Guides / Listening games for kids
Sound Match
Listening games for kids.
Sounds, rhymes and riddles.
Sound Match is a five-stop listening trail with real recorded sounds and realistic pictures. The words stay hidden until your child answers, so they listen instead of reading.
Five stops on the trail
- 👂 Hear it, find it: hear a word, find the picture.
- 🔔 Who made that sound? animals, vehicles, building sites and sounds from home.
- 🎯 Sound-alike words: cat, hat or bat? Listen closely to tell them apart.
- 🧩 Guess what? two spoken clues lead to the answer.
- 🗺️ Where are we? hear a soundscape and name the place, then "How do you know?", with a pause to answer before the reason is given.
Grows at your child's pace
Rounds are five questions with a warm-up first. Each stop has three levels, with more picture cards and then look-alike and sound-alike choices. Four right first time moves up and opens the next stop; a harder round gently steps back. After each answer the word and a sentence are shown and read aloud.
Tips for grown-ups
- Play somewhere quiet, or with headphones, so small differences are easier to hear.
- Go on a listening walk afterwards: what can you hear, and where is it coming from?
- Play rhyming games with sound-alike words in the car or at bath time.
More guides
Free printable tracing worksheets
Make a handwriting sheet with letters, numbers, a name or your child's own sentences, then print it.
How to teach letter formation
Where to start each letter, which way to go, and why letters are easier taught in families.
A sentence building game for kids
Unscramble word tiles to build sentences, with levels that grow as your child does.
Inference activities for kids
Practise working out feelings, reasons and what happens next, with the thinking shown step by step.
Conversation practice for kids
Rehearse asking for help, meeting people and joining play before the real moment.
Calm sensory activities
Gentle painting, patterns, sand, mazes and dots for a quiet break or a busy hand.