Letter Names and Sounds Skill Explainer

Listening Game Demo: Punching Out the /b/ Sound

Name: Listening Game Demo: Punching Out the /b/ Sound
Uploaded: 2026-03-10T12:18:07-04:00
Duration: 51 s
Description: Listening Game Demo: Punching Out the /b/ Sound

Phonemic awareness is a critical foundation for reading and spelling. And listening games provide a simple routine that strengthens students' ability to hear sounds in words before connecting them to letters. In this video, literacy coach Ashlea Edwards, M.Ed. demonstrates how to lead a listening game that helps students isolate and identify the /b/ sound using only keyword pictures.

Learn more with our free skill explainer on teaching letter names and sounds.

Video thumbnail for Listening Game Demo: Punching Out the /b/ Sound — Produced by Reading Universe, a partnership of WETA, Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book

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So for our next listening game, we are going to ask students to pull the first sound or the beginning sound off of words. We're going to use pictures to support meaning, and we're also going to use a motion to emphasize that we are doing the first sound in the word.

Bird, /b/.

Ball, /b/.

Bathtub, /b/.

Bear, /b/.

Beads, /b/.

Banana, /b/.

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