Our free Blends Bingo game is a fun way for your kids to practice 6 different R consonant blends! This consonant blend game is easy to prepare and fun to play. Simply print the free printable kindergarten phonics game and watch your kids play and learn. It is the perfect activity for kindergartener and first graders too.
Blend Bingo
Would it surprise you to know that learning to read is not a natural process? Some children seem to be natural readers, but it does not come easily to a lot of students. Most of us are born with language abilities hardwired into our brains. Given time, we learn to speak from the people who talk to us each day. It comes naturally and we don’t need much instruction. Reading is not the same. It requires teaching and then a lot of practice for our kids to build the skills needed to become a fluent reader.
The path to literacy takes time. Children slowly learn many different skills that build one on top of the other until suddenly a child can read. It is like watching a lightbulb come on in their brain. Quite honestly, there is no better feeling than watching a child reach that point! Once our children have learned the alphabet and short vowel sounds, we can build on that knowledge by teaching them how letters interact to create sounds. Blends and digraphs are two ways letters work together within words.
Phonics Printables
Start by scrolling to the bottom of the post, under the terms of use, and click on the text link that says >> _____ <<. The phonics worksheets for kindergarten pdf file will open in a new window for you to save the freebie and print the template.
What is The Difference Between a Digraph and a Blend?
A digraph is a pair of letters that makes one sound. A blend is a group or pair of letters that work together, and you can hear each sound that each letter would normally make. Let’s look at a couple of examples.
- Desk has one consonant blend sk. You can hear the s and k sounds when saying the word, but you blend them together into sk.
- Black Has a consonant blend of the letters bl AND a digraph of the final sound ck.
R Consonant Blends
Today we are focusing on the R consonant blends. To keep things simple, we have limited our words to those that start with these blended sounds. These are the 6 R blends we are using in our game.
- CR- Crown, Cry, Crack
- DR Drum, Dress, Drink
- FR Fruit, Frog, Friend
- GR- Grape, Grin, Grass
- PR- Present, Princess, Price
- TR- Treasure, Tree, Truck
Consonant Blend Game
You know we are a big fan of hands-on activities for this age group. So, while children can benefit from worksheets, we try to include some games as well.
We’ve created a FREE R Blends Bingo game for you to download and put together. Children will enjoy playing it and it is an easy way to practice those consonant blends. The best part is that it is very easy to prep and doesn’t require a lot of materials.
What Does This Game Practice?
This easy game practices two main skills
- Hearing and identifying 6 different beginning R blends
- Finding words beginning with those blends on their Bingo mat.
The game can be played in the same way as a traditional bingo game. You pull out a call card and say the word aloud. Players use buttons or counters to cover a picture that starts with the same consonant blend. For example, if you say the word Truck, players will need to cover the picture of the Tree or Treasure Chest on their mat. We have also included a set of calling cards that match the pictures on the mat.
Kindergarten Phonics Game
There are two sets of calling card and three different mats. One set of mats has been made in color, the other in black or white.
Each Bingo mat contains the same images, but they are placed in different places. Each mat has a matching picture for every call card. Younger readers will find this easier as they know they must find a picture for each card called.
MATERIALS NEEDED
- Free blends bingo printable
- Card stock
- Laminator
- Scissors or paper cutter
- Buttons or counters
PREPARATION
- Print the calling cards and as a mat for each player.
- Laminating mats will make them studier
- Cut the calling cards apart along the dotted lines.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Each player needs one mat and some counters or buttons.
- Place the calling cards in a bowl and mix them up. Pull out each card in turn and read the word aloud.
- Players use buttons or counters to cover a picture that starts with the same consonant blend
- Any player who covers a complete row shouts out Bingo. They win that round. If you prefer you could play until players have covered their whole card.
Some Hints For Beginners
- Listening and identifying the beginning blends is tricky skill for any child at first. You can help by emphasising the blend sound as you say the word.
- If your child is still struggling, use the calling cards that match the pictures. You can still emphasize the blend as you say the word. When your child covers the matching picture, invite them to name another word that begins with the same blend.
- If they are still finding it hard, you may need to go back and work on some basic phonemic awareness activities. Children who cannot hear different sounds yet will struggle to play this game.
Homeschool tip: Every child develops at a different pace. Most of the time, these differences are the result of genetics not a mark of intelligence. Some children simply take longer and need more practice.
 
Blends Activities
Looking for more blends activities for young learners? You will love these resources:
- Final Consonant Ending Blends Games
- Practice Consonant Blends with cute printable puzzles
- Slide and Read Blends Activity
- Beginning Blends Fall Activities for 1st Grade
- Blue Bird Sorting Blends Activity
- Read and Color Ending Blends Worksheets
- Mitten Initial Blends Winter Activities for 1st Grade
- Initial Blends Matching Game for kids
- Do a Dot Ending Blends Worksheet
- Ending Blends Bingo Dauber Worksheets
- Ch, Sh, Th Digraph Game
- Read and Clip Consonant Blends Activities
- Handy L Blends Worksheets with magenetic letters
- Graph a Blends Activities for 2nd graders
- Floss Rule Worksheets
- Free Printable Color by Blend Worksheet
- Ending S Blends Clip Cards
- Printable nk Ending Blends Clip Cards
- NG Words for Kids Game
- BIngo Dabber ng and nk worksheets
- Th Worksheets – Read th blends in sentences
- R Controlled Vowel Worksheets
- Free printable Blends Worksheets with dot markers
We hope you and your children enjoyed our free game! Click the link below to download it if you haven’t snagged it yet. Our hope is that we can continue to make learning fun and enjoyable for you and your child! Have you found any other activities to practice consonant blends? Let us know in the comments below. We hope that this article has been helpful and if so, please share it on social media or email the link to friends who might also find it interesting.
r Blend Words
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