How about some easy and fun consonant blends activities to level up your word work?! They’re the perfect addition to your small groups, morning work or literacy centers. Let’s check them out!

What are consonant blends?

A consonant blend is a unit made up of two or three adjacent consonants. We typically categorize them in a couple different ways:

• Double consonant blends (i.e. sn and cl)
• Triple consonant blends (i.e. thr and spl)
• Beginning blends (i.e. cr and pl)
• Ending blends (i.e. nd and sp)

Display blends in the classroom

As you teach beginning and ending consonant blends, be sure to post them in your classroom along with a picture. This provides easy access to the spelling pattern, along with repeated exposure. The picture provides a sample of a word that includes the blend, along with a hint for how it’s pronounced.

Create a blend mini-book

To provide students with additional practice, create a simple mini book of activities. Each book requires three printed pages and no prep for the teacher. Your students will need writing utensils, including a highlighter or light colored marker. If you would like your students to assemble these books themselves, they will need scissors and a stapler. (This is a great resource for a classroom helper or parent to assemble in advance!)

Each mini book includes the following pages:

• A cover page the shows the blend and a matching picture that is spelled using the pattern
• Fill in the blend page with pictures
• Highlight words that include the pattern
• Find “silly” (nonsense) words that include the pattern
• Trace and illustrate four words that include the blend

Where can I use these activities?

Personally, I had my students create their blend books during literacy centers. Once students are familiar with the process of completing a book, it takes them approximately 10-15 minutes to complete and assemble the book. They would also be perfect for morning work. Because they’re fairly simple and self-explanatory, I would feel comfortable sending them home for additional practice or homework, too.

Additional Resources

Truly, word work is my FAVORITE. I have a LOT of activities to help you teach phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling and more. Click here to check out a great post about spelling!

I’d also LOVE for you to sample the blend book activity mentioned in this post. Simply fill out the form below to give them a try! (PS. Even if you’re already subscribed to email, you’ll still need to fill it out. Sorry about that! It’s just the easiest way to share content with everyone!)