Students have to circle the phoneme blends that appear in specific words. Print out pictures of images that contain blends that you have been working on and underneath each picture, write two phoneme blends; one that is used at the beginning of the words the picture illustrates and one that isn't used. For example, underneath a picture of a block, write the blends "bl" and "br." Encourage children to say the word that the picture illustrates aloud and then have the students circle the correct blend used in the word. In the given example, students should circle the "bl" blend.
Organize a game show activity that familiarizes students with phoneme blends. Divide your class into two teams and invite two students from each team to stand at the front of the classroom. Say a word and tell students that the two must identify the blend heard at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the word. For example, you could say, "In the word "shipment," what letters make up the blend heard at the end of the word?" The first student to correctly identify the letters that create the blend; in this case, "ment," earns a point for his team. Continue playing until all students have had a turn and the team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Encourage students to create words that contain specific blends. On the board, write down a letter blend and ask students to create lists that start with the given blend. For example, if you write the blend "br" on the board, children may write the words "breakfast," "brunch," "brown" and "bread." Ask students to share the lists of words and add the list to a phoneme blend chart that the class can refer to when reading or writing.
Students must sort through items that contain letter blends. Print out pictures of items that contain different blends; the blends can be heard at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the word. Focus on three to four blends for this activity. Instruct children to sort the pictures into blend piles; for example, a picture of a dentist and a street would be placed in the same pile, as both contain the "st" blend.