Color the Pictures That Start With M

A listening page for the letter M. A large capital M and lowercase m sit at the top, and ten pictures fill the grid below. Six start with the humming M sound: a monkey, a mushroom, a moon, a mango, a mouse and mittens. The other four are a cat, a ball, a key and a bell. The child colors only the M pictures.

No words are printed under the pictures, so the child can't just match letter shapes. They have to say each name and listen for its first sound. Hearing the first sound of a word is one of the early skills that later helps children connect letters to sounds when they start reading.

Say each name slowly and hum the first sound, "mmm-oon," then ask whether it starts like M. If a picture could have two names, agree on the name together before deciding.