Beginning Sounds Activity: Race Around the Track

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Race into learning letter sounds with this interactive beginning sounds activity.

This printable activity is perfect for promoting phonemic awareness. It’s great for students who have learned their letters but haven’t learned their sounds, and it’s also great for reviewing letter sounds.

You can add it to a literacy center or use it in one on one lessons to help your student learn initial letter sounds.

Supplies Needed for Race Track Beginning Sounds Activity

You’ll need the following supplies for this alphabet activity:

White Cardstock
Laminator or Plastic Page Protectors
Matchbox Cars or Hot Wheels Cars or any toy cars

What’s Included in the Printable File?

The ABC Racing Mats include one activity mat for each consonant and two activity mats for each vowel (one for short sounds and one for long sounds).

These are the words included on the mats:

A (short sound): astronaut, ant, apple, ax
A (long sound): alien, anchor, acorn, apron
B: ball, banana, bear, bee
C: cat, cupcake, candle, cookie
D: donut, dolphin, dollar, deer
E (short sound): elbow, elephant, elf, egg
E (long sound): easel, eagle, eraser, ear
F: fence, feather, foot, fire

G: gorilla, gum, goat, game
H: hamburger, hedgehog, hand, hippo
I (short sound): insects, ill, inchworm, igloo
I (long sound): iron, island, ice, ice cream
J: jacket, jam, jellyfish, juice
K: key, kite, koala, kick (or karate)
L: lion, lamp, leaf, ladybug
M: monkey, muffin, mouse, mushroom
N: nail, nose, ninja, net
O (short sound): octagon, otter, olive, ox
O (long sound): orange, overalls, oval, open

P: pumpkin, penguin, pretzel, paint
Q: quarter, queen, question, quilt
R: raccoon, robot, rocket, ring
S: seahorse, sock, sun, soap
T: tiger, turtle, taco, tooth
U (short sound): umbrella, underwear, upside down, unlock
U (long sound): uniform, unicycle, ukulele, unicorn
V: vest, vulture, van, vase
W: wheel, watermelon, web, waffle
X: mix, box, six, fox
Y: yak, yogurt, yarn, yawn
Z: zebra, zero, zipper, zeppelin

How to Prepare the Beginning Sounds Activity

This activity is simple to prep, and once you’ve done it, you’ll have an activity that is ready to be used over and over again.

Choose the black and white or the full color version to print.
Print the alphabet mats on cardstock.
If you choose the black and white version, use the pages as coloring pages before you laminate.
Laminate the mats or place them in plastic page protectors.

Ways to Use the Race Around the Track Activity

You can use this activity in a variety of ways to learn or reinforce beginning letter sounds.

If you choose the black and white version, use each page as a coloring page before you laminate or put them in plastic page protectors.
Choose one mat to work on and ask your student questions. What letter is this? The letter A! Do you know what sound the letter A makes?
Give your student a toy car to race around the mat. As your student moves around the mat, ask her to stop at each picture. What is that? Can you hear the B sound? B-b-b ball. B-b-b bear. B-b-b banana.
Ask your student to drive backwards! Can he remember the sound for the letter? Can he demonstrate at each picture?
Ask: What other words can we think of that start with this letter?
Drive the toy car around the room and hunt for more words or objects that begin with the same letter.