Let’s take a tour of our language objects letter by letter and get the what, where, why, and how of language objects in your phonics lessons with your young learners!
Language objects are a staple in the Montessori primary classroom and a super valuable tool for helping kids build their phonological awareness and learn to read. I tried to break down all the important info but please leave a comment if you have any questions!
Table of Contents
Why should you use Language Objects?
We use language objects to give tactile and real-world examples of language while children are learning to isolate sounds.
All words have phenomes or the smallest units of sounds from a word. You can isolate these sounds to help a child work on their phonological awareness.
Kids will learn to isolate the beginning sounds first, then the ending sounds, and then the middle sounds last.
Take the word ‘bus’. It has three phenomes, a beginning /b/, a middle /u/, and an ending /s/
Bus is an example of a CVC word, (Consonant Vowel Consonant). These are the easiest words to work with as the sounds are usually very easy to isolate and beginning readers need these simple words when you reach that point.
Children, especially young children, crave tactile and multi-sensory learning. This is the main reason we use language objects. They find it fun!
What are language objects?
Simply put, language objects are anything your child can hold that can be broken into phenomes.
You will want a sample of at least 3 language objects ( or as many as you desire/can find) that represent each of the letters from a-z. It is also a great idea to find as many CVC objects as you can, and while you won’t need them for a while yet, the digraphs (th, ch, sh, etc…) are useful as well.
The best language objects are often tiny, this serves as twofold. It’s easier to store as they don’t take up as much space and preschool children often have a fascination with tiny items. So cash in on that fascination and work learning into it!
Language objects can be anything from a small toy, to real-world items to homemade miniatures to art supplies and so much more. When possible include items related to your child’s interests; figures from their favorite movies, pictures of family members, and small toys related to their interests make it more personal and more exciting for them. The possibilities are endless!
Things to keep in mind while you are sourcing your language objects
You will want to use language objects that represent the most common sounds of the letter, so no giraffe, acorn, or pterodactyl. Generally speaking, you will want to stick with the short vowel sounds and hard consonant sounds.
Blends can be a little tricky for younger kids to isolate so just make sure you have some simpler sounds represented as well. However, some blends are definitely worth it as your kid advances with phonological awareness!
Vowel teams don’t really mean much to the young phonics student, as they are focused more on the sounds, not the letters that make the sounds. Just be aware of that and use them accordingly as your child gets more advanced with their sound game skills!
Where do you find language objects?
Oh, this is my favorite part! You can find language objects anywhere and everywhere and once you start looking it’s hard to stop!
One major note – most language objects are best found when you can raid someone’s toy collection, junk drawers, and thrift stores! I did that with my old Barbies and my husband’s old Legos and from there it has been one-off items that I’ve stashed away from my kid’s toys or just found lying around the house.
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Some of my favorite places to find language objects would be…
- Barbie sets
- Legos
- Playmobile
- Dollhouse miniatures – think the classic 1:12 scale items, this can get expensive but you can get very specific items
- Fairy Garden miniatures
- 18 in doll accessories – these do run a little larger than some of the other items on my list but are still plenty small
- Kids Dollhouse Sets – this is very similar to the dollhouse miniatures but will be a little less realistic at times, but ultimately more affordable
- Mini Erasers
- Animal and Other figures
- Minibrands – a great way to put these tiny little toys to work!
- Cars– you are definitely want a bus, jeep, and car at least, a train and a motorcycle are also great
- Seasonal Decor
- Novelty Buttons
You can also source full sets of language objects from Etsy, and Learning Resources, among other places I’m sure. Those are very tempting and if you are in need of a full set ASAP then they might be worth it. But trust me when I say you can find more than you think around your own home and the thrift store.
- magnet sets – these are better for the more advanced language objects as they are just pictures, not the actual item. that said we use ours all the time!
Bonus if you know someone with a 3D printer, you can use free online files to print elusive language objects! I don’t that with a couple of our items!
One more thing to keep in mind with your language objects. Storage.
You are going to need some way of holding and organizing your language objects. You are going to want to make it easy to pull them out without having to really think too hard about it.
I use a multi-drawer storage unit and it has been perfect. Each drawer holds two letters and at times it can be annoying to sift through items from more than one sound but the larger drawers allow for slightly larger items to fit so it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
Other ideas would be a divided box organizer, photo storage box, or wooden reusable advent box
How to use language objects?
Let me introduce you to a game you already know. Ispy. This is the bread and butter of sound games that use language objects.
How to play ispy with language objects
Lay out a small selection of language objects and say I spy something that starts with /b/ (making sure to use the phonetic sound, not the name) The child will look from item to item until they find the only time that starts with /b/ and call it out!
I wrote out more detailed instructions and ways to level the game for different skilled kids, as well as a bunch of other sound games, many of which use language objects HERE! If you are teaching a preschooler phonics I highly recommend you check it out!
Learn tons of fun ways to use language objects with lots of other sound games and sandpaper letters!
Real Life examples of how to use language objects
I document our homeschool journey on my Instagram and we are using our language objects in some way everyday, so if you want to see some real-world examples or you want to chat one-on-one about phonics and language objects make sure and follow me there!
Language Object Tour for Beginning Sounds A to Z
Let’s get to the reason you are all here, and that is a tour of our language objects! I will link exact items when I can, but most will be items as close as possible. Keep in mind most of my personal language object collection is made of items that were found in person via scavenging!
a : astronaut, apple, alligator, ax, ant
b : box, bucket, bow, boot, bus, button, bottle, bell, ball, boat, bone, bee, bowl, banana, bear, bandaid, bug, bag
c : caterpillar, comb, cactus, car, cup, clock, crown, clown, cream cheese, carrot, camera, cake, cone, cat cap, can
d : dolphin, dress, doll, domino, dinosaur, door, duck, duckling, dog, dice
e : egg, emerald, exclamation point, elephant
f : fish, flag, frog, fork, flower, flame, fly, fan, fox, feather…i have since added fries
g : glasses, gold, ghost grapes, goat, gun, gum,
h : helmet, hippo, horse, hat, hanger, hay, heart
i : ink, iguana, ice skate, ice cream, *not pictured* igloo
j : jeans, jug, jeep, jar, jam
k : king, koala, kitten, kite, kiwi, key, kangaroo …not pictured kettle
l : ladybug, log, leaf, lightbulb, llama, ladder, Lunchable, lid, lamp, lips, lego, lion, lemon
m : mermaid, muffin pan, magnifying glass, milk, man, mushroom, mug, mirror, moon, monkey
n : nest, net, necklace, narwhal, needle, nail, noodle
o : octagon, octopus, …i have since added an otter
p : penguin, pin, pen, pup, popcorn, panda, pumpkin, potion, pizza, pegasus, pan, paintbrush, pinecone, pig, present, pot, pineapple…i have since added a pie
q : Quilt(custom made), q-tip, queen, question, quarter
r : Robot, rocket, ring, rabbit, raccoon, rubber band, rock, rainbow, ruby
S : snake, star, strawberry, spoon, sock, sun, scissors, spider, snail, six, squid, snowflake, stamp…i have since added sandwich
t : tiger, tea, toothpaste, toothbrush, ten, turtle, top, tag, teddy bear, tree, truck
u: underwear, umbrella, unicorn
v : volcano (3D printed), vine … I have since added a vacuum, vest, vase, violin, and van
w : wig, watering can, wand, watch, wolf, watermelon, web …I have since added a window, whale, wagon, wheel, & whistle
x : x-ray, …other ideas use the ending sound of box, fox
y : yellow, yo-yo, yarn …I have since added yak & yield
z : zipper, zig zag, zero, zebra
But Wait There’s More…
That concludes the tour of my language object collection for the basic phonetic sounds of the alphabet. That said…I have so many more language objects that I want to share! I have CVC language objects and Montessori green series language objects, magic e language objects…and I can’t wait to share them all with you!
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This collection of Montessori language objects is fantastic for enhancing phonics skills, making learning engaging and interactive for young learners
Thank you! It’s been so fun collecting everything!