Free printable · Alphabet & phonics
Letter Pair Lab: sh, ch, ck and ng
Two letters can work as one sound piece. Build and read eight words to explore how.
Download free PDF 16 pagesA4 PDF · 0.3 MB · No sign-up needed
A good starting pointFor children with secure common letter sounds and CVC blending, ready for these consonant pairs. Age is a guide; choose tasks by readiness.
Ship has four letters but can be built from three sound pieces: sh / i / p. Keeping sh on one card makes the two-letter consonant sound visible while the child blends the word.
Letter Pair Lab introduces sh, ch, ck and ng through eight selected words. The focus pages provide clear word clues because a gap alone can sometimes make more than one real word. Read the intended word before finding or writing its pair.
Open the pack
What’s inside the PDF
- Eight focus words: ship, shop, chip, chop, duck, sock, ring and song.
- Six tasks per focus page plus two mixed reviews for reading and sorting.
- A three-sound building mat, whole consonant-pair cards and single-letter cards.
- A grown-up guide and two answer pages: 16 A4 pages altogether.
Try it together
How to use this activity
Hear the whole word
Read ship naturally and explain its meaning. Say sh / i / p as three sound pieces, then blend them back into the word.
Notice the letter pair
Find sh in the printed word. Compare it with the other pair choices before circling or writing it.
Build one piece per sound
Place the whole sh card, i card and p card in the mat's three spaces. Do not separate the two letters on the pair card.
Read and sort
Try the partner word shop, then move to the trained-word sorting review. Keep sh and ch as beginnings in these words, and ck and ng as endings.
Make it fit your child
A gentler start
Begin with sh in ship and shop. Model the pair as one sound and let your child choose the whole card while you blend together.
Ready for another step?
Cover a trained word and build it from its spoken sounds. Read it back, then identify whether the pair comes at the beginning or end.
Look before you print
Actual pages from the pack
A selection from the 16-page PDF.
Open a page to see it larger.
Paper, pencil, ready
Printing and using the pages
Download the PDF, open it in a PDF viewer and choose A4 paper at 100% or “actual size”. Print only the pages you want to use. Check the preview before printing; keep colour cues visible when a selected task depends on them.
Regular paper works for the worksheets. For reusable loose cards, light card can be easier to handle if your printer supports it. Keep any cutout pieces at the printed scale so they fit their mat. A grown-up should handle preparation and cutting.
These original BundleBrain pages are free for personal and classroom use. Share a link to this activity page so other families can find the instructions and download their own copy. Please do not resell or re-upload the PDF.
Good to know
A couple of questions
Are these consonant blends?
These selected pairs represent one consonant sound each. Keep them together as one sound unit in the trained words.
Are loose cards essential?
No. The main worksheets work with a pencil. The cards provide a movable way to model the same sound structure.
Your next little learning moment
Ready to try Letter Pair Lab: sh, ch, ck and ng?
Print a page, sit together and start small.
Free PDF · 0.3 MB · No account needed
