R blends Worksheet: br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr and tr (Free PDF)

What’s in the PDF

• Page 1: trace each blend (br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr and tr) next to a picture, then circle the blend that starts each of 12 pictures.
• Page 2: write the missing blend for six picture words, then read five words and match them to their pictures.
• Page 3: an answer key with every picture name.

Read the instructions aloud for children who are still learning to read. Say each picture name together first.

What are r blends?

The r-blends are br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr and tr. In each one, both sounds can still be heard, but they are said so quickly that they seem to merge. They usually come at the start of a word, as in frog, or after a vowel in longer words, as in apron.

How to say the blends

Say the first consonant, then go straight into a growly /r/ with no vowel in between: f-r, then fr. With tr and dr, many people round their lips a little, so tr can sound a bit like ch and dr a bit like j. That is normal.

Examples

• br: brick, bring, broom, bread
• cr: crab, crib, crown, crayon
• dr: drum, drip, dress, dragon
• fr: frog, from, fresh, fries
• gr: grin, grab, grapes, green
• pr: pram, press, prize, present
• tr: tree, trip, train, truck

How to teach it

Growl like a friendly tiger, then put sounds in front: b-rrr, c-rrr, d-rrr. Make a growl face for each r-blend word you read together. Practise words that change by adding r, such as tap to trap and fog to frog, so children see how the blend builds a new word. Then do the worksheet, saying each picture slowly before circling its blend.

Common mix-ups

Children who say /w/ for /r/ may read frog as “fwog”. That is a speech pattern, not a reading problem. Watch for dropped sounds instead, such as reading “tap” for trap; ask your child to point to each letter as they read.

Game: Train track blends

Make a train track with paper strips. Each strip has an r-blend written on it. Your child drives a toy train along the track and says a word for each blend it passes: tr for truck, gr for green, and so on.

Questions to ask

• Which two sounds can you hear at the start?
• What word do we get if we add r to tap?
• Can you think of an r-blend word that is a colour?

Practise next

Try L blends, S blends, th digraph. Warm up with the letter r sound. Reading CVC words confidently first? See our CVC word worksheets.