Beginning Sounds with Clothes — Letter C

Listen for the first sound in cardigan. On this sheet the child is handed the letter C and finds every one of the clothes whose name begins with its sound — cardigan, cap and coat all open with C. Saying each word, catching its opening sound, then tying that sound to the letter C is the Kindergarten letter-sound link this practises, set among a shirt, a sock and a hat.

Listening for a word's first sound and matching it to a letter is foundational phonics — the link a child needs before sounding words out. Hunting the clothes for C rehearses it concretely: say each picture, hear the start, match the letter. With cardigan, cap and coat hiding among a shirt, a sock and a hat, the child compares many opening sounds in one sitting, and the connection between the C sound and its letter grows a little more automatic each time.

Listening for C across a scene of clothes turns phonics into a game, and finishing one letter invites the next. Try the A-sound pictures in clothes, or the B-sound pictures in clothes. Browse all the beginning-sounds worksheets or the entire clothes set, free to print or play online for kindergarten, and watch how quickly a child starts catching the first sound in a word on their own.