“How do you spell pet?” I asked my first-grade daughter. The global pandemic had just started and she was doing distance learning at home.
Her teacher gave an assignment. She needed to write an 8-sentence paragraph about her favorite type of pet.
She was in tears because she couldn’t write the word pet. She literally couldn’t hear the sounds in the word.
She didn’t know where one sound ended and another began. She couldn’t spell it if she couldn’t break it apart.
At that moment, I realized she had a learning disability. We had a lot of work to do before she could spell or write.
We needed to work on breaking words into their individual sounds. Printable Elkonin Boxes are fantastic for developing this skill.
And it’s not just for children with reading disabilities. All children need to be able to take apart words into sounds.
Using printable Elkonin Boxes is a simple way to work on hearing sounds and breaking apart words. Grab the free printable Elkonin Boxes today.
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Elkonin Boxes were first created by D. B. Elknonin. He was a psychologist who used them as a tool to make sounds concrete for children.
Children simply have a set of boxes – either on a printable or on a whiteboard. Then an adult says a word to the children.
They push a token, piece of paper, or small toy into an Elkonin Box for each sound they hear.
Elkonin Boxes are an incredibly powerful tool for developing phonemic awareness skills in children.
As I’ve shared about using Elkonin Boxes on social media, it became clear that parents and teachers wanted printable Elkonin Boxes.
Sure, you can make or draw your own. But sometimes you just need the convenience of a done-for-you printable.
You just slip these free Elkonin Boxes worksheets inside a plastic page protector or a dry erase sleeve. Grab any manipulative you have at home or in the classroom.
You could use coins, legos, small cars, game tokens, or little blocks. A manipulative is just a small item that makes learning concrete for children.
And you’re ready to help your learner develop their reading and spelling skills.
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There are four pages in the free printable Elkonin Boxes download. The first page is:
I recommend everyone start with this first Elkonin box page. The primary purpose of Elkonin Boxes, as mentioned above, is to develop phonemic awareness.
You want to be sure your learner can segment and blend phonemes prior to adding letters into the mix. Like the story I shared about my daughter, they cannot spell with letters until they can hear sounds.
(Please note your child does need to know the alphabet! It’s just separate from this at first.)
Once your child is ready, you’ll find these printable Elkonin Boxes templates helpful:
For younger learners and struggling readers, I recommend you start with just 2 or 3 phonemes. They might even need to start with 2 sound words like:
It is much better to start with the simplest and build up to more complicated words. You want to reduce frustration and struggle as quickly as possible.
Then move on to words with 3 sounds like:
When you see a good understanding of those, you can try four phoneme words.
Another way to use Elkonin boxes is to build phonics and spelling skills.
Once your child can segment words with just a manipulative, you can begin to introduce using letters.
Just grab a dry erase marker or letter magnets to build words. After your child segments the word, they can push the counters right above the boxes.
Then they write the letters that spell the sounds in the boxes.
Here are some real-life examples of using Elkonin boxes.
CVC words almost always have three sounds. So you’ll want to use the Elkonin Box printable with space for three sounds.
Let’s see an example for a CVC word like “cat:”
If your child has good letter-sound knowledge, you can introduce letters.
The exception is words that end with X. The letter x actually spells two sounds /k/ and /s/.
Trying to say the word box out loud. Do you hear /b/ /o/ /k/ /s/?
When you use Elkonin Boxes with words with X, you will put a counter for each sound.
Always wonder how to map that silent e? It goes either with the final consonant or outside the last box.
In the picture above, I put it with the final consonant. Just choose what makes the most sense to you and be consistent.
Let’s see an example for a CVCe word like “hive:”
If your child has good letter-sound knowledge, you can introduce letters.
A lot of people think that blends have one sound – but they actually have two distinct sounds.
So you want to make sure your learner places one counter for each sound.
Let’s see an example for a word with both initial and final blends word like “plant:”
If your child has good letter-sound knowledge, you can introduce letters.
Digraphs can be another tricky word for parents and teachers. You map each digraph as one sound in Elkonin boxes.
Let’s see an example for a word with two digraphs like “chicks:”
If your child knows about consonant digraphs, you can introduce letters.
These are my favorite supplies for printable Elkonin boxes.
Instead of laminating, I suggest using dry erase sleeves when possible.
Lamination can’t be recycled. However, dry erase sleeves can be reused for years.
So if your child outgrows Elkonin boxes or you’re a teacher who switches grades, you can simply recycle the Elkonin box printables. Then keep using your dry erase sleeves for other uses.
If you’re looking for print and go Elkonin Boxes Worksheets, you’ll love the Word Mapping Worksheet Bundle.
It provides a structure for busy parents and teachers to cover the basic phonics skills:
Your learner will:
These Elkonin Box Worksheets are best done with an adult’s guidance so you can make sure your child is correctly naming the pictures.
I wanted a grab-and-go resource for my tutoring students. As an Orton-Gillingham-trained teacher, it’s important to have a systematic way to teach and review all sounds.
These Word Mapping Activities are multisensory and structured to make literacy learning achievable.
Your child will:
You won’t want to have to think about which words to map in Elkonin boxes. It’s nice that an activity is already prepped for you and covers a ton of phonics skills.
One of the most common questions I’m asked is: how do I teach my child CVC words?
I recommend these CVC Words Hands-on Cards. They are interactive and build solid skills.
You won’t need to worry about your child guessing because they are applying their phonics skills from the beginning.
Your child will:
It’s a little mind-blowing. One simple hands-on activity can help children learn to read.
Phonemic awareness is critical for reading. Elkonin Boxes are a great tool to develop this important skill.
