Find letters by sound: Letter Hunt

What Letter Hunt practices

Letter Hunt asks your child to retrieve a taught lowercase letter from its sound. The game says a sound, such as /a/, and the child finds all three copies of its letter among eight slightly tilted letters.

The target is not printed as a clue. The board prefers taught lookalikes, including b, d and p once enough of that group has been taught, and fills remaining spaces with other taught letters that have different sounds. Your child listens for the sound, recalls its letter and finds every matching shape.

Who it suits

Children who know some letter sounds and need practice retrieving a lowercase letter from its sound among taught visual alternatives.

How a round goes

Your child taps letters on the board. A right letter says its sound, lights up and flies into the found tray. A wrong one says its own sound, then “Try again”, and wobbles, so the comparison is right there in your child’s ears.

One hunt is three finds and takes well under a minute. A ring of five hunts is a nice little sitting, and the speaker button in the corner says the sound again whenever your child wants to hear it.

A tip for home

Open a familiar picture book, say a sound, and look together for three copies of its letter on the page. Compare any similar shapes aloud as you search.

Try next

• Say the Sound — flips it around: see the letter, say its sound.
• Which Way Round? — compares an upright letter with its mirror image.
• Big & Little — pairs each lowercase letter with its capital.
• Build the Letter — also starts from a heard sound, then builds b, d, p or q from a stick and a ball.

More from “Letters and their sounds”

• Letter Trace — Trace letters to practice how they are written.

Read more

Dyslexia, or just behind?: more context for parents about letter mix-ups and reading development.