Build Towers to Represent the Sounds in Words

Playing with blocks and building towers…. That can’t be a phonics activity, can it? Of course, it can!

Make phonics fun with this set of engaging, hands-on work mats. This resource includes a set of directions and 10 separate work mats, each containing six different pictures. Students will love seeing how tall or short their tower is for each word based on the number of sounds it contains!

How to Use These Phoneme Segmentation Work Mats

Note: Students will need access to blocks or connecting cubes for this activity.

1. Print on cardstock for durability. 
2. Provide the students with a work mat and some connecting cubes.
3. Students look at pictures and then segment the word into its phonemes. 
4. Students connect cubes to make a vertical tower to represent the number of phonemes in the word. For example, “slide” has four phonemes so that students will connect four cubes for their tower. 

Adapt the Application to Best Meet Your Students’ Needs

This versatile ELA resource can be used to meet your learners’ diverse needs in various ways. It can be used as an independent challenge for fast finishers or a focused, small-group activity with a selection of targeted learners. You could even project each work mat onto your interactive whiteboard and work through each word as a whole class.

Download the File Format That Suits You

You can use the dropdown menu next to the Download button to select between the PDF or Google Slides version of this resource.

This resource was created by Anna Helwig, a teacher in Arizona and a Teach Starter collaborator.