Clap the Parts

What Clap the Parts practices

Clap the Parts practices hearing syllables, the beats in a spoken word. Your child sees a picture, such as a rabbit, a basket, a magnet or a pumpkin, and claps once for each part they hear.

Each clap reveals the next chunk of the word and says it, so rabbit builds up as rab, then rab-bit. The number of parts is never shown up front, so the counting comes from your child’s own ear.

Who it suits

Pre-readers from about four, and early readers who are starting on longer words. Breaking a word into beats is easier than breaking it into single sounds, so it is a friendly place to begin listening work.

How a round goes

Your child says the pictured word and taps the big clap button once per part. Too few claps simply waits for more. One clap too many shows a cheeky “Too many — try again” and the word resets.

When the count is right, the whole word appears and is spoken with a tick and the number of parts. Each round is one word, so a ring of five takes about two minutes.

A tip for home

Clap out names at the table: “Ga-bri-el, three claps! Mom, one clap!” Then try toys, foods and pets. Saying the word slowly with a hand under the chin, which drops once per beat, is another way to feel the parts.

Try next

• Split the Word — finds the same syllable break in a printed word.
• Do you hear it? — listens for single sounds, one step smaller than syllables.
• Syllable Types — names the pattern inside each syllable for older readers.
• First Sound — listens for the first sound of a word, a smaller piece than a syllable.

More from “Listening for sounds”

• Sound Sort — Listen for a sound and find every picture that has it.
• Same or Different? — Hear whether two words sound the same.

Read more

How to teach blending, step by step: starting with big spoken chunks like sun-shine before moving to single sounds.