Apple Tree Find and Cover the Blends Free Printable Mats
Use these free printable apple tree find and cover blends mats with your students to practice identifying beginning blends in words.
Apple Tree Find and Cover Blends Letter Mats
This fun learning game will be a hit in your classroom this fall! The cute, apple-themed blend mats will help reinforce letter recognition while working on identifying beginning blends in words. Practicing beginning blend skills and letter recognition is key for students in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade.
This hands-on phonics activity would be the perfect addition to your literacy centers, small groups, partner practice, independent stations, or to send home with your students over the weekend. There are a ton of different ways to use this versatile activity.
As your students practice, they’ll learn letters and letter sounds as they practice saying the words, determining the blend, and matching the picture to the correct blend on the game board. Once they find the match, they’ll cover it with their game piece.
In this free printable, you will get 3 apple tree-themed mats that have blends on them. Then, 3 sets of picture cards that go with the mats. The matching game is so simple to use with your students and so easy to prepare for you!
Simple to Prepare
This apple tree blend activity makes planning for and prepping your lesson plans a breeze. All you need to do is simply print the find and cover mats and slide them into a write-and-wipe pocket or laminate them for durability. Print and laminate the picture cards and cut them out, and prep is finished!
The great thing about having prep this easy is you’ll save so much time during your planning period. You can use these all year long in your literacy centers or for a simple phonics activity.
Setting Up the Apple Tree Find and Cover Blends Mats
Supplies Needed:
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- Apple Tree Find and Cover Blends Mats with Picture Cards (button to download is at the bottom of this post)
- Small manipulatives or mini erasers
- Write and wipe pockets (optional)
Instructions:
- Print the mats and picture cards.
- Slide the mats into write and wipe pockets OR laminate them.
- Laminate the picture cards. (optional)
- Cut the picture cards and store in a baggie.
- Gather manipulatives, such as buttons, mini erasers, etc.
- Store the entire activity in a large bag or storage container.
How to Play
This apple tree find and cover blends game has easy-to-understand directions, perfect for little learners!
To play, students will flip over a picture card from the pile and determine the picture name.
Next, they’ll determine the blend that is in the picture name.
Finally, students will find the corresponding blend on the apple tree and cover it with their manipulative. Play continues until all of the spaces on the mat are covered.
Multiple Ways to Use
This apple tree find and cover game can easily be differentiated to meet the various needs of your students and their skill level. Students who may not be ready for blends can practice letter identification using magnetic letters, letter beads, or another alphabet manipulative to cover the letters on the mat. This gives them a little bit more exposure to what the letter looks like and helps them make those connections.
More advanced students can practice using their word in a sentence. Then record it on paper for you to check later. They could also try to think of another word that has that blend in it and record it on paper for you.
The 3 game boards are organized into an l blend board, s blend board, and an r blend board. So you could assign different boards to different students to meet their needs.
These apple tree find and cover letter mats would be beneficial to use during:
- Whole group practice (students take turns drawing and covering)
- Small group practice
- Literacy centers
- Partner practice
- Independent work
- Morning work
- Early finishers
- Tutoring activity
- Apple unit
Your students are going to love these apple tree find and cover blends mats for practicing blends and phonics skills. They will be reading in no time with this learning activity. Need some uppercase and lowercase letter find and cover mats? Check out my palm tree-themed mats here!
Click the button below to grab your free copy of the Apple Tree Match and Cover Activity.
Here are some more apple activities!
Apple Tree Beginning Sounds Find and Cover Mats
Apple Number Towers Number Sense Activity
Apple Beginning Sounds Matching Mats
Apple Beginning Sounds Write the Room
Editable Apple Find and Cover Words Mats
Apple Tree Addition to 10 Cards