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Free Printable Word Family Book Early Readers Will Love

Looking for a fun way to help your Kindergarten students practice reading? Check out this printable word family book! As students turn the pages, they see how the ending of each word remains the same. Change the first letter, and you have a whole new word. It works really well for early readers. Our books are easy to prep and perfect for early finishers or literacy centers. They are also suitable at-home activities.

printable word family book

This Activity Works Well With

There’s no doubt that reading is essential. After all, it’s how we learn new information and gain knowledge about the world around us. As teachers, we want nothing more than to watch our students take off as readers. That’s why we spend so much time practicing reading skills in Kindergarten.

We know that children must make the connection between the sounds and letters in a word. Furthermore, we also know that it takes lots of practice to develop that skill. We can help by providing our students with many different ways to get that practice. Then we watch as they grow into proficient readers ready to take on the challenges of first grade and beyond.

Learn more about phonemic awareness and how important it is for reading success.

Today we are giving away a free set of printable word family flipbooks. Before we dig any deeper, let’s just revisit the basics. What are word families, and why should you care about them?

pin for printable word family book

What Are Word Families?

Word families are collections of words that share the same ending. For example, the -at word family includes cat, hat, cat, bat, and rat. As you can see, each of these words shares the same ending sound (-at).

At the kindergarten level, we keep it simple and start with CVC words. Usually, the first letter is changed, and the ending remains the same. For example, cap, map, lap, and tap belong to the AP word family. They share the AP sound; only the first letter is different.

Why are Word Families Important?

Word families are a vital tool for young readers. They help children identify word patterns and sounds, leading to increased fluency. They provide a structure for sounding out words. Once students have learned how to read one word in a word family, they quickly move on to reading others that are similar. Moving similar sounds from word to word starts to unlock reading for young learners.

When Can Students Start Working WIth Word Families?

Once students have mastered the individual sounds that makeup words, you can begin to work with them on word families. Not only will they learn how to sound out new words, but they’ll also start to see the patterns that exist within language. As a result, they’ll be better equipped to tackle more challenging words in the future.

close up of printable flip books

Free Printable Word Family Book

A set of printable word family books is an excellent resource on hand. They are a great way to practice reading simple words from the same word family.

That is why we have created a free printable rhyming flipbook for you. This book features 3 letter CVC words from four families.

  • AP word family – map, tap, cap
  • AT word family – rat, hat cat
  • IP word family – lip, rip, pip
  • UG word family – rug, bug, mug

It is super easy to make the books. Just download, print, and assemble. It will take you no time to make this simple literacy activity that helps your students continue working on phonological awareness.

This printable word family book also helps students experience rhyme with several senses. Children will SEE that the ends of the words stay the same as they TOUCH the dots and HEAR the words spoken aloud. It is a powerful combination.

The free printable download has five pages designed to fit together easily. Each page contains four separate books showcasing words from the four different word families. Follow the instructions to make the four books all at once.

Materials Needed

  • Free printable file
  • White copy paper
  • Printer
  • Paper cutter or scissors
close up of vertical cut made in the inside pages of book
cutting pages 2 and 3

Assembling The Printable Word Family Book

  1. Cut down the dotted line on pages 2 and 3. These are the pages with the words map/hat/ lip/ rug and tap/cat/rip/bug.
  2. Lay down the tracing pages. Cover that with the cap/rat/pip/mug page (the two narrower pages) and finally, the cover. Stack the pages in order, working from back to front.
  3. Carefully line up the pages along the left, top, and bottom edges. Staple each book using the staple guides on the left-hand side.
  4. Now cut along the dotted lines on the cover to separate the books. See how easy that was?
book with staples added
add staples

Using The Printable Word Family Book

Invite students to start by writing their names on the cover. They can also color the pictures to make the book look more attractive. Encourage children to slowly turn the pages. Hopefully, your students will quickly see that all words end with the same sound! Talk about that.

Invite students to tap the dot printed underneath each letter as they sound out the word. Can they find the special word in the sentence? Invite them to underline it.

There is a tracing page at the end of the book. This gives the children the chance to trace each word.

Children with Dyslexia will struggle with this activity because they find it hard to hear the sounds in words. Consider testing if you have a student who continues to have difficulties despite extra practice. Learn more here.

cutting the books apart
cutting the books apart

Extension Activities

After students have worked with the book, invite them to think of other words that belong to each word family. Can you make a word family book?

Challenge children to pick one of the words and use it in a simple sentence. What happens if you switch that word for another in the same word family. Does it still make sense?

Have some fun making Dr. Seuss type rhymes with the words in the books. You could even illustrate them for good measure.

But I want to sit there. Right here on this rug! Said the rat on the cat to the bug in the mug.

using the printable word family book
tap each dot as you sound out the word

Need Some More Rhyming and Word Family Activities

pin for printable word family book
At Simply Kinder we work together to bring you ready-to-use resources to partner with great teaching for any curriculum, a Facebook community where teachers talk all things Kindergarten, and low-prep learning ideas that your students will love. Be sure to stay up to date with all things kindergarten on InstagramFacebookPinterest, and through email. Simply Kinder: where teaching Kinder is definitely better together!

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