Learning Worksheets Phonics Letter A sound
Free printable PDF · beginning sounds · ages 3–5
Letter A Sound Worksheet: Beginning Sound /a/ (Free PDF)
Apple, ant, anchor: the short a sound is the first vowel most children learn, and it turns up in hundreds of early words like cat, map and hat.
What’s on the letter A worksheet
- Trace: a big dotted A and a, then a row of Aa pairs, next to the key picture (apple).
- Circle: 12 pictures to say aloud. 6 of them start with /a/: ant, axe, ambulance, anchor, avocado and alligator.
- Match: draw a line from 4 pictures to their first sounds.
- Page 2: the answer key, with the name of every picture and tips for grown-ups.
How to say the /a/ sound
Open your mouth wide, drop your jaw and say a short, crisp /a/, as if you have just spotted something surprising. Keep it short: a long, stretched “ay” is the letter name, not the sound.
How to teach the letter a sound
Show your child an apple and say the word slowly, leaning on the first sound: a-a-apple. Ask them to copy you and notice how their mouth opens wide. Then say pairs of words, one with /a/ at the start and one without (ant or dog? axe or cup?), and let them give a thumbs up for the /a/ word. Once they hear it reliably, the worksheet pictures become a quick check.
More /a/ words to say together
Ant, apple, astronaut, animal, add, actor, alligator, ambulance.
Watch out for
Children often mix the short /a/ with the long “ay” sound of words like apron and acorn. Both start with the letter a, so if your child circles one of those, praise them for knowing the letter, then say the two sounds side by side.
Game: Ants in the pants
Draw a big pair of trousers on paper. Say a word: if it starts with /a/, your child draws a tiny ant on the trousers. If not, they shake their legs and say “no ants!” See how many ants they collect in ten words.
Everyday practice
Point out the /a/ at the start of words on food labels and in story books, such as apple juice, alphabet and animals.
Tongue twister
Andy the ant has an apple and an axe.
Trace and write the letter a
Practise writing the letter too: uppercase A tracing, lowercase a tracing and cursive a. Then read short a words like cat and map on the short a CVC words page.
Practise next
Next, try letter b and letter c. Once most letter sounds are secure, blend them into CVC words.
Letter A sound questions
Should I teach the short a or the long a first?
Start with the short /a/ of apple. It is the sound used in most first words children read, such as cat, sat and map. The long a comes later with patterns like a-e in cake.
Why does a sound different in some words?
Vowels have more than one sound. Teach one sound at a time, and treat other words as interesting exceptions for now.
More answers in the phonics FAQ.
More Letter Sound Worksheets
Also try: CVC words · sight words · alphabet tracing