Animal Pictures Beginning Sounds Worksheet

Beginning sounds are where reading starts. Before a child can blend a whole word, she has to hear the very first sound in it and know which letter spells that sound. The animal pictures beginning sounds worksheet gives kindergarten students nine chances to do exactly that, using animals they already know how to name. A child looks at a picture, says the animal name out loud, listens hard to the sound at the front of the word, and writes the letter that spells it.

This sheet is built for independent work. Each of the nine cards holds one clear animal picture and the rest of its name already printed, so the only thing a child has to supply is the missing first letter. That printed ending does real teaching work: it pins the name down, so a child writing t for the tiger card is not left wondering whether to call the picture a cat, a lion, or a kitty. Use it as morning work, as a literacy center, as a quick check after a letter-sound lesson, or as homework. This kindergarten animal beginning sounds practice page works just as well one-on-one at the kitchen table as it does with a whole class, and the answer key on page two means a parent or a helper can check it in seconds.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• 9 animal picture cards, one beginning letter to write on each

Three things make this page worth the paper. First, it asks a child to PRODUCE the letter rather than circle one of three printed choices, which is the harder and more useful skill and the one a running record will actually test. Second, every blank on the page is the same length, so nothing about the layout hints at which letter belongs where and a child has to listen her way to the answer. Third, the nine animals stretch across nine different consonants, so the sheet samples the alphabet broadly instead of drilling one letter over and over. The animal pictures beginning sounds worksheet also carries real handwriting value, because the child forms each lowercase letter herself on a roomy kindergarten writing line.

Try saying the animal names in a slow, stretched-out voice before anyone picks up a pencil, so the first sound stands out on its own. Play a quick sorting game with toy animals or picture cards and ask children to put everything that starts with the same sound in one pile. Go on a beginning-sound hunt around the room or the yard and name five things that start like monkey. Sing an alphabet song and pause right before each letter so the class supplies it. And when the sheet is finished, turn it over and ask your child to draw one more animal and write its first letter underneath.

Related Resources

• Beginning Sounds Worksheet – Animal
• Under the Sea Beginning Sounds Worksheet
• Beginning Sounds Worksheet
• Alphabet Animals Song (Animated Music Video)