Beginning Sounds with Kitchen Tools — Letter K

Listen for the first sound in knife. On this sheet the child is handed the letter K and finds every one of the kitchen tools whose name begins with its sound — knife all open with K. Saying each word, catching its opening sound, then tying that sound to the letter K is the Kindergarten letter-sound link this practises, set among a spoon, a whisk and a pan.

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

Children who enjoy hunting the kitchen tools settle into saying each picture and listening for the K sound, and every match is a small win. When K feels easy, try the beginning sounds in the A-sound pictures in kitchen tools, or the B-sound pictures in kitchen tools. You can also browse every beginning-sounds worksheet or the whole kitchen tools 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.