Worksheets
Click here to download all Letter B Worksheets
Tracing Letters – B is for Bee
This worksheet gives your child lots of opportunities to practise writing capital letter B.
Tracing Letters – b is for bee
This letter b worksheet focuses on the lower case b. Many children initially find the difference between ‘b’ and ‘d’ confusing, so this is a good one to practise.
This worksheet gives your child an introduction to the sound that ‘b’ makes, and also allows them to practise writing the capital and lower case letter b. Once your child is able to recognise the simple sound made by ‘b’, they will be on their way to being able to sound out simple words like boy and big.
Quite a few simple English words contain the ‘br’ sound – this worksheet gives your child the chance to practise reading it.
The ‘bl’ sound
The ‘bl’ sound is also encountered quite frequently and this worksheet gives six examples of it.
Notes on B
In a Nutshell
The best thing about the letter b is that it is consistent: it makes the ‘b is for bat’ sound almost all the time.
Silent B
In a very few words ‘b’ makes no sound at all. These tend to be when ‘b’ comes after ‘m’, (for example, ‘lamb’, ‘numb’ and ‘bomb’) or when ‘b’ is in front of ‘t’, (for example, ‘doubt’, ‘subtle’ and ‘debt’).
‘Silent b’ is too advanced and rare a concept to worry much about when teaching your child to read – if it does come up, use it as another small opportunity to emphasize how much fun reading is and, indeed, how funny it can be: every now and then the silly old letter b gets a bit lazy and decides to take a break!
Pronunciation problems
If English is not your child’s first language, they may have a little difficulty in making its sound correctly – specifically in the way it differs from the letter ‘v’. If you are not sure, here is a nice little podcast that takes you through how to pronounce ‘b’ and ‘v’.
Tricky question (for more advanced or older kids)
If your young learning reader has an older sibling, or if they themselves are flying along here is a question to get them thinking:
What is the lowest number with the letter b in it?
This should result in your child thinking through ‘one, two, three etc’ looking for a ‘b’.
The answer?
The lowest number with a ‘b’ is one billion!
This is a neat question to challenge suitable kids because it can help stimulate their imagination regarding huge numbers, plus it teaches them to take logical short cuts – they’ll soon realize that it isn’t necessary to check each and every number.
Silly challenge
Try saying the letter b without your lips touching. You and your child will soon see it is impossible. This is a fun way to reinforce the sound of the letter.
Two great videos
Here is a Sesame Street song about the letter b, featuring the ‘Beetles’, (to the tune of The Beatles’ Let it be). In addition to being educational it is actually a high quality song to listen to.
This second video is also from Sesame Street. It is their take on the famous ‘To be or not to be’ scene in Hamlet, featuring actor Patrick Stewart. In addition to being humorous, this video is also good revision on the shape of the capital B. And, best of all, you can casually mention to your fellow parents that your youngster is already getting into Shakespeare!
‘I Spy’ words
I spy with my little eye, something beginning with….’ is a great game to play to reinforce the sound that a letter makes and it can be a fun game to kill some time – for example on a long car trip. Here is a selection of short words starting with ‘b’ for you to use:
bag, bar, bat, bed, bee, bib, box, boy, bug, bun, bus, baby, back, ball, bath, beads, beak, beans, bear, bell, bike, bird, black, brown, blue, boat, bone, book, boot, bull, bulb, bush.
Letter & Alphabet Resources
Letter B Song – try using our Letter B Song. It is a fun educational video set to music that demonstrates the Letter B phonics sound.
Alphabet Chart – the alphabet chart consists of all the letters with a picture corresponding to the phonic sound they make. The chart is a great tool to teach the alphabet to your child.
Alphabet Songs – try using these alphabet songs that we’ve compiled that are freely available on youtube.
Next Letter – Continue on to the Letter C Worksheets.
Previous Letter – Continue on to the Letter A Worksheets.