Have your students put together onsets and rimes with a fun and exciting game of Onset-Rime Roll-a-Word! 

Teaching onset and rime becomes playtime with this activity, in which students build words using onsets and rimes.

Master Reading through Play with Onsets and Rimes 

This resource can be used as a reading center activity for fast finishers, with your guided reading group, or as a whole class activity to practice forming words by blending onsets and rimes. 

Onset-Rime Reading Game Assembly and Use

1. Print copies of the onset-rime cubes and assemble them before setting up your reading station. For durability, it is recommended that these be printed on cardstock.
2. Print a two-sided copy of the word recording sheet for each student participating in the center.
3. Students will roll both dice simultaneously and record the onset and rime on their recording sheet.
4. Students will then blend the onset and rime, write the word formed, and decide if the word is a real word or a nonsense word.
5. Students can compete against each other by giving themselves a point for each “real” word they can make.

Turn This Activity into Even More Onset and Rime Games!

We think you’ll like these extra opportunities for blending onsets and rimes.

Word Families

Students can practice their word families. Have students take a sheet of paper and write other words that use the same rime as a word that they formed during the activity.

Onset-Rime Awareness Scaffolding & Extension Tips

Once students have built all of the words, encourage them to add them to a personal word wall or student dictionary, use them in sentences, or reset the slides and play again!

Invite students to use a visual reminder such as an onset & rime anchor chart or an alphabet chart to sound out difficult words.

Before You Download

Use the dropdown arrow on the Download button to download the PDF or editable Google Slides resource.

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and a Teach Starter Collaborator. 

Practice onset and rime, beginning sounds, phonemes, and more with these early reader-approved activities: 

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Onset and Rime Match-Up or Interactive Clip Card Activity

Practice forming words by blending onsets and rimes with this set of 15 rime cards that match their picture/onset card.

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SPLAT! Phoneme Segmentation Game

Practice segmenting one-syllable words into their phonemes with this printable game.

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Beginning Sounds Sorting Activity

Practice identifying beginning sounds of words by sorting this set of 24 picture cards.