Beginning Sounds with Animals — Letter H

Which animals begin with H? On this Kindergarten worksheet the child says each picture and keeps the ones that start with H's sound — hippopotamus and horse. Sounding out the start of hippopotamus and deciding whether it matches the letter H is letter-sound work, the bedrock of reading. The scene is full of a cat, a sheep and a hen, so there are plenty of first sounds to compare against H.

Producing the match — deciding that hippopotamus begins with H — asks a child to do real phonics: hold the sound H makes in mind and test each picture's opening against it. Because the animals include names that begin other ways, the child cannot guess; they have to listen. That careful sound-by-sound checking against the letter H is precisely what Kindergarten reading is built on.

Children who enjoy hunting the animals settle into saying each picture and listening for the H sound, and every match is a small win. When H feels easy, try the beginning sounds in the A-sound pictures in animals, or the B-sound pictures in animals. You can also browse every beginning-sounds worksheet or the whole animals collection for kindergarten — each sheet prints cleanly or plays online for free, and the more first sounds a child hunts, the quicker the link between a sound and its letter becomes automatic.