Activities to practice decoding Open and Closed Syllables

Today I’m sharing open and closed syllable activities to help you teach this essential concept to young children. Gather strategies and ideas to help students build phonemic awareness and the understanding of open and closed syllables!

What are Open and Closed Syllable Activities?

Open and Closed syllable activities can help your students understand multisyllabic words. Are your kindergarten students having a difficult time counting syllables? Do you have 1st grade students who struggle to read two-syllable words? Perhaps you even notice that 2nd grade children are struggling with different words, such as compound words. These open and closed syllable activities are an easy way to teach the concept of syllables to small groups or at a literacy center. All of these activities are engaging and aligned with the Science of Reading approach!

Practice Decoding Skills with Open and Closed Syllables

Incorporating fun ideas to help your students count the correct number of syllables and identify whether the syllable is open or closed will help your students become strong and confident readers. Build a solid foundation of essential reading skills during independent or group work. The following ideas will help you introduce this essential literacy concept in a fun way. 

Teach the Open and Closed Syllable Concept

You will want to begin by making sure your students understand the difference between a short and long vowel sound. An open syllable ends with a long vowel sound spelled with just one vowel letter (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y!) Examples include my, he, and go. The closed syllable will have a short vowel that ends in a consonant. Bed, cat, and rut are examples of closed syllable words.

This can be a difficult concept to introduce to young children but the understanding of it will really help them decode longer words. You can introduce these syllable types with posters. Of course, you can write this on your board but I love to begin with a poster. Later, I can display it somewhere in the room to reinforce the understanding of syllables. 

Another great way to teach this concept is with the use of interactive open and closed syllable houses.

When the door is open, the vowel is able to shout its name. For example, because the door is open, the i is able to shout its name. Hi!!! When the door is closed, the sound is muffled and the vowel can only mumble its short vowel sound, as in him.

​I love to work on these phonics skills during our whole group instruction.The kids love taking turns coming to the front of the room to practice opening and closing the doors while reading the words. You can also use this as a small group activity. 

You may notice that your students need extra practice with a segmentation method. I always tell my students to label the vowels or vowel sounds in the word. They can then draw a line or “bridge” in between the vowels to know they should look at the letters above the bridge to determine where to divide the word into syllables. 

Remember that students will need to revisit this and practice reading words with open and closed syllables throughout the year in order to really understand the concept. I often use the houses as a poster but children can also color and cut out their own houses.

Open and Closed Syllable Neighborhood

One fun way to display this concept is to create an open and closed syllable neighborhood! This works great on a classroom door or in the hallway. You can group them by vowel sound or mix them up. I’ve seen students refer to these often to remember and identify the type of vowel in each word.

Open and Closed Syllable Door

Another reminder I use with my students on our classroom door are word cards. I simply print them on colored paper and cut them out. Children can open and close the door to see and practice reading various words. I’ve also sent these home with children. They love showing their parents the difference between open and closed syllables. 

I typically start with one vowel that we are practicing before adding additional vowel sounds to the door. For example, I might put hi-m, hi-t, i-s, and i-ll on the door the first day. You can build on this list all year long. The cards help your child practice before tackling more difficult multisyllabic words. Sometimes these end up on multiple doors around our classroom, including the bathroom door!

Closed and Open Syllables Sort

One of my favorite open and closed syllable activities is a simple sorting game. I tape a house with the word “closed” on a mason jar and a house with the word “open” on another. I always cut open the door to make it a little more fun. Children are asked to read the word and determine if it should be dropped behind the open or closed house. If we have a few minutes before lunch, my students can do this all together at the carpet. 

You can also create your own words on index cards. Ask your students to move to one side of the room if they think it is a closed syllable or move to the other side of the room if they think the syllable is open. Listening for the short or long vowel sound builds phonological awareness skills.

Open and Closed Syllable Craft

I love this one page syllable craft. It is similar to interactive worksheets. Of course, no answer key is necessary. Young learners color and cut out the house and around the door. They will need to come up with several three or four letter words to write on the blanks depending on which house they are assigned. 

We typically share these with the class before hanging them in the hallway to display. I’ve noticed other teachers and students opening and closing the flaps to practice reading the words. Many adults don’t remember this concept and will have an “ah-ha” moment!

​Other Open and Closed Syllable Activities

We practice decoding words daily with various activities. Of course, you can try syllable worksheets with kids but I find lesson plans that incorporate hands-on practice to help more. I will write words on a white board and ask my students to determine where the syllable breaks should be. Remember, that they should begin by identifying the vowel sounds and drawing a bridge between them.

Some of your small groups may seem to understand this method quickly while others will need daily practice. Another way to practice is to use sentence strips that you can open and close. Children can practice opening the door to see the long vowel sound and closing the strip to see how it changes to a short vowel sound. 

Other favorite ideas for small group or independent work are puzzles. Children will simply practice decoding words and matching it with the correct picture. They can use the recording sheet to write down their puzzle matches and identify them as either open or closed.

Open and Closed Syllables Activities Pack

Deedee Wills and I collaborated to create this resource that has every activity you need to practice identifying open and closed syllables. I have always loved working with her. She is so knowledgeable about the Science of Reading research and wanting to help teachers in any way she can. 

When you purchase a resource from us, you have two minds working together to make sure you receive a comprehensive resource aligned to best practices. 

You’ll receive posters, crafts, sorting activities, puzzles, and more! This is a digital download and you’ll be able to choose the best printable activity each time you want to introduce a new fun way to practice this skill. 

Save these Open and Closed Syllable Ideas

Be sure to save these ideas to revisit later!

Looking for more resources aligned with the Science of Reading? You can introduce a variety of centers to help your students become stronger readers. 

I also love practicing CVC decoding strategies with my struggling readers!

Happy Teaching and Parenting this week friends!

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