Free printable · Alphabet & phonics
Magic E Word Lab
Read a short word. Add e. Hear what changes.
Download free PDF 16 pagesA4 PDF · 0.3 MB · No sign-up needed
A good starting pointFor children who blend short-vowel CVC words securely and are ready for the selected silent-e pairs. Age is a guide; choose tasks by readiness.
The extra letter is small, but the spoken word changes. Magic E Word Lab puts a short word beside its silent-e partner so children can read, compare and explain the difference.
The pack trains eight selected pairs rather than asking children to apply a rule to every word ending in e. Read the short word first, model the partner clearly and discuss the meaning of each before trying the written tasks.
Open the pack
What’s inside the PDF
- Eight focus pairs: cap/cape, tap/tape, mat/mate, kit/kite, pin/pine, hop/hope, not/note and cub/cube.
- Two mixed reviews for choosing and writing the trained words.
- A reusable building mat, whole short-word strips, final-e cards and checking cards.
- A grown-up guide and two answer pages: 16 A4 pages in total.
Try it together
How to use this activity
Read the short word
Point to cap and blend the familiar short-vowel word. Check its meaning before changing it.
Add final e
Place or write e immediately after the short word. Model cape, noting the changed vowel sound and that final e is not spoken separately in this pair.
Compare both words
Cover e and read cap; uncover it and read cape. Complete the selecting, writing and pair-matching tasks for this focus page.
Build, then check
On the reusable mat, keep the short-word strip whole and add an e card. Read the result before looking at the whole-word checking card. Move to mixed review later.
Make it fit your child
A gentler start
Use one familiar pair and let your child add or cover the e while you model both pronunciations.
Ready for another step?
Show a trained short word without its partner. Ask your child to predict and read the silent-e word, then check against the whole-word card.
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
Do the cards reveal the answer automatically?
No. They are loose pieces for building. Read the word, then compare it with the separate checking card.
Should we start here before CVC reading?
Use the short-vowel word packs first. This activity assumes those short words can already be blended.
Your next little learning moment
Ready to try Magic E Word Lab?
Print a page, sit together and start small.
Free PDF · 0.3 MB · No account needed
