My Favorite Tools for Blending

This blog is for teachers, tutors, but PARENTS too! You can use these tools at home. Blending is an essential skill for reading. Linking back to our Orton-Gillingham principles, students must have practice moving from simple to complex with this skill. Before blending individual sounds, students should practice blending words in a sentence and syllables in a word.  

TIP: You will also want to begin with sounds that are called continuants (ex: /l/, /n/, /s/).  It is easier for students to blend sounds that are not stopped by their tongue or lips. Students working on this skill will have greater success with blending  /l/…../i/…./m/ than having to begin with a stopped sound such as /b/. This post is all about tools you can use to provide a kinesthetic reinforcement of continuing to blend sounds without stopping.  

Students must know our language is made up of sounds (phonemes) and symbols (graphemes) to represent those sounds. One of my mentors would say if a student knows the letter name and sound but cannot blend the sounds, that knowledge is of little use. Blending can be a challenging skill for some students.  Often students are stuck reading at the sound by sound level and cannot move into that fluid, smooth reading. I find this is sometimes just an area of continued growth or because they have almost unintentionally made a habit of reading sound by sound.  I have seen in my practice that giving students a kinesthetic tool, motion, or action to feel the sounds moving left to right as they read can be helpful.  The ultimate goal is for students to do this with just their finger or pencil as they track under a word. 

Here are a few of my favorite tools that provide a continuous motion to guide students to do the same with their sounds. I think that interesting items can add novelty to a lesson and encourage cooperation. As with any instruction, if the item takes away from the lesson or becomes a distraction, I would not use it.  

Slinky

I have ordered these off of #amazon, and I have found them at #dollartree, #walmart, and #target. I have also found small packs of seasonal ones at #michaels.

Soft, Elastic Headband

I have my students plant their left hand at the beginning of the word and gently pull the headband as they stretch their sounds.  You can do the same with a large rubber band, but I often find the hair elastic a safer option.

Stretchy Creature

These are always a hit but can break easily. Don’t invest too much in them, and make sure to have a backup. I always have conversations with my students that when we are using it as a learning tool, and at any time, they need to be careful with how they use it. These can be purchased in various places. I even found some sea creature versions in the gift shop of a sea turtle hospital we recently visited. 

Matchbox or Hotwheels Cars

We are on the right track to blending is what I tell my parents when they ask why I am suggesting toys for homework. You can take it as far as to create a sound mat with a track underneath it. As you can imagine, this one is a favorite for a lot of my students.

Rolling Stamps

Speaking of cars, have you ever seen these handy little tools? This particular set was found in the #targetdollarbin, but I am sure A-ma-zon (because it is so amazing! what you can find on there) has them as well. TEACHER TIP: give the students a chance to play with them and make squiggly paths and then model that when used as a tool, we move left to right in a straight line. 

Rolling Toy

My daughter and I love sea turtles. We recently found this little toy in the same gift shop I mentioned earlier. This little critter is the perfect size for student’s hands and rolls smoothly under the sounds as they blend them. The size of this tool makes it an excellent option for blending sounds on a markerboard.

Magic Wand

It is like magic when a student begins to blend sounds successfully. They start to feel confident, and it is easier to make sense of a word. It makes a magic wand a great option. Again you will want to emphasize the smooth movement from left to right as they say the sounds together.

The Old Faithful

A blending card deck either made on index cards or purchased is a great tool to have in your repertoire. 

Please leave a comment below if you have any to add to the list. Make sure you follow me on social media for the latest tips, recommendations, research, and resources. Thank you for reading! 

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