Alphabet chart with pictures
An alphabet chart with pictures gives every letter a word that starts with its sound, drawn in the cell with the word printed underneath, so a child who cannot yet name a letter still has a way in.
Free printable PDF, preschool to 1st grade.
One page, black and white, prints the same every time.
What is on the sheet
The table below is the sheet as it prints with these options: Aa Bb Cc.
| Aaapple | Bbball | Cccat | Dddog | Eeegg |
| Fffish | Gggoat | Hhhat | Iiigloo | Jjjam |
| Kkkite | Lllion | Mmmoon | Nnnest | Oooctopus |
| Pppig | Qqqueen | Rrrabbit | Sssun | Tttree |
| Uuumbrella | Vvvan | Wwweb | Xxx-ray | Yyyak |
| Zzzebra |
One page for every letter
Each letter also has its own preschool page, with its strokes in words, its sounds and, for most letters, a sheet of words that start with it.
One word for each letter
Each cell holds the letter, a picture, and the picture's word: apple, ball, cat, dog, egg, fish, goat, hat, igloo, jam, kite, lion, moon, nest, octopus, pig, queen, rabbit, sun, tree, umbrella, van, web, x-ray, yak, zebra. The word is printed under the drawing so the adult reading with the child says the same one every time.
These are the classroom words, picked so the letter makes its common sound at the start: the short a in apple, the hard c in cat, the hard g in goat. X is the problem every alphabet chart has to solve. This one uses x-ray, where at least the letter keeps its own name.
Using it in preschool and kindergarten
Point and say all three: the letter, the picture, the first sound. A child who cannot name a letter can still find the apple, and the letter comes along with it. Once the names are steady, cover the words with a strip of paper and ask what each picture is, then cover the pictures and ask for the sounds.
Print capitals only or small letters only from the Letters choice when a child is working on one set. If the pictures start to pull attention away from the letters, which happens once a child is writing them, switch to the plain alphabet chart and keep this one for sounds work.
Common questions
- Which word goes with each letter?
- Apple, ball, cat, dog, egg, fish, goat, hat, igloo, jam, kite, lion, moon, nest, octopus, pig, queen, rabbit, sun, tree, umbrella, van, web, x-ray, yak and zebra. Every word is printed under its picture on the sheet.
- Is there a version without pictures?
- Yes. The alphabet chart is the same 26 letters on their own, larger, in the print face the handwriting sheets use.
- What age is this chart for?
- Three to six, roughly. It is a preschool and kindergarten wall chart, and 1st grade still uses it for beginning sounds and spelling guesses.