart

    A printable alphabet chart with a picture for every letter, a letter sound chart, a big uppercase and lowercase chart, desk strips and fill-in charts.

    6 worksheets

    Letter recognition

    Find and color look-alike letters, match uppercase and lowercase, put letters in ABC order and sort letters, with answer keys on page 2.

    17 worksheets

  2. Phonological awareness

    57 sheets ready

    Hearing and playing with the sounds in spoken words: rhymes, syllables, onsets and rimes, and blending and separating single sounds.

    Rhyming words

    Picture-based rhyming practice for kindergarten: match and circle rhymes, spot the word that does not rhyme, write the first letter, and a printable rhyming words list.

    13 worksheets

    Syllables

    Clap, count, sort and blend syllables with picture worksheets, from one-clap words like cat to four-clap words like watermelon, plus a syllable word list.

    11 worksheets

    Onset and rime

    Picture worksheets for blending and splitting onsets and rimes (c + at = cat), with answer keys, plus cut-out word slides for the -at, -og, -ig and -en families.

    7 worksheets

    Phonemic awareness

    Picture worksheets for blending sounds, segmenting and counting sounds, first, middle and last sounds, and adding or changing a sound, plus a guide of daily oral games.

    16 worksheets

    Compound words

    A compound words list for kids, a picture chart, and worksheets where children put two words together (sun + flower = sunflower), match halves, split and write compound words.

    10 worksheets

  3. Vowels and CVC words

    71 sheets ready

    Short vowel sounds, telling vowels from consonants, hearing the middle and ending sounds, and reading and spelling three-letter words like cat, bed and sun.

    Short vowels

    Short a, e, i, o and u sounds with pictures: circle the sound, write the missing vowel, read and match, plus short and long vowel charts.

    21 worksheets

    Vowels and consonants

    A clear vowels and consonants chart plus sorting, coloring, tracing and find-the-vowel pages for kindergarten.

    9 worksheets

    Ending and middle sounds

    Hear the last and middle sounds in CVC words: write the last letter, circle the ending or middle sound, change a sound and pick the right look-alike word.

    10 worksheets

    CVC words

    Short-vowel CVC words to read and write: a printable word list, 17 word family sheets, sound boxes for each vowel, vowel sorts and a missing vowel page.

    31 worksheets

    Word families

    A page for each of 17 short-vowel word families: read the family, trace and write three words, then make new words with letter boxes.

    17 worksheets

    Elkonin boxes

    Printable sound boxes: blank 2-, 3- and 4-box templates for any word, and word sets with answer keys for 2-sound, CVC and 4-sound words.

    10 worksheets

  4. Digraphs and blends

    47 sheets ready

    Two letters that make one sound (sh, ch, th, wh) and two consonant sounds blended together (st, fr, bl), for children ready to stretch past CVC words.

    Digraphs

    A digraphs chart, a word list and picture sorts, fill-ins and read-and-match pages for sh, ch, th, wh and ck, each with an answer key.

    35 worksheets

    Consonant blends

    A consonant blends chart and word list, l-, r- and s-blend fill-ins, circle-the-blend pages, a picture sort, ending blends and tracing pages.

    12 worksheets

  5. Sight words

    51 sheets ready

    Common words children learn to read and write on sight, such as the, and, is and you.

    Sight words

    One page for each of 50 kindergarten sight words, from I and the to where and that, plus a checklist to track the words your child can read and write.

    51 worksheets

About kindergarten phonics

Phonics is how children learn that letters stand for sounds, and that those sounds blend into words. In kindergarten that starts with two things: hearing the sounds in spoken words (rhymes, syllables, the first sound in sun) and linking each letter to its sound. By spring, most children can sound out and spell short words like cat, pig and sun.

These kindergarten phonics worksheets follow that path. Start with letter sounds and beginning sounds, using the ABC chart as a reference. Add rhyming, syllables and other sound play at the same time, because hearing sounds and matching them to letters grow together. Then move to short vowels and CVC words, and finish with digraphs like sh, ch and th and blends like st and fr for children who are ready.

Every page is black and white with simple pictures a five-year-old names the same way every time, so a child can work without a grown-up guessing what a picture is. Sheets print on US Letter or A4 with half-inch margins, and any page with right answers has an answer key on page 2 that lists the picture names.

Questions

What phonics should a kindergartner know by the end of the year?

Under Common Core, kindergartners name all upper- and lowercase letters, know the main sound for each consonant and the long and short sounds of the five vowels, and hear and say the first, middle and last sounds in words like cat. They also recognize rhymes, count syllables and read common sight words.

Where should we start with phonics?

Start with letter sounds and beginning sounds, with an ABC chart nearby. Practice rhyming and clapping syllables at the same time. Once your child knows most letter sounds, move on to short vowels and blending CVC words.

What is the difference between phonics and phonemic awareness?

Phonemic awareness is hearing and working with sounds in spoken words, with no letters involved, like knowing that cat has three sounds. Phonics links those sounds to letters. Children need both, and they help each other.

How much phonics practice does a kindergartner need?

About ten to fifteen minutes a day is plenty. A short, daily page done out loud, with a grown-up saying the sounds clearly, works better than a long session once a week.

Are digraphs and blends kindergarten skills?

Digraphs (sh, ch, th) and blends (st, fr) are mostly taught in first grade, but many kindergartners are ready for them in the spring. Use those pages once CVC words feel easy.