Blend It: Turning Two Sounds Into One Word
Say the sounds /c/ /a/ /t/ really fast. What word do you hear? Cat! That trick is called blending, and it is the secret key that unlocks reading.
What You'll Learn
How to say sounds one at a time and then squish them together. How to blend three-sound words like sun, mat, and pig. How to tell blending apart from just naming letters.
Sounds First, Then Squish
Every word is made of small sounds. The word 'sun' has three sounds: /s/ /u/ /n/. When we say each sound slowly and then say them fast together, the word pops out: sun! Try it with your finger. Touch your thumb for /s/, your pointer finger for /u/, your middle finger for /n/. Now slide your finger across all three fast. Sun!
Pretend you are a robot that talks in slow sounds: /m/ /a/ /p/. Then switch to your regular fast voice: map! Robot talk is a fun way to practice blending anywhere, even in the car.
Practice With Real Words
Let's blend some words together, one sound at a time: /p/ /i/ /g/ becomes pig. /h/ /o/ /t/ becomes hot. /f/ /u/ /n/ becomes fun. Notice that changing just one sound makes a brand new word. If we change the middle sound in 'hot' from /o/ to /i/, we get 'hit'!
Match the slow sounds to the blended word they make.
Terms
Definitions
Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.
If you blend the sounds /s/ /i/ /t/, what word do you get?
Why do we blend sounds together when reading?
Sound Squisher Cards
Grab 5 index cards. On each one, write three sounds spaced apart, like /m/ /o/ /p/. Say each sound slowly while pointing to it, then slide your finger fast across the card and say the whole word out loud. Ask a family member to guess your word before you say it fast!
Blending is one of the very first reading superpowers scientists have studied. Kids who practice blending sounds tend to become confident readers faster, because they stop guessing at words and start building them.
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