I Spot With My Little Dot — Beginning Sounds
A pre-phonics listening game that builds phonemic awareness before letters ever come into it.
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How it works
Divide the class into two teams and place a set of dots (stuck onto Play-Doh discs with a magnet on the back) on each side of the whiteboard. The teacher calls out, "I spot with my little dot, something beginning with /b/," and the first child from each team races to place a dot on the correct picture.
Two levels built in
- Level 1 — children choose from 3 pictures.
- Level 2 — children choose from 6 pictures, adding an extra visual-discrimination challenge.
18 slides in total, so there's plenty of round-by-round practice before moving on.
What is I Spot With My Little Dot?
Based on the traditional "I Spy" game, I Spot With My Little Dot is a fun, active way to develop listening skills before introducing letter names and spelling patterns. It builds the sound-awareness children need to hear, identify and work with sounds in words — the step that comes before CVC word building, not instead of it.
This first game focuses on beginning sounds: children listen for the sound at the start of a word, not the letter that spells it.
More ways to play
- Extension activity: swap the dots for the free printable letter tiles, so children choose the matching letter instead of just marking the picture — a gentle bridge toward letter-sound links.
- Bingo option: print the slides as bingo cards and call out the sounds for children to cover the correct picture with a crayon, marker or counter — perfect for individual or small-group work.
Why teachers use it
- Something genuinely different — a dedicated pre-phonics phonemic awareness step most resources skip straight past.
- No letters required yet — children focus purely on hearing and identifying sounds first.
- Two-team whiteboard format keeps the whole class listening and engaged.
- Two built-in levels so you can increase the challenge as children improve.
- Flexible — play as a whole-class relay, an extension activity with letter tiles, or print as bingo cards for smaller groups.