A collection of phonics objects is not complete without some CVC words represented for beginning readers to get some hands-on fun while they practice their phonics skills!
CVC phonics objects offer a fun way for new readers to practice segmenting and blending in a hands-on way!
CVC or Consonant Vowel Consonant are the first words your young reader learns, and having the physical object represented is a great way to make learning to read multi-sensory and tactile!
Bus is an example of a CVC word. These are the easiest words to work with as the sounds are usually very easy to isolate and beginning readers need these simple words
The journey of learning to read is such an exciting time for young kids, but it doesn’t come without its challenges. When in doubt, make learning fun and gamify it, keep the learning hands-on, and make it multi-sensory!
CVC Phonics Objects Table of Contents
What are CVC Phonics Objects?
To give a quick definition, phonics objects are any small items that a child can hold that represent a word.
Phonics 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 truly endless when it comes to phonics objects!
I go into more details on the why, how, and what of Phonics objects in these posts
Why We use CVC Phonics Objects.
All words have phonemes, or the smallest units of sound, put together to form a word. You can isolate or segment these sounds to help a child work on their phonological awareness. Or in other words, ‘sound it out.’
Kids will learn to isolate the beginning sounds first; it’s the easiest for them to hear. After which, they can move on to the ending sounds, and then the middle sounds last.
We use phonics objects to give tactile and real-world examples of language while children are learning to isolate sounds.
How to use CVC phonics objects
The most common way we use CVC phonics objects is sound sorting using the middle vowel sound.
Have a selection of objects that use two different middle sounds. For example, you could have cat, pan, map, sun, bus, and pup. The child will grab one object, name it, and then segment the word into its phonemes (the individual sounds in a word) in our example /c/ /a/ /t/ and decide what middle sound they hear and sort the items accordingly.
I have tons of other ways to play with phonics objects in these posts! If you’re teaching a young kid to read or helping to support reading at home, you should definitely check them out!
Other games that use phonics objects for learning to read!
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 every day, 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 to follow me there!
Where to find CVC Phonics objects
The hunt for phonics objects is like a real-world scavenger hunt mixed with an ispy game, and it’s one of my favorite things to do!
Most of my collection of phonics objects have been collected over the years and scavenged from toys lying around the house. This is the preferred and most cost-effective way to gather phonics objects.
I will link to a few items that can be worth picking up to start your collection of phonics objects or to help you fill in gaps in your collection. This list was created with all phonics objects in mind, so remember that CVC phonics objects are a little more limiting but can be found in these categories!
This post contains some affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I may receive a small commission from if you follow and decide to purchase. There would be no additional cost to you!
Some of my favorite places to find phonics 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– your gunna want a bus, jeep, and car at least, a train, and a motorcycle are also great
- Seasonal Decor
- Novelty Buttons
- magnet sets – not as cool as physical objects, but great to fill in gaps or show something where objects aren’t as clear for the word
If you know someone with a 3D printer or your library has one, you can use free online files to print elusive phonics objects! I have done 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’re 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
CVC Montessori Inspired Phonics Objects
Now on to the main attraction! Below is a tour of our current CVC phonics objects.
Short A Phonics Objects
Cap, fan, bag, tag, cat, pan, can
Other ideas for short /a/ phonics objects… baseball bat, bat, rat, ram, mat, van, jam, map
Short E Phonics Objects
jet, net, pen, ten, leg, web, hen,
Other ideas for short e phonics objects…bed, red, vet, men
Short I Phonics Objects
zip, wig, pig, lid, six, pin, sit, lip
Other ideas for short i phonics objects… bib kit, kid, rip
Short O Phonics Objects
Other ideas for short o phonics objects…, mop, dot, hog, pod, mom, cop
Short U Phonics Objects
mug, bug, gum, nut, pup, bus, sun
Other ideas for short u phonics objects… hut, bud, bun, rug, tub, cub, jug
CVC phonics objects are a great way to make learning to read more hands-on for young kids!
Other Posts you may like
