Consonant Blends for Kindergarten: Free Printables, Games, and Teaching Tips

Once your Kindergarten students have mastered how to blend, spell, and read CVC words fluently, you may find yourself wondering—what’s next? One of the next foundational phonics skills to introduce is consonant blends. In this post, I’m sharing my favorite consonant blends for Kindergarten activities that you can use during whole group lessons, centers, or independent work.

What is a Consonant Blend?

Consonant blends are two (or sometimes three) consonants that appear together in a word, where both sounds are heard. Unlike digraphs, which make one sound (like “sh” or “ch”), blends keep their individual sounds but are “blended” together when spoken.

The most common types of consonant blends in Kindergarten are:

• L-blends: bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl
• R-blends: br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr
• S-blends: sc, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw

These blends can appear at the beginning or end of words. In Kindergarten, we typically focus on beginning blends first.

When to Teach Consonant Blends

I always teach digraphs first—like sh, ch, and th—as those make one sound. Once my students can fluently blend and read CVC words, I move into consonant blends, which are two sounds said together.

Teaching digraphs and blends back-to-back helps students quickly transition into reading more challenging four- and five-letter words—setting them up for long vowel patterns later on.

How to Teach Consonant Blends in Kindergarten (with a Free “FL” Blend Lesson!)

Here’s a walkthrough of the free “FL” lesson included in your download below! You can teach this whole group or in a small group setting. I like to teach the first 2 parts whole group, then use the 2 additional activities for centers or independent work to practice what we're learning.

Step 1: Introduce the Blend with an Anchor Chart

Start by displaying an L-Blends anchor chart that shows each blend (bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl) with a picture clue. Circle or highlight “fl” and tell students this is the blend they’ll be focusing on today. Say the sounds separately and then together: “/f/… /l/… fl.” Give examples like flag, flip, and flower.

Let students say the blend and repeat a few example words chorally.

Step 2: Write the Room – FL Words

Get students moving with a Write the Room activity! Hang cards with l- blends around the room. Give students clipboards and recording sheets so they can walk around, find the words, and write the correct l- blend next to the matching picture.

This builds vocabulary, spelling, and fluency all at once—plus, it gets the wiggles out!

Step 3: Cut and Paste FL/GL Blend Sort

Next, bring in some visual discrimination with a cut-and-paste sort. Students look at pictures and decide whether the word starts with fl or gl. This is great practice for distinguishing between similar-sounding blends and applying their phonemic awareness.

Bonus: this makes an easy center activity or independent practice page for fast finishers!

Step 4: Spin & Cover Center Game

Finally, wrap up with a fun phonics game: Spin & Cover Consonant Blends! Students spin to land on a blend (bl, fl, gl, etc.), then find and cover a picture that starts with that blend. It’s a simple way to review multiple L-blends and reinforce beginning blend identification.

Want the Free FL Blend Lesson Plan + Printables?

This full FL blend mini lesson, plus all the printable activities, is ready for you to use in your classroom today! It’s perfect for helping your students learn to recognize, read, and build words with consonant blends—and it sets the stage for more advanced phonics skills later on.

When you sign up, you’ll also get my 3-part email series walking you through how I teach consonant blends, more no-prep activity games, along with a sneak peek inside my Kindergarten Consonant Blends & Digraphs Unit—packed with hands-on phonics lessons, printables, games, and more.

4 More Fun Consonant Blends Activities for Kindergarten to Try!

Once you've taught blends in a whole-group lesson, it's important to reinforce the skill through repeated exposure. Here are a few of my favorite activities to rotate through centers or use for independent work:

Consonant Blends Matching Mats

This Matching Mats activity is a great way to begin identifying the blend and knowing the pattern and sound that goes with it. Students will look at their mat, and then identify the blend for each picture. They will find that matching blend and stick it next to the picture. I like using velcro for this activity so students can reuse it over and over again.

Picture Sorts

Have students sort images by beginning blends—great for auditory discrimination.

Roll and Read

Students roll a die and read a blend word from the corresponding row.

Magnet Mats

Perfect for spelling blends without the pressure of writing the full word. Students use magnetic letters to build the beginning sound.

Want to try these consonant blends activities? Find them and more below!

You can find the Digraphs and Consonant Blends Phonics Unit for Kindergarten on TPT here which includes all of these activities. 

If you teach First Grade, I have a separate unit for each. The Digraphs Unit covers both beginning and ending digraphs, along with more spelling activities. The Consonant Blends Unit covers both beginning and ending consonant blends, along with additional spelling activities. 

Shop all Consonant Blends Resources on TPT here

If you are looking for more activities and how to practice digraphs, check out this blog post here: 4 Activities to Practice Digraphs in Kindergarten.